2005, BEIJING, OLD SUMMER PALACE 圆明园

During a 5-day summer trip, me, my cousin and my mom visited a jade factory. At the end of the tour, the guide showed us the showroom with all sorts of jade objects from little charms to huge Buddha statues. Indulged by the beauty of the stones, we were hooked by the lucky charms you could buy for 100 RMB. Both me and my cousin got an orange lion one.

Not being quite sure what exactly the meaning was of the charm, I face timed with my mom to ask her.
The colour of the charm represents success in school and other studies. The lion is a symbol for protection and safety. Lion statues are commonly placed on both left and right sides of palace entrances as guards to protect the family from evil spirits.

Since I can remember, I keep the lion charm in my nail polish pouch to avoid loosing it somewhere as it is precious to me. Nevertheless, I did forget about it. But being reminded of it, I do want to start carrying it with me not only as a protector and lucky charm for my studies, but also as a reminder of those hot summer days we spent together learning about Chinese history.