Category:Tigers on Chinese numismatic charms

English: The Mandarin Chinese word for "tiger" (虎, hǔ) sounds like the word for "to protect" (護, hù). Tigers are also the guardian spirit of agriculture and the ancient Chinese believed that the tiger could devour "the demon of drought", and were believed to be heroic. The ancient Chinese believed that a tiger's hair turned white after five centuries and that they could live up to a millennium. Caishen is sometimes depicted using a tiger as a mode of transportation. The tiger is a member of the Chinese zodiac.