Many incense burners in the Forbidden City have feet cast in the shape of Suanni.
Tips
culture
狻猊 is one of the 龙生九子 (lóng shēng jiǔ zǐ, 'nine sons of the dragon'), each with its own role in traditional decoration. Suanni's love of smoke and stillness is why you see it crouching on incense burner lids and Buddhist statue pedestals.
memory
Both characters carry the dog/beast radical 犭 — a giveaway that they refer to a creature. The pronunciation suānní mimics no English word; learn it as a unit.
