Chrismate

By Chrismate

A Celestial Entrance

The Chinese culture is probably the only culture with examples of circular openings (either doors or windows).
This is a fine, classic example of an entrance to a Chinese restaurant, where the two lions stand as the entrance guardians (the male on the left & the female on the right when facing the door).
Interestingly, Chinese culture opposes two geometrical forms: the square and the circle. Symbolically, the square stands for the Earth, and the circle stands for the Sky. Chinese cities used to be built within a square shape with four cardinal gates. Such is Beijing Forbidden City. The first character of the word for China is a square crossed by a vertical bar. The square stands for the land and the vertical line is the life axis stressing the bound between the upper and the lower worlds. Hence the phrase, the  'Middle Kingdom'. On the other hand, Beijing Temple of Heaven displays a circular shape above a square base, illustrating this other expression: the 'Celestial Empire'.

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