It is to be noted that literature abounds in sometimes contradictory or differing details on the matter. That is why I placed some words in-between parenthesis when two authors spoke of the same thing with different terms. Moreover, this historical rendition was made using Occidental sources (see the bibliography at the end). It is truly deplorable Chinese sources are so little exploited in that matter. That step will probably be a necessary one to lift the veils shrouding the numerous interrogations surrounding this most ancient race of the canine species.
The Pekingese, according to one of the most popular legends concerning its origins, was born from the union of an enormous lion and a marmoset. The lion, so passionate for his small companion, asked the patron saint of the animals Ah Cum (Hai Ho) to render their love possible. He saw his size reduced to that of which we know today, while keeping his qualities, as of courage, personality and kind heart. Their descent took the exact appearance of the Pekinese. Another legend about the Pekingese says it was one of the first emperors of China that was to be responsible for its creation. Yu, founder of the Hin dynasty 4000 years ago, wanted to make music more popular. He invented parades with music and monsters, including the now famous dragons we can admire today during chinese festivities. One of the monsters was the flesh and blood Pekingese, rapidly arousing popular interest. Having provoked such a craze, he had to ban the dog as an imperial exclusivity, just to protect its purity. He then limited its access to the palace walls. The account made by Pauline Hattaz also says Yu was responsible
for inventing the pentatonic music scale. He used Pekingese during
musical events where the little dogs had to react to the sound of various
notes played on the instrument. To every note related a color type
of robe, as follows :
The location of this fable between reality and popularity is hard to establish. At the very most does it date back to a very ancient era the color variation in the Pekingese standards. Be that as it may, there exists more concluding historical traces about the antique origins of the Pekingese.
The most ancient passage the Pekingese is mentioned dates back to the time of Confucius (Kong Fu Zi, 551-479 B.C.). The text tells of a « short mouthed dog. » The description is surprising with realism when it says « very small dog, head and legs short, with long ear and tail. » Those dogs were also named « dog under the table. » It is not negligible to notice that the furniture of the time resembled that of modern day Chinese. Said table was very low, and people ate sitting or kneeling on cushions. As written by Falsina and Prandi (1994), the word used in texts to describe the dogs meant « limping ». In the Mandchu tongue, the same word meant « that which walks with a roll ». On the other hand, the Haba dog (Happa dog) also appears as a variety of Chinese dogs that survived at least till the beginning of the century. It would only slightly vary from the Pekingese. Anthony Rosato signaled it in an article published in the American Pekingese magazine Orient-Express, in 1998. That dog, bearing the name « Haba » in China at the end of the 19th century, would be a specimen very similar to the Pekingese, except for its lack of fur. One specimen was brought to the Western World at the same time as the Pekingese. It now lies at the Rostchild Zoological Museum, in England, dedicated to the history of dog breeds in general.
The Pekingese idea, that of a small lion dog, appeared and took importance following the conversion of China to Buddhism in the 1st century A.D., under the initiative of the Han Emperor Ming Ti (57-76). In that religion, the lion plays a role of prime importance, for it would appear to have been tamed by Buddha himself and become his personal protector. Among the many legends surrounding the life of Buddha, one of them tells the king of the jungle was defending him. Buddha would soar in the sky on its back, and invoke a myriad of tiny lions that would transform themselves in huge beasts to attack his enemies, if need arose of course. For the
Chinese Emperors, the lion was considered as the divine son of the
sky and the terrestrial incarnation of Buddha. The symbol of the
lion was critical in the recognition of their divine powers. Not
being able to keep lions in such northern latitudes as that of Beijing
(Peking) or Xi’an (ancient capital), they took the habit of surrounding
themselves with little dogs, the aspect of which could remind of
the terrible sight of the lion. It was bred by the nobility and they
cultivated the standard, making it resemble the lion as much in its character
as in its visual aspect. It is from that time and those legends we
owe the importance of the feathering and the wide nose. As in Buddhist
symbolics, the white mark on the forehead was praised, for
it meant spiritual development. The particolor was born out of that
belief. On the other hand, obtaining a white pekingese was
generally feared, because white is the buddhist sign for mourning,
and it meant a great man had come back from the dead. Those dogs
were sent to be raised and guarded in temples where Buddhist monks bred
dogs by tradition.
Pekingese breeding became an imperial prerogative, and it was forbidden to take it outside of the palace walls. During the Ming era (1368-1644), the Forbidden City was built, to which the destiny of the Pekingese is closely linked. The construction took place mainly from 1406 to 1420. It was a real fortification, covering 720 000 square meters, comprising up to 800 buildings and 9000 rooms. The emperor lived inside with his court and the cohort of his suite. From then on, the entire life of the Pekingese was spent inside the city, unless it was granted a short trip out with dignitaries or with the emperor in other parts of the Empire. Its existence
was hence extremely confined at the geographical level. It explains
why it was only know in Beijing where, even there, it was merely ever seen
within the forbidden city's walls. It would even have been decreed
that whomever stole one or took one outside without permission would be
punished by death or In his recent
auto-biography, one of the last imperial eunuch still alive mentioned
that the influent eunuchs
The eunuch Dan tells of the privileges attributed to the dogs as pure nonsense. As a matter of fact, some emperors cared more for their little companions than they did for matters of the State. They sometimes gave their dogs noble titles, like « Vice-Roy », of « Emperor's Guard », signs of the highest affection and esteem. One emperor even called the female dog he gave his officer the officer's « wife ». The little dogs had the best of all favors, feeding from the best ailments and even directly from the breasts of the palaces’ young slave mothers. According to a legend, the emperor chose himself four « bodyguards » amongst the dogs raised by his eunuchs. At the beginning of audiences, two Pekingese would precede the emperor into the room at regular intervals, letting out little barks to have mortals turn their gaze from their divine master. Two other dogs would follow him, holding the tip of his robe in their little mouths. Another legend, found in chinese chronicles of the 7th century, told of the uncommon intelligence of the Pekingese. It could sit on its master's horseback and ride, holding the reins in his mouth. The tale also tells it would lead its master's way in the dark, lanterns strapped around its neck or torches on its back. Be that as it may, History also left us more credible accounts of the Pekingese's place in Imperial life. One of the emperors did his utmost to praise the dog's beauty. Yuan (1279-1368) described the various physical types of the Pekingese, as related by Pialorsi and Prandi (1994). There was the « Turtle type », the face of which evoked laughter. There was the « three flowers face », with eyes circled with black, the forehead ornate with yellow and red, and mouth with rings of white. The expression « otter cloud on the snow » stood for black puppies with white belly and paws. They called « standing in the snow » a colored dog with white feet. The marks around the Pekingese's eyes were much appreciated, for they reminded of the turtle scale glasses the court nobles used at the time.
Alice Wilson, late breeder and judge for the Pekingese, published an history of the breed for the American Pekingese Club in 1992. According to her, the golden age of Pekingese breeding happened during the reign of the Ch’ing emperor Tao Kuang (1821-1851). It is during that time the Pekingese benefited from a renewed interest amongst the chinese nobility. Through prolific breeding activities, they had no use of pedigrees, but still used illustrated imperial books showing the best examples of the breed. Breeding was the subject of reflection and theorization. The most en vogue method at the time was prenatal impressionism. During gestation, ideal pictures were shown to the mother. They had her sleep in rooms with furs hung to the wall showing the wanted tint. She fell asleep on a thick lamb wool rug, to instill a generous robe into her pups. The eunuchs read her verses praising the best of canine qualities. Unfortunately, worse methods were sometimes used to favor the dog's small size ; they would feed it quantities of rice alcohol to artificially provoke nanism. That practice and others would be abolished in the rise of the Impress dowager Cixi (T’zu Hsi). If she was considered in the political world as a cruel monster with an insatiable thirst for power, one of the hardest political women in history, she was also said to be soft and imaginative regarding her many leisure, and particularly towards « her own breed. »
In spite of all the attention she gave to preserve and improve the quality of the breed, Cixi couldn’t prevent the strength of custom, nor influence the tumultuous course of history. At the time of her death in 1911, as is told by imperial tradition, Cixi’s survivors immolated her little companions along with her. If some of them subsisted and took the back door of survival, their ban was so strong that their trace was lost very fast. The chances of preserving the genetical background of the Pekingese intact, in that day’s China, were almost inexistent. The disappearance of the imperial regime also accelerated the general loss of interest for the Pekingese. The little dog was loosing its sacred identity and becoming like just any other dog. According to Alice Wilson, « in 1921 began the curious paradox of returning breeding stock to China. But again these were lost during the Communist Revolution. » It is two preceding other chinese historical events, even if catastrophic by scale, that will help save our furry friends’ skins ; the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) and the Boxers Rebellion (1898-1901).
The account
of the circumstances surrounding the first importation of Pekingese dogs
in England is of the most romanesques, and unforeign to the
popularity it knew in the West in following times. It happened in
the course of the second Opium War, also called Taiping Rebellion,
because of the infamous group of bandits sacking China’s countryside at
the time. In the conflict franco-british forces came to face imperial
ones. During the taking of the famous Summer Palace in 1860,
the british and french forces participated in a most famous looting,
worthy of Marco Polo’s fabulous tales. The emperors of the Ch’ing
dynasty (1644-1911) had piled up the Empire's treasures In reality,
5 dogs were found in a recluse room, forgotten by the occupants in
flight. Accounts vary on the matter. Some say the emperor's aunt
who had been left behind, committed suicide instead of letting herself
fall in the hands of the enemy, and her dogs were found guarding
her dead body. Another version tells the dogs’guards would have taken
their own lives, along with that of the dogs. They would have
forgotten these five that would be brought back to England later.
One dog was given to Queen Victoria by General Dunne, two were kept
by lord John Hay, later christened Schloff and Hytien, and
the last two were brought back and offered to the Duchess of Richmond.
She laid the base for the Goodwood bloodline of England. There was much
ado about the exotic Pekingese, and they roused the envy of british
aristocracy. Some civil servants succeeded, before the end
of the century, in finding some in China at the price of great efforts.
They allowed the race to perpetuate beyond the obstacles of consanguinity. I was going
to forget the role of the Boxers Rebellion in the evolution of the Pekingese
in the West. During the Rebellion, the Imperess dowager Cixi
wanted to get closer to the american « foreign devils ».
She offered them a few specimen of her personal kennel. Notably,
one was offered to Alice Roosevelt, and another to J.P. Morgan.
They will be admitted in the national breeders registry in 1906,
and lay the bases for the american bloodlines.
The Pekingese is known to be one of the purest and most ancient races that be. It is not surprising its origin on the genetic level would be subject to controversy. The thesis generally defended by breeders is that the typical characters of the breed were obtained only through in-breeding, i.e. by generating changes in using episodic mutations and never using dogs of other breeds in the process. In fact, what has survived through the centuries is less the physical appearance of the dog as its status and standard of conformity to the idea of a lion dog. In spite of the ban on breeding the Pekingese with other dogs, out crossing was common practice in China. Seen the information available on the origins, it is obvious the breed's history is mingled with that of others. For instance, archaeologists have found statuettes of stylized dogs in ancient tombs, called Fu Dogs (Foo, or Fu Lin). Some authors talk of that dog as the mythical and direct ancestor of the Pekingese, others are describing him as a completely different race. Generally, Pekingese authors mention the Fu Dog as a larger version of the Pekingese, a ferocious beast with a lion's mane and an ape's face, guarding Ancient China’s temples. It is found abundantly in chinese statuary, and in paintings as old as the 9th century. The male is always represented one paw on a ball, the female accompanied by a pup. When found in pairs, the female is always on the right hand side. According to Alice Wilson, it is still one of those silk embroidered ball that is given to real life puppies for play. Moreover, there exists today a Chinese Foo Dog Breeders Association. The Chinese Foo Dog has become a canine race definitely distinct from the Pekingese. According to that association, the Foo Dog, even if differing from the Pekingese, comes in three sizes : less than 20 lb., from 21 to 50 lb., and more than 51 lb.. The dog bears other names, including « Sacred Dog of the Sin Kiang », and «Chinese Choo Hunting Dog». That dog's personality is different from that of the Pekingese, because above all it is used for guarding, work and hunting. However, imagine just one second giving back to the Pekingese its lion size… Not hard to imagne him accomplishing some more physical activities, isn't it ? Descending from the mythical Fu Dog or not, another race shares its mythical origins with that of the Pekingese. The Shar-Peï was also a guardian of the temples of the ancient China, venerated and feared for its terrible dragon look. It is easy to confound its artistic rendition to that of the Fu Dog, or the Pekingese. The Haba dog, mentioned earlier, could easily have been used in crossbreeding to obtain a Pekingese size dog, be it a Pekingese or a pug. Rosato suggests it could have been used at the beginning of the century to produce the « modern Pekingese », slightly different than those owned by Cixi. To conclude,
the Pekingese is a dog the story of which looses itself through the mist
of History and Myth, without loosing its charm and personality, who
resisted to the influence of time. Evidence remains from the many
ages the Pekingese played a predominant role in the lives of the elite
of China. Those accounts, like parts of a winding saga,
come to us in the West bearing all the signs of History, like the
many messengers of changing times. Prideful, our little companions
have in their gaze the gleam and strength instilled in them throughout
those hardships. Their courage and wisdom will no doubt dominate your heart,
if you only listened to the story they have to tell.
Magazines: Hattaz, Pauline, « Le pékinois : Snob, raffiné et attachant », in Chien 2000, octobre 1996. Rosato, Anthony, « The Pekingese and
the Happa Dog : A Remote British Museum Reveals Enlightening Clues to Pekingese
Origins », in Orient-Express, Nov. 98.
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In Chinese astrology, the dog is the immortals’ companion in their
travel. For that sole reason, at the emperor's death,
it was custom to sacrifice all of his dogs so they would protect him in
the afterlife. The protective virtues of the Pekingese could play
a much more important role after death than in the lapse of their terrestrial
existence. Its strong character was then most profoundly respected.
All things considered, the Pegingese’s Chinese name in mandarin is
Xiao Shi Zi Gou, meaning literally « little lion dog »,
because of all of the before mentioned characteristics.
other
torments. As relates the irish breeder John Key, there is an
author, Miss Dixey, who wrote that death by « stoning
or ten thousand slices » was the punishment for such a forbidden
mischief. Both punishements almost competed in cruelty, and
in the fear they inspired. They also bred the dog's legs in a curved
manner so it would remain a house dog and never have a taste of wide spaces.
Its breeding was limited to the members of the court and the eunuchs responsible
for managing everyday life in the Forbidden City. The number of Pekingese
having infiltrated outside of the city walls appears negligible.
in that palace for generations. The Count Maurice d’Hérisson,
french scholar and interpreter for Montoban, General in chief of the French
armies, was present during the looting. He tells in his
travels journal (1886) how the wealth found within the palace walls were
innumerable. Not only did the french and english let themselvessack
the not-so-empty palace and its content, but also arab and hindi
mercenaries, and the chinese accompanying the armies or following
its tracks that uncontrollably flocked inside and put fire to it.
Following his account, even the surrounding inhabitants of the city
would have participated to the rapine, that would be a tale of great
controversy in the high instances of the two occidental nations.
It is in that context that Queen Victoria of the british Empire,
when she was brought a canine specimen found amidst pieces of silk,
golden plates, jewels and antique treasures, decided to name
the little rarity from the palace of wonders « Looty ».
There is still a famous painting of Looty hanging on a wall of the Windsor
Palace in England.
It is mostly at the arrival of Pekin Peter, in 1894, that the
Pekingese posterity was assured in the Western World. When in 1898
the British Kennel Club approved the breed standard, Pekin Peter
had become a popular champ. First officially named Pekingese Spaniel,
it was renamed Pekingese, for the qualities it doesn't share with
the spaniel family. The english standard of 1898 will be revised
in 1926, to evolve towards the "modern Pekingese", the one
we know of today.
Aubrey-Jones,
Nigel [1990] The New Pekingese.
