What do the animals in front of the tombs of ancient kings represent?

Abstract: In the traditional culture of China, the four elephants refer to the dragon, the white tiger, the suzaku and the Xuanwu, representing the four directions of east, west, north and south respectively. In "Twenty-eight Nights", four images are used to divide the stars in the sky, also known as four gods and four spirits. In the theory of astronomical yin and yang in the Spring and Autumn Period, it refers to the natural weather in four seasons, which are called Shaoyang, Sun, Shaoyin and Taiyin respectively. The traditional orientation of China is that the south is above, which is different from the modern north. Therefore, when describing the orientation of the four elephants, they will also be represented by Zuo Qinglong (east), You Baihu (west), Qianzuzha (south) and Houxuanwu (north), which echoes the orientation of the five elements (East Muxijin, North Shuinanhuo). The concept of "Four Elephants" was highly valued in ancient Japan and Korea, which were often called "Four Saints" and "Four Holy Beasts". It is worth noting that, although recently influenced by Japanese pop culture, I began to get used to this statement, but in fact, China never said four icons. Generally speaking, the four saints are Fuxi, King Wen, Duke Zhou and Confucius. The four images also refer to wind, rain, thunder and electricity, four natural weather and meteorology.