谢谢你SonGoku;)

樱桃很厉害! 我也不知道这个故事.

Hello Vic, There were many stories associated with that figure, in one of them, it was the lord of the State of Qi (齐) escaping his enemies after being defeated. Just when he came to a river and had nowhere to run, a big bird flew and carried him to safety. The reasoning for putting the figure at the very edge of the spine of the roof structure was to imply being saved from danger (逢凶化吉). Another version tells that a tyrant prince in 3rd century b.c. was defeated and killed by his enemies. To remember his evil deeds the people put his figure on a hen on the end of the roof. The hen cannot jump from the roof, because the prince is too heavy and the hen cannot go back, because a dragon is on the other end.. Between the princes figure and the dragon are some other figures. All figures are symbols to prevent the house from fire and lightning That is exactlly the picture you showed .Those animals were also said to be aesthetic coverings for the reinforcing nails that were necessary where sections of the roofs meet, though each animal had a mythical connotation. The dragon represents the state.The man riding the chicken represents a minion of the emperor .The Mythical beast behind the man is set to devour him should he stray from performing his duties to the empire with faithfulness and rectitude. The number of such beasts ( always an odd number) indicates the importance of the duties performed within that building. Other superstitious stories say that these statues were there to keep the bad ghosts away.

Although I believe the first story is less credible since it is more of a degradation or humiliation to mount a hen; the lord of the state would be rather mounting a powerful animal like one of the others shown in the picture as a symbol for power and authority unless this was not a hen as some stories tend to believe it was rather a Phoenix, which is called together with the three other spiritually endowed animals:dragon, tiger, unicorn (or deer) 'si ling' in Chinese * notice the presence of those animals in your picture*. In Chinese mythology the phoenix is symbol of high virtue ,power and prosperity and this would be proper characteristics to associate with the lord of the state. The other story might be true for the tyrant emperor was punished for his evil deeds partly by undergoing humiliation in the form of mounting the hen and being always threatened by the dragon in the back. I hope some Chinese natives have more accurate versions of those stories that could explain the phenomena on the Chinese roofs.

哇！这位樱桃小姐来自哪里啊！真的很厉害啊！