It was said that in the early Ming Dynasty, a tiger with flesh wings appeared in Guangdong. Its wings were like the bats’, it could fly and eat evil people, and its skin could be used to ward off evil spirits. The Cantonese believed whatever the objects were, if they could protect their homes and families, they will be considered as the auspicious objects. Thus, people imitated the image of the tiger to have it danced in the festival, to notice the evil beings do not bring the disaster to human beings any more. After further studied, the tiger actually was the Manjusri Bodhisattva's lion seat, with its hair over the shoulders, and the hair color as the same as the body’s. When it ran, its hair was blowing up like a bat’s wings.

Now Shawan's lion has angle on its head, which is a very unique shape. We call it lion, but indeed it is a "grotesque" that unlike lion, rhinoceros, kirin or butch. There is a legend about this "grotesque". In the early Ming dynasty, a narwhal monster appeared in Foshan, disturb and harm the local people. Later, people thought of a way which is to kill the beast by another beast. They made a narwhal lion with bamboo, lighting up the firecrackers and beat the drums, so as to fright the monster away. From then on, the unicorn lion become the mascot of defending the evil and the misfortunes.