According to legend, Yu inherited the throne because of his merits in controlling water, was entrusted by Shun Chan, and with the support of everyone, became the King of Yu, with Yangcheng as the capital, and moved to Yang Zhai (Yu County, Henan) to establish the Xia Kingdom. In order to consolidate his royal power, King Yu summoned the leaders of various tribes at Tushan (tushan, in present-day Huaiyuan County, Bengbu, Anhui), and the ruler of the jade and the kingdom of wanguo was known in history as the "Society of Tushan", and the grand occasion of that year was also known as "the coming of all nations".
Later, the Qin Emperor Han Wu appeared, unifying the whole country, and laying the foundation for China's status in the world. Starting from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he constantly strengthened the management of the western regions and the conquest of the Xiongnu, thus realizing the tributary system, and countless countries outside Kyushu came to pay tribute to the Han Dynasty every year, and since then"all countries have come to the Dynasty" has become the norm.
According to historical records, when Emperor Wudi of han first sent Zhang Qian on an envoy to the Western Regions, he asked him to bring 200,000 taels of gold and a golden horse made of pure gold to exchange for a sweat and blood BMW, which was actually very polite, but unexpectedly, the other party did not realize the strength of the Han Dynasty at that time, directly rejected Zhang Qian, and killed an accompanying official, and then took away this batch of treasures.
Subsequently, Li Guangli led thousands of troops and horses on an expedition to the western region, breaking the city gate, beheading the king, and recapturing the treasure. Since then, the Western Regions have become vassals of the Han Dynasty, no longer dare to act rashly, and then there is the famous Silk Road, and the countries in the Western Regions often bring their own treasures to the Han Dynasty to pay tribute, and one of their favorite treasures to pay tribute is animals.
According to the records of the Book of Han and the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, the countries of the Western Regions brought all kinds of rare and exotic beasts, such as ostriches and peacocks, which were loved by Emperor Wu of Han, who had never seen them, and kept them in captivity in the imperial palace, and this time, they brought an "unknown animal".
This animal is very small, furry, very cute, but for a generation of kings Han Wudi, he did not like this cute type of animal, because it was not powerful and domineering, but after all, it was a tribute from others, and it was not easy to openly express disgust or abandonment, so he let the next person bring his "pet" tiger up with no expression.
Hu people are naturally not stupid, and soon understood the meaning of Emperor Wu of Han, the tiger is fierce and powerful, the most like to eat meat, this small animal that looks "non-aggressive", is not it a chinese meal in front of the tiger? Soon, a tall, mighty, fierce tiger was brought up, and just when everyone thought that the tiger would pounce on it and "solve" the little animal in one bite, something strange happened - the tiger fell to the ground in front of it, and its expression became docile.
Emperor Wu of Han was horrified and directly asked the Hu emissaries, "What is this?" The Hu replied, "This is the Master (i.e., the Lion). Emperor Wu of Han then asked, "Who is more powerful than the tiger?" The Hu people did not hesitate to point at the lion, Emperor Wu of Han became more and more surprised, and then looked at the tiger's respectful appearance, he believed the words of the Hu people, and immediately asked the next person to take good care of the little lion.
The Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the Biography of the Western Regions reads: "For thirteen years, the King of Rest, Man Qufu, offered his master and a large bird, which was then called the Resting Bird. It can be seen that as early as the Han Dynasty, lions had already flowed into China.
References: Book of Han, Book of the Later Han Dynasty