If you ever get a chance to look at one of these Chinese Lion heads (they're lions, not dragons) totally do it, because they're super cool. They're papier mache over a wire frame and they have little strings inside to blink and waggle the ears. These specifically are southern lions, native to Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The northern ones are made of wood and have a much pointier nose. For my money, the southern ones are way cooler.
The cape he's wearing is actually attached to the head and forms the body of the lion. Another person typically acts as the back half, pantomime horse style, and during performances can throw the person in front around, lift them up, etc.
The guy on the left is double phoning it, classic Asian behavior. Phones are cheaper than laptops so there was a big leapfrog over computers straight to mobile technology. The one on the right is called Iron Rice Bowl, a euphemism for daily bread, or working for your supper.
I call the one on the left Boba Fett for obvious reasons. The one on the right is called Luck Hunter. During Chinese New Year dancing lions owned by local Kung Fu schools perform rituals to bless local stores for good luck. The stores make an offering of cabbage ('cai', a homonym for money or wealth) and a red envelope full of cash. This is usually hung from a high spot in front of the store, forcing the lion teams to do some fancy maneuvering to fetch it.
The one on the left is called Tai BANG Le, 'bang' meaning awesome or cool. The one on the right is called The Day After and features a bottle of the cheapest Bai Jiu (rice spirit) you can buy on the street. It's gross. Well actually it's not that bad.
The design below was for friends stuck in China at the beginning of 2020. Rough times. The characters on the bottle say "Jia You" - literally meaning 'give it some gas', which means 'Come on! You can do it!'
