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DOGS OF CHINA » JAPAN
IN NATURE AND ART

modern Pekingese dog.— shen chen-lin.

DOGS OF CHINA & JAPAN
IN NATURE AND ART

BY

V. W. F. COLLIER

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NEW YORK
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PREFACE
CHINA and Japan, their people and their customs, have
lured the foreigner in his thousands to the making of
many books. No writer, however, has thought fit to
devote much study to their canine race, though in the Far
East, just as in Europe, the dog has been for ages man's chief
help and protector :
The rich man's guardian and the poor man's friend,
The only creature faithful to the end*
Those who have, in passing, deigned to notice the existence
of dogs in the Far East have paused only for brief comment,
usually by way of grasping another stick to beat the Celestial
for gastronomic eccentricity or superstitious delusions, and
have given to the Eastern canine races scarcely the proverbial
" dog's chance " of being considered better than universally
mongrel. It is not claimed for the following pages, whose original
design included only the smaller races of Eastern dogs, that
they enumerate all the existing breeds, or that they deal con
clusively with any one of them. China alone is a vast country
in which geographical difficulties render comprehensive study
difficult. It is hoped, nevertheless, that there has been laid a
foundation upon which further investigation may be firmly
based, and that the researches made may assist in the identi
fication of new species as well as the preservation of certain
breeds which, like the St. Bernard in Europe, now run the
risk of following the Irish wolfhound and the hard-worked
turnspit dog of our great-grandfathers, to extinction.
* Inscription on the monument to a Newfoundland dog. Byron. V

PREFACE
The assistance received from Chinese and Japanese litera
ture has been but slight, for though from the earliest days
Eastern Emperors and their subjects have recognized the
qualities of the dog —
in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his master's own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,*
no Eastern writer has thought fit to devote a volume to study
of the species. Almost every Chinese and every Japanese is
fond of pets individually, bird, insect, or canine; but
for dogs generally the same individual is apt to manifest
contempt. Absence of European specialization and training of the
breeds has deprived the Chinese and Japanese of enjoyment of
those particular canine qualities which have for centuries given
much of the zest of life to the sportsman in Europe and, more
over, provide no small interest to the soldier, fowler, trainer,
shepherd, and breeder.
From certain State papers it has been possible to show that
from very early periods the dog has been used extensively by
European and Eastern monarchs as State presents. The
emperors and kings of the past prided themselves on their
success in adapting dogs to the varied uses of the chase, and
this success, which fell in no small measure to British trainers,
was utilized on many occasions for the promoting of friendly
intercourse with foreign countries.
The culture of Japan, including much of its religion and
art, has its origin in China. The scantiness of literature
dealing with Japanese dogs is, consequently, compensated to
some extent by the comparative wealth of Chinese sources of
information. The two chapters dealing with the Buddhist
lion and its symbolism represent a considerable amount
* Inscription on the monument to a Newfoundland dog. Byron.
vi

PREFACE
of research in both Eastern and European writings. It is
hoped that the information gained will prove of value to
searchers working far beyond the limited scope comprised
within the title of this work.
The author acknowledges a deep sense of obligation to
certain Chinese friends for their enthusiastic help in a task
which, from an interesting hobby, has developed into the
product of much study. Little of the Chinese literary
material obtained would have come to light but for the en
thusiasm of Mr. Wu Ch'i-ts'un, who, having become inter
ested in the subject, attacked it with painstaking and scholarly
ardour. He has carefully examined all records accessible in
Peking. His researches were at first confined to the breed of
dogs commonly known in Europe as " Pekingese," but in
formation bearing on other breeds has been obtained, and is
recorded for those who may be interested. In the second
place a debt must be gratefully acknowledged to Wang Hou-
chun, who, though but a humble admirer of the Imperial
breed, has, through his seventy-five years' experience as
keeper of dogs and hawks, spent for the most part in the
palace of Prince Wu Yeh, brother of the Emperor Tao Kuang,
proved a mine of information on matters canine. Special
thanks are also due to Abbot Pai Kuong-fa of the Lama
Temple in Peking, who has been kind enough to point out
the exact connexions between Tibetan and Chinese lion
dogs, the Chinese lion, and the Tibetan Scriptures. From
these last certain references which are of considerable interest
have been collected. Additional thanks are due to General
Ch'ien Hsi-lin, previous Chief of Intelligence in charge of the
Police dogs of President Yuan Shih-k'ai, and Mr. Kungpah T.
King, formerly of the Board of Interior, also to numerous
others, both Chinese and foreign, in Peking, who have supplied
information and corroboration on many points/ vii

PREFACE
The author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to
Berthold Laufer, for the use of his authoritative and in
valuable work on " Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty,"
published by the East Asiatic Committee of the American
Museum of Natural History. This work has been much used
and quoted. " Toy Dogs and their Ancestors," by the Hon.
Mrs. Neville Lytton, has also been freely consulted. Acknow
ledgments are also due to the numerous authors of the works
cited in the notes.
It is possible that the records of the Chinese Imperial
Palace will, if they become available, throw further light upon
the origin and history of the Pekingese, type of dog. They
may also explain how much of its quality the British spaniel
breed owes to Chinese ancestors. That the English pug is
descended from the Chinese dog may be considered as settled.
It appears not unlikely that the King Charles spaniel is
descended from a short-headed Chinese race. More light is
required on the history of the Tibetan and Japanese races,
but the outline of tjieir development is now clear.
It is hoped that the information gained may prove, by
indicating something of the age of the Pekingese race and
the reasons for its special characteristics, to be of some
assistance to the experiments which have, for some years, been
carried out at University College, London, with Pekingese
dogs, in connexion with Mendelism. There appears to be no
doubt that a distinct breed of white non-albino Pekingese,
though now extinct, has existed in the Imperial Palace.
The Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, or Mongol scholar may
find small points for debate in some of the translations. It
has not been possible to secure the checking of them all
by high authorities, but the sense certainly represents a
close approximation to the original meaning. Special care
has been taken to secure good authority for all quotations and
viii

PREFACE
statements. The Tibetan translations have presented special
difficulties. The language of Tibetan gospels written in
ancient Lama script is not simple of comprehension, even to
the Lama. The lack of scholars possessing a knowledge of
Tibetan has necessitated transliteration by Lamas who,
having no knowledge of Chinese characters, wrote in Mongol
script. The Mongolian character had then to be translated
into Chinese before ultimate reduction to English.
It is hoped that even to those who take no interest in dogs,
the following pages may be attractive because of the side
lights thrown on Chinese history, together with Eastern
palace life, and the inter-State relations of the long line of
Emperors who have dominated the world's oldest ruling race.
Modern research tends to prove that more of the East than was
generally imagined is akin to the West. On the other hand,
not a little of Western canine life owes its origin and dis
tinctive peculiarities to the East.

IX

CONTENTS CHAPTER I.
EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES.
Geological history of the dog in Europe. Its domestication. Ancient records
of tribute dogs. Dog- worship by ancient Egyptians and Aryans. Attitude of
Confucius toward dogs. Use of dogs by Chinese and Japanese Emperors for
sporting purposes, also as pets. Pp. 1-19

CHAPTER II.
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION.
Use of dogs for culinary purposes in China, Corea, Indonesia, America and
Europe. Dog-sacrifices. Former reverence for dogs in Japan. The God Erh
Lang protector of dogs. His temple in Peking. The Heavenly Barking Dog
which eats the sun and moon in eclipses. Dogs in Buddhism, Lamaism, Taoism
and Fengshui. Pp. 20-43

CHAPTER III.
DOG-BREEDING.
Its political importance in China and in Europe in mediaeval times. The
dogs of Kublai Khan. Cats of the Ming period. Lap-dogs and pigeons of Tao
Kuang period. Imperial dog-books. Dogs of the late Empress Dowager. Com
mercial breeding of dogs in Manchuria and Mongolia. Pp. 44-55

CHAPTER IV.
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS.
Ancient Chinese sporting dogs. The mastiff in ancient China and mediaeval
Europe. Falconry. Its origin and practice in Europe, China and Japan. De
velopment of scent in dogs. Use of the fowling-piece. The chow dog. Chinese
sledge-dogs. The greyhound in China and in Europe. The small greyhound
of Shensi and Kansu. The Chinese wolf-hound. The Tibetan mastiff. Tomb-
dogs. British presents of mastiffs to the East. Records of Tibetan Mastiffs.
Hydrophobia. Pp. 5°-89 XI

CONTENTS CHAPTER V.
THE CHINESE LION.
The lion not indigenous. Its popularity due to the introduction of Buddhism
from India. The lion in captivity in China. Origin of lion-worship. The lion
in Indian Buddhism. The lion in Foism. The lion in Lamaism. Description
of the Lamaist lion. The spirit-lion and the lion-dog. Buddhist lion-stories.
Chinese artistic idea of the lion. The lion in heraldry. Pp. 90-11 1

CHAPTER VI.
SYMBOLISM OF THE BUDDHIST AND LAMAIST LION.
The lion symbolic of Buddhism's power of subjection over animal passions.
Lion-masques in China and Japan. The Buddhist lion a spirit-beast. Its
connection with Egyptian mythology. Curious superstitions in connection with
it. Its possession of certain characteristics of Buddha. Pp. 112-122

CHAPTER VII.
HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO DOGS OF PEKINGESE TYPE.
Ancient Chinese small dogs. Early Chinese trade with Europe. Importa
tion of pet dogs during the T'ang Dynasty. The Lo-Chiang or Pug dog.
References to pet dogs during the Sung, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Relations
with Europe during the latter Dynasties. Pp. 1 23- 142

CHAPTER VIII.
EVOLUTION OF THE PEKINGESE TYPE.
The first imperial pet-dogs not lion-dogs. First mention of lion-dog in the
Sung Dynasty. Maltese dogs. Reason for popularity of " lion-dogs " at the
Manchu Court. Increase of popularity up to the Tao Kuang period. First
recorded importation to Europe. Dogs of the late Empress Dowager. Pp. 143-154
CHAPTER IX.
POINTS OF THE CHINESE PEKINGESE TYPE.
Importance of head-characteristics. Two types of head in China. Head
colours. Nose. Eyes. Tongue. Size of dogs. Mouth and cheeks. Body-
development. Legs. Specialisation of Pekingese breeds during TaolKuang
period. Coat. Colour. Albinos. The spot. Spectacles. Special markings.
Docking of tails. Pp. 155-165
xii

CONTENTS CHAPTER X.
THE CHINESE PUG.
Probable early introduction into Europe. Popularity of pugs in Europe.
Possible origin in Szechuan. The Lo-Chiang dog. Its elasticity of skin. Fore
head wrinkles. " Button " ears. Tail. Pp. 166-171

CHAPTER XI.
THE "JAPANESE" DOGS.
Introduction into Japan from China. European intercourse with Japan.
Early Portuguese, Dutch and British trade. Possible Eastern origin of the King
Charles spaniel. First recorded importation of Japanese dogs. Pp. 172-180

CHAPTER XII.
THE CHINESE LION DOG.
Tibet. Historical notes. The name applied by the Chinese to any long-
coated dog. Presentation of lion-dog by the Tibetans to the Manchu Emperors.
The European lion-dog. Two varieties of lion-dog in China. Their charac
teristics. Pp. 181-187
CHAPTER XIII.
TOY DOGS IN CHINESE ART.
Paintings on porcelain. Pictures mostly modern. Shen Chen-lin. Type-
pictures. Paintings mostly conventional. Pictures always full of symbolism
and usually designed to convey wishes of good fortune. Examples of the wishes
conveyed. Pp. 188-195

XU1

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR
To face fate
Modern Pekingese Dog, Shen Chen-lin. (Frontispiece)
Hunting Scene, Ch'ien Lung Period 46
Hunting Scene, Ch'ien Lung Period 60
Hunting Scene, Ch'ien Lung Period 78
Painting from a Scroll of a Hundred Pekingese Dogs, Tao Kuang
Period, after Tsou Yi-Kwei, K'ang Hsi Period 80 & 81
Pekingese Dog, from an Imperial Dog Book. Painter unknown 146
White Pekingese, from an Imperial Dog Book. Painter unknown 146
Pekingese Dog, By Tsou Yi-Kwei, Vice-Minister of Board of Rites,
from an Imperial Dog Book 156
Chinese Pug, from an Imperial Dog Book,^Tsou Yi-Kwei, K'ang Hsi
Period 156
IN BLACK AND WHITE
To fact tat'
Altar of Erh Lang, Peking 32
Chinese Dog Breeder, Lung Fu Ssu Market, Peking 48
Relief Band on Vase, Hsiao T'ang Shan 56
Relief Band on Vase, Han Period 58
Kansu Greyhounds 74
Mastiff Tomb-Dog in Terra-Cotta, T'ang Period 74
Kansu Greyhound 74
Chinese Royal-coated Greyhound 74
Pottery Mastiff, in side and front view, Han Period 76
Lamaist Lion (Male), Bronze, Yung Ho Kung (Lama Temple, Peking),
Ch'ien Lung Period 90
Stone Lamaist Lion, Tien an Men 90
The Animal World Reverencing a Sacred Tree, Relief from East Gate,
Sanchi (India), about 140 b.c. 90
Ming Seal 90
Bronze Lion, Sung Period 90
Ming Seal 90
Bronze Lion, Ming Period 90
Bronze Lion, Ming Period 90
Ivory Seal, Ming Period 90
Iron Lions before the Temple of Chiao Chun, God of Cookery, Peking,
1665, K'ang Hsi Period 94
Lamaist Bronze Lions (Modern) 94
Porcelain Lions Ming Period 98
XV

TABLE OF DATES
B.C. "jChou Dynasty.
, , \ Date of Assur-bani-pal (Assyrian) reliefs at Nineveh.
557. Birth of Buddha,
551. Birth of Confucius.
326. Alexander the Great invaded India after conquering Persia. Greek Art
introduced into North India.
222 I ^soka, great patron of Buddhism, reigned in India .
200. Chinese capital was Hsianfu.
150. Approximate date of Hsiao T'ang Shan (Han period) reliefs.
A.D. 100. Jalandha Council. Buddhism divided into Northern and Southern.
300. Chinese capital was Lohyang.
420, Chinese capital was Hanking.
500. Buddhism preached by Chinese emperors.
552. Advent of Buddhism in Japan.
600. Chinese capital was Hsianfu.
618. Beginning of the T'ang Dynasty.
632. Buddhism first actively propagated in Tibet.
632-") During this period Syrian, Christian, Nestorian and Assyrian Myths were
747./ probably incorporated with Buddhism to make up Lamaism.
Tenth Century. There were Five Monarchies having capitals at Kaifengfu,
Loh-yang, Ta Ming (Chi-li), Tai Yuen, Si-Ngan, and Peking at various
periods.
1 153. Chinese capital was moved to Peking.
| Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty.
1253. Kublai Khan went to Tibet and brought back Lamaism
i628.}MingDynaSty-
1644. Capture of Peking by the Manchus.
1662. Chinese Emperor K'ang Hsi came to the throne.
1723. Chinese Emperor Yung' Ching came to the throne.
1736. Chinese Emperor Ch'ien Lung came to the throne.
1793. Lord Macartney's Embassy to Peking.
1796. Chinese Emperor Chia Ch'ing came to the throne.
1 82 1 . Chinese Emperor Tao Kuang came to the throne.
1 85 1. Chinese Emperor Hien Feng came to the throne.
1862 Chinese Emperor Kuang Su came to the throne. xix

CHAPTER I
EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
THE dog is believed, on evidence furnished by cave
deposits, to have been introduced into Europe by
neolithic peoples,* and to have been about the size
of an ordinary shepherd's dog.f
Geological research being in its infancy in China, it is too
much to hope that similar information as to introduction
of the dog into China will become available for some time.
It is known, from literary sources, that the Chinese has been an
agricultural race from its earliest days. It has always con
sidered agriculture to be the root of its existence. It must,
however, have been to some extent pastoral, though the valley
of the Yellow River, in which the Chinese first settled, was
probably well wooded at the time of arrival. Dogs were, no
doubt, used for the defence of the home, for the herding of
sheep and cattle, and for the chase.
In Japan geological research has been assisted by scientific
examination of numerous dolmen and lake deposits similar to
those found in England. The well-known writer, Brinkley,
states that the early Japanese were derived from two swarms of
colonists, both coming from Siberia, their arrival being
separated by a long interval, the first cave-dwellers and the
second the Ainu, who used stone implements and practised
cannibalism. Among the amusements confined to men,
* Professor Boyd Dawkins, " Cave Hunting," pp. 256-7.
f Professor Rolleston, " Scientific Papers and Addresses," p. 522.
A I

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
cock-fighting and hunting were most practised. Large tracts
of the country were still unreclaimed, deer and wild-boar
abounded. These were driven by beaters into open spaces,
there to be pursued by men on horseback with bows and
arrows. In the fourth century the pastime of hawking was
introduced. It came from Korea, a king of that country
having sent a present of falcons to the Emperor of Japan.*
One theory as to the evolution of domestic dogs is that they
were tamed at approximately the same period by several
branches of the human race from the local wolf or jackal,
and that to this must be traced the fact that in certain areas
the native dog resembles the local wolf. Modern geological
research, however, indicates that certain races of early man
had no domestic dogs. According to Professor Geikie,f the
dog was not part of the indigenous fauna of Europe in
Palaeolithic times, and was introduced in Neolithic times by
tribes who migrated, probably from Central Asia, into the
European continent. Similarly the domestic cat arrived in
England only at a period which was very late, in Saxon times.
In early Neolithic or late Palaeolithic times certain tribes
which were in contact with the jackal-like C. mikii of the
period, in an environment which favoured co-operation in the
chase, captured the young of that animal, and because of the
human ability to throw stones, to tie knots, and to use sticks,
established such an ascendancy as to take full advantage of
canine possibilities as watchers, as destructors of refuse, as
food in time of need, and as assistants in the scenting out and
pursuit of game. The tribes which first domesticated the
dog were probably the first to domesticate the sheep and the
ox. Geologists place the first known human remains as
dating from at least 400,000 years B.C. Consequently,
* " Japan and China," vol. i, Captain F. Brinkley.
| " Text-book of Geology," vol. ii. p. 1356.

EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
there was plenty of time for the race which first made
progress in the domestication of the dog to take advantage of
its discovery, which in those days was of a relative value far
more important than all the discoveries of modern science,
and possibly constituted a determining factor in early success
ful migrations, perhaps even in the migration of the Neo-
lithics into Europe. C.palustris of the lake dwellings of the
Neolithic period seems, according to Elliott, to be a slightly

¦M %

« i %?»«* v. 3*

ENGRAVING OF A DOG ENGRAVING OF A WOLF
(FROM MAO SHIH) \ (FROM MAO SHIH)
From "Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty." By Berthold Laufer.
modified form of C. mikii. These partially domestic dogs
of the neolithics would, no doubt, occasionally cross with the
local wild dogs and wolves. " Prince Poutiatini discovered
near Lake Bologoia in Russia a deposit of early Post-Glacial
age which included a very dog-like wolf, which has been
called after him C. poutiatini. The interesting point about it
is the great elevation and width of the skull as compared with
modern or extinct wolves. It is closely allied to the dingo
of Australia and to the half-wild dog of Java (C tenger-
ranus). Others suppose that an Indian wild-dog was the
chief dog ancestor. Dogs of an Abyssinian species, of Egypt
and of Majorca, are very like it. A curious point with regard
to the further history of C. poutiatini under domestication is 3

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
that his brain seems to have increased in size, undergoing
much the same experience as that of man himself."*
The position as regards domestication of the dog in China
is well summed up by Bertold Laufer : f " We do not
possess any historical records of any literature regarding the
early domestication of animals, and therefore we should not
expect to find such in China. The ' six domesticated
animals ' of the Chinese — horse, ox, pig, sheep, dog, and fowl
— existed in and with the nation when it appeared on the stage
of history. They were there, and later historians could not
explain their origin. They took them as one of the facts
which cannot be accounted for, and as altogether too plain and
natural to require discussion. In short, what has become a
problem to our modern science was not a problem at all to
them. Huang Ti is credited with the taming of bears,
leopards, panthers, lynxes, and tigers, which he employed
in battle against his adversaries ; but the simple question of
training dogs remained untouched even by legend. The
dog has doubtless been a constituent of Chinese culture
since most ancient times, which is all that we are able to
state with safety. The question as to who were the
domesticators of the dog in Eastern Asia must naturally
remain unanswered, at least from the standpoint of history."
Laufer describes and figures J a bronze " tazza " of the
Chou dynasty, upon which are engraved animals to the
number of one hundred, including dogs. This is believed
to be the oldest representation extant of dogs in China.
Unfortunately the " tazza " is small in dimensions, and the
drawings, though of artistic value, are imaginative and prob
ably defective as accurate representations of the dogs of the
period. The dogs figured appear to be of two or, perhaps,
* " Prehistoric Man and his Story," C. F. Scott Elliot, p. 197.
f " Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty," Laufer, p. 251.
+ P. 150. From an engraving in the " Hsi ch'ing ku chien," Book 29, p. 26.
4

EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
three kinds : one, diminutive, short-tailed, with erect ears ;
another, long-bodied and long-tailed, long-legged, also with
erect ears ; and a third of sturdier build, also long-tailed,
and with erect ears.
It has been re
marked by zoologists
that the semi-
domestic dogs of
the early inhabitants
of many regions of
the earth closely
resemble the wolf
races of the same
regions, with these
differences, that the
domesticated dog is
able to bark, while
the wolf is able only
to howl, and that in
the wolf the position
or form of the eye is
oblique, while the
dog has a circular
pupil. The wolf is
found throughout
China. Very few
specimens, however,
have been secured,
and the Chinese races have never been studied by scientists.
Similar remarks hold good for the wild dog, or " tsai-kou "
of the Chinese. Two varieties of the wild-dog (C. alpinus)
occur in China, one from the Tibet-Kansu borderland, the
other from the Manchurian forests. They are closely related to 5

BRONZE TAZZA (FROM HSI CH'lNG KU CHIEN)
From " Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty.'! By Berthold Laufer.

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the red dog of the Deccan.* The race is found in many parts
of China. In size and build it is smaller than the common
Chinese grey wolf. Its coloration is almost as varied as that of
the domestic dog. In Yunnan Province as many as two or
three individuals differing in colour have been seen near one
village at one time in winter. It is not known to form packs,
and is rarely seen in summer. Its cry resembles the howl of
the domestic dog.
Among the Aryans the shepherd's dog, the house-dog, and
the vagrant dog, comparable to the homeless begging friar,
were specially protected by religious ordinances. The keep
ing back of their food or the giving of bad food to them was a
crime punishable with many stripes. " For it is the dog,
of all the creatures of the good spirit, that most quickly
decays into age, while not eating near eating people, and
watching goods none of which it receives. Bring ye unto
him milk and fat with meat ; this is the right food for the
dog." f
"Whenever one eats bread one must put aside three
mouthfuls and give them to the dogs ... for among all
the poor than is none poorer than the dog." J
A further remark by Berthold Laufer deals with the possible
wolf-origin of certain breeds of Chinese dogs :
" Most interesting in this connexion is a passage in the
' Tso chuan,' § ' To the Jung and Ti, the wolf is not an object
of dislike/ by which is meant, apparently, that the wolf was
not dreaded by these presumably Turkish tribes, and was
accustomed to live in the neighbourhood of human dwellings.
• Sowerby, Journ. N.C.B.R.A.Soc, vol. xlvii.
f Zend Avesta, " Sacred Books of the East," vol. iv., p. 158.
J Saddar, 31 ; Hyde, 35.
§ Given in the " Mao shih ming wu t'u shuo " (Book II, p. 3), under the descrip
tion of the wolf, where again it is quoted after the book of Hsing Ping (932-1010) :
Giles, " Biographical Dictionary," p. 296.
6

EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
This reminds us of Jaschke's remark, that the Tibetan wolves,
where more numerous — as, for instance, in Spiti — commit
ravages among sheep, but are otherwise not much dreaded by
man, and, like the wolf in general, they are easily tamed. If
we compare in the above-mentioned book, ' Mao shin/ etc.,
the picture of the wolf with that of the dog (mang*), a
striking resemblance between the two is noticeable as regards
shape of head, mouth, and body, legs, claws, tail, and hairi
ness. The mang is mentioned as early as the ' Shih king,'
and must therefore have been known to the Chinese at an
early date. It now seems questionable whether the Tibetans
are to be looked upon as the trainers of the mastiff ; if not,
rather ancient Turkish tribes tamed the wolf — an animal with
which they were always quite familiar, and which played an
eminent role in their tribal traditions and creation myths f —
at a much earlier period. Of the fact that the dog in general
was known in the South-Siberian bronze age, we possess well-
authenticated archaeological evidence in a bronze plaque re
presenting a hunter accompanied by two dogs. In this
connexion it is worthy of note that a fierce kind of dog, called
p'i ngan (usually translated ' bull-dog '), whose picture is
painted on the doors of jails because of his ability as a watch
dog, is said to originate from the land of the Turks.
* The " Shuo wen " (a.d. ioo) gives the following names of dogs, and their
definitions :
Hsien (or lien) is a black dog with yellow chin.
Mang is a dog with plenty of hair.
Hsien (character slightly different from above) is a dog that barks incessantly.
Ao is a dog that knows man's heart, and can accordingly be utilized. (See Laufer,
P- 253-)
The " Erh Ya " states that a dog with long snout is called hsien or Ken ; one with
a short snout, hsieh hsiao. According to the ' Shih King,' both are hunting dogs
(Couvreur's edition, p. 134). The " Erh Ya " also states that the chao is a dog of great
strength. f H. Vambery, " Die primitive Cultur des turko-tatarischen Volkes " (Leipzig,
1879), PP- I97-98- 7

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
" Other evidence pointing to the same fact is found in the
peculiar ' dog of the kind which is found with the barbarians
Ti/ mentioned by Ssu-ma Ch'ien. And if the country of Lii,
which sent the hound ao, was a branch of the Western Jung,
everything is indeed apt to show that these large extraordinary
dogs, including the mastiffs— if the term mang may be
identified with the latter — came from Turkish regions. It is
noteworthy, too, that, according to the dictionary ' Shuo
wen ' (a.d. ioo), the land of the Hsiung nu (Huns) possessed
a special kind of dog, called chiao, with large mouth and
black body, which characteristics are essential to the mastiff.
For the rest, the definition of the chiao appears as a fabulous
animal in the ' Shan hai king ' : ' On the nephrite hills there
is an animal of a shape like a dog, striped like a panther, and
with horns like an ox ; it is called chiao ; its voice is like that
of a barking dog ; in the country where it appears dogs will be
abundant.' In a book, ' Jui ying t'u,' occurs now the inter
esting passage that the Hsiung nu offered panther-dogs with
pointed mouth, red body, and four feet. Whether these latter
animals were mastiffs or not — red colour occurs with them, in
fact — it is evident that the Hsiung nu possessed extraordinary
dogs, which arrived also in China."
The chase was of prime interest to the ancient Chinese,
and there are numerous references to sporting dogs in their
earlier literature. The first Emperors known to history
organized hunting expeditions, with levies from every district,
four times a year, chiefly with a view to training their men for
war. There are, unfortunately, few descriptions of the breeds
of hunting dogs used, yet it is known that the Emperors set
great value on them. The " Tribute Decrees for the four
Quarters " * records that a Grand Councillor of the Emperor
T'ang, who lived about 1760 B.C., counselled his master to
* " Yuan Chuan Lei Han," vol. cdxxxvi, " Dogs," second part.
8

EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
take from the Due South (of Honan) country " square "
dogs as tribute. The Chinese monarchs of the period,
perhaps, shared the zoological tastes of the potentates of
Assyria, such as Tiglath-Pileser, who collected all kinds of
beasts for his menageries at a period about 1200 B.C. Dogs,
both large and of small size, are known, from the Egyptian
bas-reliefs, to have existed in even earlier days.*f They
also existed in South America. J There is nothing to indicate
whether the Chinese " square " dogs were large or small.
The Books of Shang mention the sending as tribute of a hound
or hounds, perhaps, according to Chinese commentators quoted
by Legge, bloodhounds, called " ao " (pronounced as ough
in bough), " knowing the mind of man and capable of being
employed " by the wild tribe of Leu in the West " by way of
instruction " to the young king, King Woo, probably about
1 120 B.C. Commenting on this fact the Chinese classics laid
the foundation upon which Chinese foreign policy was des
tined, for thirty centuries and more, to be based : " A prince
should not do what is unprofitable to the injury of that
which is profitable, and then his merit may be completed.
He should not value strange things to the contemning of things
that are useful, and then his people will be able to supply all
his needs. Even dogs and horses which are not native to
his country he will not keep ; fine birds and strange animals
he will not nourish in his kingdom. When he does not look
* " Helps to Study of the Bible," plate Ixx.
f Dr. S. Birch believed the spaniel to be identified on the early Egyptian monu
ments. M. B. Wynne, " History of the Mastiff," 1886, p. 37.
J " Dogs were used for hunting, and it is noteworthy that remains of three kinds
of dog, all differing from that of Europe, have been found on the coast. The largest
of these was an animal of medium size with slender head and legs, and was probably
used for watching the house (and, in the interior, the herds), and for hunting. The
second was a short-legged dog, somewhat resembling a dachshund, which, to judge
from a vase-painting, was also used in the chase. The third was a kind of pug,
probably kept as a lap-dog." " South American Archaeology," Joyce [Peru],
Macmillan, 1912. 9

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
on foreign things as precious, foreigners will come to him ;
when that which is precious to him is worth, his own people
near at hand will enjoy repose." *
Nothing is known of the situation of the Leu country,
and the dogs are not described by any reliable Chinese
authority. Other Chinese commentators state that these
dogs were " Four feet (ancient feet, that is) high," but the
authority of such commentators, who wrote in some cases
hundreds of years after destruction of the original text, is
doubtful. Laufer considers that the Leu were one of the
numerous branches of the Turkish tribes.
German writers f have gone so far as to base upon this
record a totally unjustified statement that the dogs of Leu
were Thibetan mastiffs, and on this slender testimony have
built up an elaborate theory to the effect that the Chinese dog
is of Thibetan origin, and that the canine race in China is
derived from Western countries. These German writers
have omitted to take into consideration the fact that up to the
seventh century a.d. there was no such country as Thibet, and
the people who occupied the region at present called by that
name consisted of unknown nomad tribes, having no recorded
history, for the foundation of civilized monarchy in Thibet
was laid only in a.d. 652. They were steeped in barbarism,
and devoid of any written language.
Chavannes, quoting from the " Annals of Ssu-ma Ch'ien,"
states that the Emperor Chou Hsin (1154-1123 B.C.) of the
Yin dynasty, in ill repute on account of his extravagance and
debauchery, maintained a great number of dogs, horses, and
rare objects, and filled his palaces with them.J
* Legge's " Chinese Classics," vol. iii, Part V, Book V.
t Oscar Albrecht, " Zur Altesten Geschichte des Hundes," Munschen, 1903, p. 58 ;
C. Keller, " Die Abstammung des Altesten Hausthiere," Zurich, 1902, p. 74 ; Max
Sieber, " Der Thibethund," Winterthur, 1897.
% Chavannes, " Les memoires historiques de Se-ma Ts'ien," vol. i, p. 200.
IO

EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
An official record * of the Chow Dynasty (about iooo B.C.)
remarks, " From the Southern (of Shansi) States the yearly
tribute included amber, pearls, ivory, rhinoceros' horns,
kingfishers' feathers, cranes, and short dogs." The nature
of the other products clearly indicates that these dogs came
from South China, though it is just possible that some of
them may have originated from more distant countries,
travelling by the sea route.
Under primitive conditions the dog was, no doubt, more
than the friend of man. He was his ally, useful for pro
tection, necessary alike for the guarding of his herds and the
taking of his prey. It was only when man, by agriculture
and his other arts, had improved his position sufficiently to
become independent, that he began to give the dog a bad
name, certain religions, such as the Jewish and Mohammedan,
banning the race as abominable and unclean. In the whole
of Jewish history there is not a single allusion to hunting
with dogs. Jewish prejudice was, no doubt, largely due to
the exaggerated idolatry practised to the race from time im
memorial by the Egyptians, hereditary enemies of the Jews.
The beneficent dog-headed divinity Anubis, originally a
jackal-type, and later represented by the dog as his emblem,
was among the Egyptians, servant, messenger, and custodian
of the gods, lord of the cemetery and of the underworld.
Temples were consecrated to him throughout the land, and
his image was borne in all religious ceremonies. This dog-
worship was not confined to Egypt, for the Greeks adopted it,
and a Roman emperor carried the god Anubis in the feasts of
Isis. Herodotus, speaking of the sanctity in which some
animals were held by the Egyptians, to whom the appearance
of the watchful dog-star Sirius, " Latrator Anubis," above the
horizon was the signal that their flocks had to be removed
* " Yi Chou Shu." II

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
from Lower Egypt and the coming floods of the Nile, says that
the people of every family in which a dog died shaved them
selves — their expression of mourning — adding that this was
the custom of his own time.
Very fine and clear representations of the sporting dogs
used in hunting the wild ass by the monarchs of Assyria are
found in the bas-reliefs of Assur-bani-pal, dating from 668-
626 B.C. Clay models of the dogs of this monarch also exist.*
In Ethiopia not only was great veneration paid to the dog,
but the inhabitants used to elect a dog as their king. It was
kept in great state and surrounded by a numerous train of
officers and guards.
Pythagoras, after his return from Egypt, founded a new
sect in Egypt and S. Italy, teaching, with the Egyptian
philosophers, that at the death of the body the soul entered
into that of various animals. At the death of any of his
favourite disciples he would hold a dog to the mouth of the
man in order to receive the departing spirit, saying that there
was no animal which could perpetuate his virtues better than
that quadruped .f
The Parsi religion, whose priests ruled Persia from a period
many centuries before the Christian era until overthrown by
the second successor of Mohammed, devoted the whole of one
of its sacred books, found in the Zend Avesta to the dog.
To the Magi of this fire- worshipping religion the Rabbi's
and Mohammed owe much of their thought. To a reaction
against its extravagant dog-reverence coupled with that of
ancient Egypt is, perhaps, due the abhorrence in which the
dog is held by Saracen and Jew alike. This veneration held
by the Aryans for the canine disguise attributed to some of
their divinities, appears to throw light upon the race's
* " Mesopotamian Archaeology," by Percy S. P. Handcock, 1912.
f Encyclopaedia Britannica, " The Dog."
12

EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
importance to man in those early days. " The dog, O Spitama
Zarathustra ! I, Ahura Mazda, have made, self-clothed and
self-shod, watchful, wakeful, and sharp-toothed, born to take
his food from man and to watch over man's goods. I,
Ahura Mazda, have made the dog strong of body against the
evil-doer and watchful over your goods, when he is of sound
mind. If those two dogs of mine, the shepherd's dog and
the house-dog, pass by the house of any of my faithful
people, let them never be kept away from it. For no house
could subsist on the earth made by Ahura, but for those two
dogs of mine, the shepherd's dog and the house dog."
The sacred writer lays down special injunctions for the
breeding of dogs, the care of young dogs, and for the general
treatment of the race. " If the bones stick in the dog's teeth
or stop in his throat, or if the hot food burn his mouth or his
tongue, so that mischief follows therefrom, and the dog dies,
this is a sin that makes a man a Peshotanu." * The reasons
for which the canine race has the characters of a priest, a
warrior, a husbandman, a strolling singer, a thief, a wild
beast, a courtezan, and a child are explained at length. The
holy writer explains that at death a dog's ghost passes to the
spring of the waters and that there, out of every thousand
males and everv thousand females are formed a male and
female water-dog. To each of the water-dogs, the holiest of
all dogs, was ascribed an extraordinary measure of sanctity.
So extravagant was the penalty allotted on paper by the
Zoroastrians for the murder of a water-dog that it has been
doubted whether their legislation ever existed as real and
living law. The penalties imposed for such a murder in
cluded the infliction of twenty thousand stripes, the carrying
of a similar number of loads of wood, the killing of ten
thousand snakes, ten thousand cats, ten thousand tortoises,
* Zend Avesta, " Sacred Books of the East," vol. iv, pp. 160, 163, 173. 13

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
twenty thousand frogs, the same number of ants, ten thousand
earthworms and horrid flies. The culprit was to " godly and
piously give to godly men " a set of priestly instruments, a
set of war implements, of husbandmen's implements, the
price of a stallion in silver, and of a camel in gold, a rill of
running water, the depth of a dog and the breadth of a dog, a
house with ox-stalls, goodly beds with cushions, a virgin
maid, fourteen head of small cattle. He was to bring up twice
seven wThelps, and to throw twice seven bridges over canals.*
Confucius, the chief of China's sages, who was born in
the year 551 B.C., favoured simplicity, and was the enemy of
all hypocrisy such as that which would not allow the price of
a dog to be brought into the House of the Lord.f Con
fucius " smiled, and exclaimed, ' True, true/ in amusement "
at the aptness of the simile when likened to a homeless dog
at the gate of the City of Chen.J Literary Chinese will to this
day, spontaneously borrow similar allusions from the classics.
In introducing his son a scholar will use a strictly classical
term which can only be translated by some refined English
phrase, finally reducible to " puppy." Another, in offering
his services, will state his willingness to be the " dog and the
horse " of his master.
The Province of Shantung, of which Confucius was a
native, appears always to have been famous for its dogs.
" In first-class houses there are fierce dogs that watch the
doors to the halls of singing-girls. Men who are not regular
customers are not allowed to enter unceremoniously. If they
enter, the dogs bite them to death. Their warning is like
that of a spirit, their fierceness like that of a tiger. They are
dogs from Meng hai in Ts'ao chou." §
* Zend Avesta, " Sacred Books of the East," vol. iv, p. 166.
f Deuteronomy xviii. 18. J Shih Chi.
§ A prefecture in Western Shantung. Ko chih ching yuan and T'u shu chi ch'eng,
vol. dxciv, Laufer, p. 265.

EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
Reverting to the dog or dogs ao of Leu, whose arrival
caused the enunciation of a foreign policy which has had an
important bearing upon the development of the whole Chinese
race, we find that numerous fanciful pictures of it have been
produced by painters of the Sung (a.d. 960) and Ming (a.d.
1368) dynasties. It is the most famous dog in Chinese history.
The incident was frequently quoted to emphasize the necessity
of study of statecraft upon later emperors, and to discourage
over-affection for the four luxuries in whose possession these
primitive rustic potentates were apt to take the greatest pride
— namely, gold, jade, dogs, and horses. So addicted to the
pleasure of the chase were these early " sporting " emperors,
that all references to it had to be severely banned at the
Imperial Audiences : "At Audiences let no reference be
made to matters pertaining to the dog and the horse." *
The learned Commentator adds " the dog and the horse are of
minor importance, and not subjects worthy of discussion at
Audiences." It is to be feared that in certain cases an emperor
was somewhat inclined to hold the affairs of state merely " some
thing better than his dog, and a little dearer than his horse."
His views may be compared to those of Julius Caesar :
" One day in Rome, Caesar, seeing some rich foreigners
nursing and petting young lapdogs and monkeys, inquired
whether in their parts of the world women bore no children ;
a truly imperial reproof to those who waste on animals the
affection which they ought to bestow on mankind." f
The paucity of detail in reference to dogs down to the period
of the Emperor Chin Shih may be in part ascribed to the
destruction of much valuable material in his holocaust of
Chinese literature (255 B.C.), which, no doubt, accounts in
* " Book of Rites," vol. i (written about the seventh century B.C.), vide " Com
mentaries of the Sung Dynasty."
f Plutarch's " Life of Pericles," a.d. 40 ; " Toy Dogs," by the Hon. Mrs. Neville
Lytton, p. 268. 15

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
large measure for the poverty of later writings in matters
dealing with the early history of Chinese dogs. Just as King
James' " Counterblast " against tobacco-smoking forbade the
writers of that period — 'notably Shakespeare — to mention
the weed which flowed in wreaths of smoke— thus depriving
us of much of the early history of Raleigh's discovery — so
Chin Shih's ban on all things literary has left us in ignorance
of many an incident which would otherwise now stand
chronicled. Short-mouthed dogs are referred to as having existed in
the time of Confucius.* The Sage mentions the dog in
cidentally in exhorting his disciples to salvage economy.
He says : "I have heard that the discarded hangings of the
chariot may be used to wrap the beloved saddle-horse for
burial, and that the torn awning (or chariot umbrella) will
serve to cover the dear house-dog in his grave." f
About 500 years B.C. it is recorded that dogs were used in
the kingdom now represented by the Province of Shansi
for sporting purposes. Some of these were probably small
dogs, for it is mentioned that after the day's sport, one kind of
dog followed its master's chariot, while " those having short
mouths were carried in the carts." |
It was only as late as the Roman occupation that specific
knowledge of the five races of dogs existent in England was
secured. These are believed to have been the house-dog, the
greyhound, the bulldog, the terrier, and the slow-hound. The
British dogs are said to have been in great demand in Rome,
both for hunting and for the sports of the amphitheatre ,§
and a special officer was appointed for procuring them.
Similarly, it was only at the end of the first century of our
era that the Chinese books became a little more specific as
* " Erh Ya." f Li Chi. Pan Kung. J « Erh Ya."
§ Notes and Queries, 1900, vol. v, p. 524.
l6

EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
to the nature of the dogs mentioned. They speak of some of
them as being called by the name " Pai," which later Chinese
authorities explain as referring to a very small " short-
legged " * and " short-headed " f type of dog, which belongs
under the table.J The Chinese table of the period was low,
and those round it sat on mats.
From this period onwards, many of the Chinese emperors
seem to have taken greater interest in small dogs. The
Eastern emperors appear to have been led, partly, perhaps,
through feminine influence, to extremes unsurpassed by the
Merry Monarch himself. It may here be noted that re
ferences to dogs in Chinese history are often made with the
object, not of recording details to throw light upon the
manners of the period, but as obiter scripta to illustrate ef
feminacy and want of care in statecraft on the part of the ruler.
There was a similar tendency among Japanese historians.
" In the days of Takatoki, the ninth representative of the Hojo
family (who reigned at the end of the thirteenth century) a
new atmosphere permeated Kamakura. Instead of visiting
the archery-ground and the fencing-school men began to waste
day and night in the company of dancing-girls, professional
musicians, and jesters. The plain simple diet of former
days was exchanged for Chinese dishes. Takatoki kept
thirty-seven concubines, maintained a band of two thousand
actors, and had a pack of two thousand fighting-dogs."
Twelve great fights took place every month, and when the
champion of the dogs, fancifully described as being in some
cases as big as oxen, were led through the streets, people
doffed their head-gear, and even knelt down in reverence .§
The official history of the Han dynasty states that the
* " Chien Lei Han." f " Kwong Yun " by Ch'en.
% " Shuo wen " of Hsu Shen.
§ " Japan and China," vol. ii, p. 13, by Captain F. Brinkley.
|| " Hou Han Shu," vol viii. Quoted by Pei Wen Yun Fu.
B 17

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
Emperor Ling Ti (a.d. 168-190) was both foolish and vicious.
He took to driving a chariot with asses four-in-hand in his
capital, the result being that his faithful subjects followed the
Imperial example to such good purpose that the price of asses
became equal to that of horses. He sold rank and official
positions. From the Chief of a Province whose annual
salary was two thousand piculs of rice he would require twenty
thousand strings of cash in advance, but, if poverty forbade, he
was willing to accept a promise of twice this amount at the
completion of the term of office. He kept in his Western
Garden at Lo Yang (Honanfu) a dog of which he was ex
tremely fond, and to this animal he gave the official hat of the
Chin Hsien grade — the most important literary rank of the
period — as well as an official belt. " The hat was 8| inches
high in front, 3! inches high behind, and 10 inches broad."
Nearly all the dogs which were reared by the Emperor
were given the rank of K'ai Fu (approximately that of a
Viceroy) ; others that of Yi Tung (a rank probably equivalent
to the present post of Imperial Guardian). The females were
given the ranks of the wives of the corresponding officials.
These dogs were guarded by soldiers and fed on the best of
rice and meat. For their beds they were given the choicest
carpets.* The book from which this reference is taken proceeds
gravely : " This had the effect of likening the high officials
to dogs, and so was a bad practice."
The literati could not forgive this fatuous bestowal of
literary rank upon dogs, however intelligent. They stig
matize Ling Ti as weak, indolent, and content to leave his
affairs of state to the chief eunuchs.
The Emperor Fei Ti (a.d. 973-977) of the Southern Sung
Dynasty appears to have got into similar bad odour with the
* " Tung K'ao," by Ma Tuan Lin of the Yuan Dynasty. (Date of book, a.d. i 3 19.)
l8

EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
literati, for they record that he was addicted to drunkenness
in temples, and was given to stealing dogs from his subjects.*
His nightly prowlings, after the manner of Khalif Haroun-al-
Raschid, in later days led to his death, for, returning to the
palace one night in an inebriated state, he was followed and
murdered by one of his generals.
* Yu Pi T'ung Ch'ien.

*9

CHAPTER II
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
IN parts of Europe, temporary isolation and rise in the
cost of living have, from time to time, caused the flesh
of the horse and other animals little known to the arts
of cookery to be used as the food of man. In China, poverty,
due to over-population, has existed from time immemorial,
and it is not surprising to find, in the stories of early foreign
travellers, confirmation of the wide-spread belief that, not
withstanding the nation's high degree of civilization, dog-
flesh has been used as human food in that country. The
Arab traveller Ibn Batuta wrote, about a.d. 1342, " The flesh
of swine and dogs is eaten by the Chinese pagans, and it is
sold publicly in their markets." * Fernam Mendez Pinto, a
Portuguese whose remarkable adventures are recorded by
Purchas, wrote two hundred years later, " We saw pennes
full of little dogges to sell . . . frogs, snakes, snailes, all
being meate with them (the Chinese)." f " The ordinary
and daily meals are made by the Chinese very early," writes
another traveller, " for they have an opinion that if they should
fast till noon some misfortune should befall them that day.
They are not curious in their diet, for they eat all manner of
flesh without difference, as well that of a horse as of an ox :
they are great lovers of swine's flesh, which they praise as the
most delicious of any, and is preferred by them before any
* " Cathay and the Way Thither," vol. iv, p. no.
f " Purchas his Pilgrimes," vol. xii, p. 109, Maclehose.
20

DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
other. But the more ordinary sort of people will feed upon
any carrion, either of a horse, mule, ass, dogs, or any
creatures." *
The Spanish priest Navarette, writing about twenty years
later, reflects the point of view, in matters canine, of the
European at a period when dog-fighting and bull-baiting were
ordinary pastimes. " The Officer that carry 'd me to the
Metropolis assur'd me (and I had it from others before) that
he eat for his Breakfast every morning 30 Eggs, and a Dog's
Leg, and drank two Quartillos (it is about a pint and a half) of
hot Wine. The good old man looked so fat and fair, it did a
man good to see him. Infinite number of Dogs are eaten in
China, they count their flesh delicate and nourishing, and have
Butchers and Shambles where it is sold ; but more in the
Northern Provinces than in the Southern. It is comical to
see what a multitude of dogs pursue these Butchers as they
go along the Streets ; I suppose the smell of the Dogs' flesh
they carry about them provokes the other Dogs. When they
go loaded with half a dozen or more Dogs to the Shambles, the
sport is still better ; for the noise those so carry'd make,
brings out all the Dogs in the Town to take their parts , and
attack their mortal enemy's. They also eat Horse-flesh,
Buffalo, Cats, and Mice ; and other sorts. I myself eat of a
Horse, Dogs, and Mice, and in truth I lik'd them very well." f
The Mongolian tribes living in the Far North of ancient
China ate dogs'-flesh, and as a means of trial by ordeal had a
practice of drinking dogs' blood. Ysbrants Ides,J a Russian
Ambassador who travelled to China in 1692, remarks in
cidentally, " While in Peking I observed, at the door of a
considerable Mandaryn, and a Great Officer, some persons
* John Ogilby's translation of NieuhofPs " Embassy from the East India Com
pany," 1655, p. 172.
f " An Account of the Emperor of China," Navarette, p. 65.
j " Three Years' Travels from Moscow to China," by Ysbrants Ides, 1706, p. 45.
21

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
flaying of a fat Dog ; upon which I asked the Mandaryn,
Wherefore that was done ? Who answered, That it was a
healthful sort of food, especially in Summer, it being very
cooling." He remarks of the Tungus tribes that they eat
cats and dogs, and figures the butchering of these animals
near their tents, stating that " Very few of them are found
without several dead young Dogs hanging near them." He
also figures the Tungus trial by ordeal, which is described as
follows : " The Waywode asked the Accuser if he would,
according to the Tunguzian Custom, put the Accused to his
Oath ? To this he answered in the Affirmative ; after which
the accused took a live Dog, laid him on the Ground, and with
a knife stuck him in the Body, just under his left Foot, and
immediately clapped his Mouth to the Wound, and sucked out
the Dog's Blood so long as he could come at it ; after which
he lifted him up, laid him on his shoulders, and clapp'd his
Mouth again to the Wound in order to suck out the remaining
Blood. An excellent drink indeed."
In a work dating from the beginning of the nineteenth
century we read :
" We will not attempt, in a spirit of false delicacy, to conceal
the fact that the lower class in China is in the habit of eating
the flesh of the dog, the cat, the rat, etc.
" But that which must be more astonishing is that according
to tradition and the witness of the learned, it appears that the
Chinese actually classed ass and dog-flesh as butcher's meat at
a period in which, as its population was numerically moderate,
means of subsistence could not have been scarce. This was a
difficulty which, for a considerable period, embarrassed Pere
Cibot, who spared no research in his endeavours to elucidate
the point. At last he discovered in a celebrated work written
for the instruction of the princes of the Imperial Family, that
in ancient days three kinds of dogs were distinguished : the
22

DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
watch-dog, the hunting-dog, and the edible dog ; but
according to the description of this last, this pretended dog
used as food is nothing but the otter, an animal which
European naturalists have also included in the canine
species." *
Father Cibot's authority is, no doubt, the remark of an early
Chinese commentator dealing with a quotation from the
" Book of Rites." He remarks that " dogs are of three kinds :
hunting-dogs, watch-dogs, and those used for culinary
purposes, commonly known as edible dogs." f
The endeavours to relieve the ancient Chinese of the
supposed stigma of eating canine flesh is more ingenious than
convincing, for the otter is not commonly found in China, is
not classed as a dog, and has no special reputation as a table
delicacy. Nor is the otter an animal which readily lends
itself to fattening. The " Book of Rites " further enjoins that
all animal gifts offered on sacred occasions shall be in a fitting
state of plumpness, and remarks : "When a dog is offered at
the sacrifices of the ancestral temples it is to be called ' Keng-
hsien.' " The commentator solemnly explains that " Keng-
hsien " is a soup made from a fat dog. Dog-flesh, on the other
hand, is known by tradition to have been, from time im
memorial, the food of man in China, and to have been-
considered, under certain conditions, a delicacy. The Chinese
have no cause to be unduly sensitive on account of the tastes
of their ancestors, for, writing at the same time as Father
Grosier, another author remarks : "In America, the flesh of
the dog is eaten, and it is to be found commonly with other
kinds of meat and game in the public markets. The ancients
also reckoned a young and fat dog excellent food. Hippoc
rates classed it with mutton and pork. The Romans
* " Grosier de la Chine," 1819, vol. iv, p. 244.
t " Book of Rites," vol. i.
23

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
admired sucking whelps, and sacrificed them to their divinities.
The Romans thought them a supper in which the gods
themselves delighted." *
Professor Boyd Dawkins, delving still deeper into the past,
found evidence of the use of dogs '-flesh among the cave-
dwellers of Britain itself, and remarks that the large percentage
of fractured bones of puppies implies that they found especial
culinary favour among our prehistoric ancestors, f
In Corea dog-flesh was on sale among the common butchers'
meats, and enjoyed by the people, in 1882. In the first
month of the year, however, owing to religious scruples, no
dog-meat was eaten. Griffis states that the people of Kokorai, J
from whom the Coreans are descended, held dogs in con
siderable honour and named their rulers after the domestic
beasts, the horse, the ox, and the dog, etc. In Japan dogs are
held in very little honour except the " chin " or Japanese
spaniel .§ It is a remarkable fact that though the Chinese
and Corean partiality for dog-flesh has been noted by almost
every close observer of their customs from early times, the
Japanese appear never within historic times to have eaten
this meat. In the light of the theory that the early Japanese
were derived from two swarms of colonists both coming from
Siberia, the first cave-dwellers and the second the Ainu, who
used stone implements, the following remarks by Perry ||
are of considerable interest, as they seem to suggest absence
of the influence of megalithic culture, which appears to have
tended to restrain from the use of canine flesh, from early
Chinese development. " Several facts go to show that the
whole group of notions concerning the relationship between
* Rees's" Cyclopaedia," vol. xii, " Dog," 1819.
¦f- Boyd Dawkins, " Cave Hunting."
j " Corea : the Hermit Nation," Griffis, 1882, p. 267. § Ibid., p. 52.
|| " The Megalithic Culture of Indonesia," Manchester University Press, 1918,
chap. xx.
24

DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
men and animals were introduced (into Indonesia) by the
stone-using immigrants. For they appear to be more closely
connected with animals than the indigenous peoples. The
chiefs of Kupang in Timor are said to be descended from
crocodiles." " The Khasi have certain food-restrictions.
They do not, as a people, eat dogs or ordinary frogs." " The
cat and dog are not eaten by the Kayan of the Mahakam river."
" Among the Chiru no women may eat dog, which is also
forbidden to the priests when killed for a sacrifice." " Dogs
and salt fish are forbidden when rice is being transplanted, and
dogs are forbidden during rice-harvest and epidemics."
The street-dogs, as remarked by Robert Fortune,* a
botanist who visited Japan in i860, " appear to be of the same
breed as the common Chinese dog, and both have probably
sprung from the same stock." They were as much neglected
as is the case in China to-day. " On a warm summer after
noon," he continues, " these animals may be seen lying at full
length in the public highway, apparently sound asleep ;
and it was not unusual for our attendants to kick and whip
them out of our road in a most unceremonious way. On
many of them the marks of the sharp swords of the yakoneens
were plainly visible, and everything tended to show, that if
the dogs were regarded as sacred by some, the feeling fails to
secure them from being cruelly ill-treated by the common
people. It was not unusual to meet with wretched specimens
in a half-starved condition, and covered with loathsome
disease." His statements are confirmed by the remark of
Lafcadio Hearn, that the condition of the Japanese dog is one
thing which tells powerfully against beliefs about the influence
of Buddhism upon the treatment of animals.
The dog has had his day in Japan, however. " We went by
the place where publick orders and proclamations are put up,
* Kaempfer. 25

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
not far from the ditch of the castle, where we saw a new pro
clamation put up lately and twenty shuits of silver nail'd to the
post to be given as a reward to any body that would discover
the accomplices of a murder lately committed upon a dog.
Many a poor man hath been severely punish'd in this country,
under the present Emperor's reign, purely for the sake of
dogs."* The Chinese three-character classic, to this day a schoolroom
text-book, continues to instil into the schoolboy mind that the
canine and equine races supply two of the six kinds of flesh
edible by man. To this day, too, dogs closely resembling the
foreign " chow " are bred in parts of Quangtung and Quangsi
Provinces for culinary purposes. Black dogs are considered to
be the most nutritious. " Flowery dogs " — those of mixed
colour — are reputed to be the most palatable, those of yellow
and white colour following them in culinary value. The
puppies are fattened on rice, and killed at an age of about nine
months. After removing the hair by scalding, the body is cut
into six or eight pieces and boiled for about an hour. It is
then fried in oil. The meat is cut into small pieces and cooked
with dry mushrooms, preserved bean-cake, native onion, a
little ginger, and water-chestnuts. The dish resulting is said
to be exceedingly palatable, and to have the property of re
ducing fatigue due to sleeplessness. For this reason the dish
was very popular with students in the provincial and national
examinations of the Manchu regime, which were carried on
continuously for several days.
Archdeacon Gray,f writing in 1878 of the dogs'-flesh
restaurants of Canton, states that in the city there were no less
than twenty such places " where cooks may be seen standing in
front of slow fires over which the flesh of cats and dogs is
being cooked. Placards are sometimes placed above the door,
* Kaempfer. f " China," J. H. Gray, vol. ii, p. 76.
26

DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
setting forth that the flesh of black dogs and cats can be
served up at a moment's notice. On the walls of the dining-
rooms are bills of fare. The following is a translation of one :
Cat's flesh, one basin
Black cat's flesh, one small basin
Wine, one bottle
Wine, one small bottle

Ketchup, one basin
Black dog's grease
Black cat's eyes, one pair

io cents.
5 cents.
3 cents.
i£ cents.
2 cash.
i tael 4 cents.
4 cents.

"The persons who frequent such eating-houses are re
spectable shopkeepers and artisans, and the sum which they
pay for a good dinner is on an average 15 cents., or 7^d. I
have occasionally seen poor men dining at these restaurants,
but they form a very small proportion of the visitors. At
Peking I found two or three shops in which dog's flesh was
exposed for sale as food ; and Dr. Williams has stated that
dog hams are exported from the northern province of Shan
tung. At the commencement of summer a ceremony called
A-chee, which consists in eating dogs' flesh is observed
throughout the Empire by persons of all ranks. The Can
tonese think that to eat the flesh of dogs is to act in opposition
to the will of the gods, and on many Buddhist temples I have
seen placards calling upon the people not only to abstain from
the flesh of bulls, goats, and swine, but from that also of dogs,
as these are the faithful guardians of their masters' homes."
The public marketing of dogs' flesh has been prohibited
in Canton only from about the middle of 1915. It is exposed
for sale openly in the butchers' shops in the suburbs to this
day. In Quangtung Province, too, a dish said to have
powerful protective properties against cold is made with a
combination of the meat of snakes and cats, called by the 27

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
figurative name of " Dragon-Tiger Soup." Hams cut from
the dog may be eaten in some parts of China, but butchers'
shops which sell the meat are now rare and of the poorest.
Even the beggars who buy it shield their loss of " face " by
calling the meat by the euphemistic name of " ground lamb "
(ti-yang) as distinct from wool-sheep or hill-sheep (yang).
The random foreign traveller will, however, have to fare far
and make strict search before discovering a dish of dog-meat in
China to-day.
Buddhism, the State religion in most parts of India during
the early centuries of our era, was a form of belief which
separated from the main stock of the Hindu religion based
on the Brahmanical scriptures still professed by seventy per
cent, of the people of India. Hinduism is believed to have
been introduced by India's early Aryan conquerors, who
appear to have considered the dog to be unclean and its flesh
to have been unfit for normal food. Among the earliest of
Hindu legends is that of Manu, a divine being, founder of the
human race, who was saved from a great flood which destroyed
all other created beings. He was the inventor of sacrificial
rites, the author and first teacher of legal maxims. He taught
that a Brahmana must never eat " food given by intoxicated,
angry, or sick men, nor that in which hair or insects are found,
nor that which has been touched intentionally with the foot
. . . nor that which has been pecked at by birds or touched
by a dog,* nor the food given by a physician, a hunter, a cruel
man, or one who eats the fragments of another's meal,f by
trainers t)f hunting dogs, publicans, a washerman, a dyer, or a
pitiless man." J Manu declared, however, that " the flesh
of an animal killed by dogs is pure." " The porcupine, the
hedgehog, the iguana, the rhinoceros, the tortoise, and the
• " The Laws of Manu. Sacred Books of the East," edited by Max Muller,
vol. iv, p. 208. f Ibid., vol. iv, p. 212. J Ibid., vol. v, p. 131.
28

DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
hare they declared to be eatable ; likewise those domestic
animals that have teeth in one jaw only, excepting camels."
If a Brahmana " has a strong desire for meat he may make
an animal of clarified butter or one of flour (and eat that)."
In spite of the prohibition of dogs' flesh, food obtained by
begging was always pure, and " Vamadeva, who well knew
right and wrong, did not sully himself when, tormented by
hunger, he desired to eat the flesh of a dog in order to save
his life." " Visvamitra, who well knew what is right or
wrong, approached, when he was tormented by hunger, (to
eat) the haunch of a dog, receiving it from the hands of a
Kandala." The dog was one of the five sacrificial animals of the Chinese,
and similarly dogs were occasionally sacrificed by the Hindus.
" All the gods are concerned in the horse-sacrifice ; when he
says ' I sprinkle thee for all the gods/ he makes all the gods
take a concern in the horse-sacrifice. But his wicked enemy
seeks to lay hold of him who performs the horse-sacrifice, and
the horse is a thunderbolt ; having killed the four-eyed dog,
he, with ' Undone is the man ! Undone is the dog ! ' —
plunges it under the horse's feet." *
The whimsical solemnity with which Chinese officials have
been apt to lay down high-sounding and heavily-worded rules
and regulations upon the most trivial subjects for the guidance
of those desirous of avoiding the stigma of want of culture,
and for the glory of the letter of the law, is illustrated by a
further quotation from the " Book of Rites " setting forth the
procedure in presentation and acceptance of dogs : " When
honouring by the gift of a dog, it is to be led with the left
hand." The commentator gravely adds : " The reason for
leading with the left hand is that the right may be ready to
restrain the dog from biting." j- If acceptable, the re-
* " Sacred Books of the East," vol. xliv, p. 279. f " Book of Rites," vol. i.
29

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
cipient's representative was first to take the leading-rope,
and then to ask the dog's name.
As this procedure regulated the gift of house-dogs and
hunting-dogs only, it is implied that gifts of edible dogs are
not to be presented by hand, but must simply be sent to the
kitchen, their points being judged, not by visual examination,
but by the more searching test of the palate.
It may be mentioned, as an interesting trait in the Oriental
character, that the early Chinese in their writings imagined
themselves so much superior to foreigners that they alone
could claim descent from human ancestors. They assigned
canine origin to all neighbours except those of the South, to
whom ophidian parentage was ascribed. Consequently,
canine names were given to the peoples of the North, East, and
West, and it was only in 1858 that Lord Elgin was able, by the
cumbrous procedure of diplomacy, to obtain, as one of the
stipulations of the Tientsin Treaty, " that henceforward the
character ' I ' (having both in writing and by its verbal
usage the significance of canine ancestry) shall not be applied
to the Government or Subjects of Great Britain." Similar
privileges are not enjoyed by the wild tribes of Western China,
and the result is that they suffer under such dog-names as
T'ung, Yao, and Lolo to this day.
Kaempfer, who visited Japan in 1691 on behalf of the
Dutch East India Company, remarks : " Since the now
reigning Emperor (Kinsen, 1687) came to the throne, there
are more dogs bred in Japan than, perhaps, in any one
country whatever, and than there were before even in this
Empire. They have their Masters, indeed, but lie about the
streets and are very troublesome to passengers and travellers.
Every street must by special command of the Emperor keep
a certain number of these Animals and provide them with
victuals. There are Huts built in every street, where they
30

DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
are taken care of when they fall sick. Those that die must be
carried up to the tops of the mountains and hills, as the usual
burying places, and very decently interred. Nobody may,
under severe penalties, insult or abuse them, and to kill them
is a capital crime whatever mischief they do. In this case
notice of their misdemeanours must be given to their keepers,
who are alone empowered to chastise and punish them.
This extraordinary care for the preservation of the Dog-
kind is the effect of a superstitious fancy of the now reigning
Emperor,* who was born in the sign of the Dog (the reader
is desired to take notice, that the Dog is one of the twelve
Celestial Signs of the Japanese, as shall be shown hereafter
in Book II, Chap. 2), and hath for this reason so great an
esteem for this Animal, as the Great Roman Emperor
Augustus Caesar is reported in Histories to have had for rams.
The natives tell a pleasant tale on this head. A Japanese,
as he was carrying up the dead carcase of a Dog to the top
of a mountain, in order to its burial, grew impatient, grumbled
and curs'd the Emperor's birthday and whimsical commands.
His companion, sensible of the justice of his complaints,
bid him hold his tongue and be quiet and, instead of swearing
and cursing, return thanks to the Gods that the Emperor
was not born in the Sign of the Horse, because in that case
the load would have been much heavier." f
The beliefs of the Aryansans, the ancient Persians who
disguised gods as dogs, caused them to punish even more
severely any crimes against dogs. It was safer to kill a man
than to serve bad food to a shepherd dog. The Zend Avesta
allots two hundred stripes for throwing to the ground a part
* Thunberg does not entirely agree with Kaempfer. He says, " La veneration pour
les chiens est bien anterieure au temps de Kaempfer, et subsiste encore aujourd'hui ;
je ne puis I'attribuer qu'aux services rendus par ces animaux les ancetres, a I'epoque
de leur etablissement dans ces iles. Thunberg, " Japon," vol. ii, 1796.
f Kaempfer's " History of Japan," by J. G. Scheuzer, J. MacLehose, vol. i, p. 196. 31

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
of a dog's carcase no bigger than two ribs, thirty stripes were
the penalty for throwing down a bone as large as the top joint
of a man's little finger.
Though the Chinese, unlike the Egyptians, have never
worshipped the dog, and have seldom used it in sacrificial
ceremony ,* they have allowed it to enter into religious
ceremonial, and it has secured no mean place among the
legends of the superstitious.
In the Hatamen, one of the main streets of Peking, stands an
Imperial Temple recently reduced to small dimensions.
This temple is the oldest in the city. It is said to date from
the T'ang Dynasty, and is dedicated to the god Erh Lang, the
Chinese St. George, famous for his prowess in the extermina
tion of dragons. Erh Lang is the protector of dogs, and
possesses a magic dragon-slaying sword. He is owner of the
dog which howls in the sky, and which, like the Fenris Wolf,
eats the sun. This dog is known to Europeans on account of
* J. F. Hewitt, Journ. R. As. Soc, 1890, p. 441. " Another animal which was
sacrificed in other countries, but not so far as I can discover in India, was the dog.
The history of this sacrifice seems to throw most valuable light on ancient chronology
and the course of religious evolution. The dog was certainly a sacred animal to the
Northern Akkadians, as it is represented in their mythology by the four hounds of
Bel-Merodach." (Sayce Hibbert Lectures, 1887, pp. 288, 289.) But it is as the
animal sacred to the fire god Adar that it appears as a sacrificial victim in Asia Minor,
Greece and Italy. Adar, or Uras, was at Nipur ' the god of glowing fire,' and was a
most popular deity at Nineveh among the Northern Assyrians, but was not a favourite
with the Southern or Semitic Babylonians (Ibid., pp. 152-54). This god became in
Asia Minor the Tyrian Hercules called Melgarth, and there he was especially associated
with dogs. Dogs were also sacred to the Athenian Hercules, as is shown by the
name Cynosarges, or dog's yard, where his shrine was situated. According to .Mian,
sacred .dogs accompanied the Sicilian god Adranus, who has been identified with
Adar. But it is in the worship of Ares in Greece, and Mars in Rome, that we find
the dog actually sacrificed. Dogs were sacrificed to Ares in Sparta, and the Latins
offered a red dog to Mars at the Arvalia, to prevent the crops taking fire. The symbol
of Ares was Sirius, the dog-star, and there thus appears every reason to connect him
with the Akkadian Uras, the god of glowing fire. The development of this god into
Hercules with the club, shows that the god of fire was originally the god of the fire-
stick, who in the ancient triad took the place of the phallic father.
" Throughout the Rigveda and Brahmanas the dog and Agni are both regarded as
the messenger of the gods."
32

ALTAR OF ERH LANG, PEKING

To face p. 32

DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
the noisy manner in which, up to recent years, when the sun
or moon stood in danger of eclipse, the people attempted to
dissuade him from his celestial meal.
The Chinese term for an eclipse is still the " eating up "
of the sun or moon. The demonstrations which, up to the
inauguration of modern reforms in China, took place at
an eclipse were described by Gray :
" Five months prior to the eclipse the head of the Li-poo
Board at Pekin, in obedience to the commands of the Em
peror, forwards a despatch to the chief rulers of each province,
and through him to the chief magistrate of each prefecture
and each county, requesting them at the approaching
eclipse to save the sun. At the time all the mandarins,
attired in black robes, assemble at the official residence
of the chief magistrate. When they have arranged them
selves before an altar erected in the courtyard of the yamen,
the chief magistrate burns incense on the altar and beats
a drum three times. At this stage all the officials present
fall down before the altar and perform the kow-tow. The
ceremony on the part of the officials having been brought
to a close, a number of underlings continue, until the eclipse
is over, to beat drums and tom-toms with the view of
frightening and thereby preventing the Tien-Kow or
heavenly dogs from devouring the sun. During this din,
priests of the respective sects of Buddha and Tao stand
before the altar and chant appropriate prayers. Upon the
tops of all the dwelling-houses and shops of a Chinese city,
men are also stationed who, by means of drums, tom-toms,
and horns add to the general din. The same ceremonies
take place during an eclipse of the moon. Formerly in
other lands, as in China to-day, an eclipse of the sun or
moon was beheld with terror. To rescue the moon from
the spell of the enchanter, other nations, like the Chinese
c 33

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
of the present day, had recourse to the blowing of horns
and the beating of drums and brazen pots and pans. This
ridiculous custom was evidently in full force in the day
of Juvenal, who alludes to it in a description of a brawling
woman — ' Forbear your drums and trumpets, if you please,
Her voice alone, the labouring moon can ease,' " *
The importance attached by the ancients to prompt
measures for countering this danger is shown by the fate
meted out to two inaccurate astronomers of antiquity, as
recorded in the Classics : " Now here are He and Ho. They
have entirely subverted their virtue and are sunk and lost in
wine. They have been the first to allow the regulations of
heaven to get into disorder, putting far from them their
proper business. On the first day of the last month of autumn
the sun and moon did not meet harmoniously in Fang.
The blind musicians beat their drums, the inferior officers
and common people bustled and ran about. He and Ho, how
ever, heard nothing and knew nothing. The statutes of the
government say ' when they anticipate the time let them
be put to death without mercy ; when they are behind the
time let them be put to death without mercy.' " f
This mythical dog is quaintly described in a popular work
on the Chinese minor deities. " The How Tien Ch'uan, oj*
Heavenly Barking Dog (belonging to the deity Erh Lang),
when sublimed from the earthly state, became a thin-bodied or
coursing dog, having the size of an elephant^-and the likeness
of the strong and fierce owl which eats its parents. Its
head is as brass and its neck as iron. Terrible in battle, its
antagonist, however fierce and powerful, is quickly consumed,
even unto the last of his bones." To this idea of the existence
* " China," J. H. Gray, vol. i, p. 267, 1878.
f Legge's Chinese Classics, " Shoo King," Part III, Book IV, chap. ii.
34

DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
of a celestial dog may be due the practice, said to be current
in parts of China, of carrying in processions praying for rain
in time of drought, a big dog housed in a palanquin and dressed
like a man.*
It is probable that this celestial terror is identical in Chinese
mythology with the heavenly dog which has the sinister re
putation of trying to snatch children from their homes. In
many temples there is an image of the god Ch'ang Hsien, and
near him are his children. He is represented as shooting an
arrow at a dog appearing in a cloud. f Doolittle furnishes the
following explanation for the worship of this deity by the
women of China : " Some women are born on days which are
represented by the chronological or horary character which
means ' dog.' These women after marriage and before they
give birth to a child, must procure a picture of the genius
shooting the ' heavenly dog ' and worship by the burning of
incense and candles. The child then may be expected to live.
... In a celebrated temple located outside the East gate of
the city of Foochow is an image of a large dog. It is currently
reported that if bread, cakes, or biscuits made of wheat
flour are placed in the mouth of this image and afterwards
eaten by children, they will prevent or cure the colic"!
So great was the reputed power of the magic sword and of
the How Tien Ch'uan that, upon the best astrological advice,
the Chinese Emperors of the recently defunct Ching Dynasty,
being personifications of the dragon and also of the sun,
forbore in their yearly visits to the Temple of the Sun, out
side the East Gate of Peking, to take the nearest route,
Lantern Street, which faces the Erh Lang Temple. This
route would have brought the Son of Heaven upon his
* " Dog." " Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics."
f Fung Chen Pang, " Anthology of the Deified."
j " Social Life of the Chinese," by the Rev. Justus Doolittle.
35

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
Dragon Throne into a dual menace — that of being smitten
with the magic sword and eaten by the " Dog that Barks in
the Heavens."
This Chinese mythical dog may be akin to the Aryan hedge-
dog, having a long and thin muzzle, the prickles on whose
back were compared to the rays of the sun piercing the veil of
darkness. " Whosoever, O Zarathustra ! shall kill the dog
with the prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the
hedge-dog, which evil-speaking people call the Duzaka, kills
his own soul for nine generations, nor shall he find a way
over the Kinvad bridge unless he has, while alive, atoned for
his sin by offering up a sacrifice to Sraosha." *
The idea of the heavenly dog appears to have reached the
Chinese and the Hindus from a common source. From the
fifth Brahmana we read : " (i) He observes the fast thinking
' to-day is the day of new moon ' ; and then that moon is seen
in the West. But, indeed, he (the moon) is that heavenly
dog : he watches the sacrificer's cattle (to seize them) and
that would not be good for the cattle in the case of the owner
who did not make amends . . . and through fear of that
' downcoming moon/ as they think him to be, (2) they
steal away into the shade. And, therefore, indeed, people
call that burning pain * svalukita ' (dog's clutch)." (10) " A
bow with three arrows he gives as dakshina ; for with the bow
a dog is driven away : he thus drives away that dog (the
moon) when he gives a bow with three arrows as dakshina." f
The substance of the Brahmana legend is that certain demons
piled up a fire-altar in order to ascend by it to heaven. Indra
joined them, adding a brick of his own. When they had
climbed to heaven Indra pulled out his brick and the demons
fell. They became spiders, all but two, who flew up and
* " Sacred Books of the East," Zend Avesta, vol. iv, p. 152.
f " Sacred Books of the East," F. Max Miiller, vol. xliv, p. 10
36

DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
became Syama and Sabala, the two heavenly dogs, otherwise
known as the two four-eyed dogs of Yama, stated by Bloom-
field to be the sun and moon.*
Similarly according to the Hindu belief, more ancient than
Buddhism, the dog is placed on the same plane as man.
" The wise look upon a Brahmana possessed of learning and
humility, on a cow, an elephant, a dog and a Svapaka, as
alike ".f Similarly, as there was no essential difference
between man and beast, the beast must answer for its
guilt. The mad dog or the dog which bit without bark
ing, which wounded a sheep or man, paid for it as for wilful
murder.J Erh Lang in Peking is considered to be the protector of
the canine race. To this day, on the first and fifteenth days
of the month, native owners of dogs may be seen worship
ping at the altar of the god. If their dogs are in danger of
death they bring miniatures in clay and lay them on his altar,
so that the god may, through the presence of a substitute,
suffer the owner to keep his pet yet a little longer. It is
possible that in this may be found a survival of the old idea
that not only a curse but also a blessing pronounced upon a
dummy counterfeit has effect upon the original.
Kaempfer refers to a Japanese counterpart to the dog-
protecting deity, when referring to a visit to Fusimi, a suburb
of Miaco, on the first of the month : " The temples which we
had on our right, as we went up, being built in the ascent of the
neighbouring hills, were illuminated with many lamps, and
the priests, beating some bells with iron hammers, made
such a noise as could be heard at a considerable distance.
I took notice of a large white Dog, perhaps made of plaster,
which stood upon an altar on our left, in a neatly adorned
* " Sacred Books of the" East," vol. xlii, p. 500, f Ibid., vol. viii, p. 65.
% Ibid., vol. iv, p. 159.
37

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
chappel, or small temple, which was consecrated to the
Patron of the Dogs." *
In crediting the dog with some sort of a soul, Buddhism
permits to the dog a closer relationship with man than does
Christianity, which in the matter of salvation gives to the
canine race not even the proverbial " dog's chance," and,
indeed, claiming to himself a sole exclusive heaven, allows no
closer association than did St. Bernard of Clairvaux when,
preaching in the twelfth century, he likened the love of angels
to man as being similar to that of a man's friendship to his dog,
on the principle of the proverb, " Love me, love my dog," at
the same time bringing into comparison the love of Deity to
man and the love of man to his dog.f Buddhists, indeed,
recognize no essential difference, on spiritual grounds, be
tween dog and man. Their faith is like that of the Indian who
asks no angel's wings, no seraph's fire :
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,
His faithful dog shall bear him company.^
In the Buddhist cycle the spirit of man commonly passes into
the form of a dog. While mediaeval Christianity represented
dogs, indicating fidelity during earthly life, and lions, for
valour, at the feet of their owners in many old brasses and stone
effigies in churches, the Buddhist placed numerous repre
sentations of the dog in clay and pottery in early Chinese
tombs, with a view to the retention of their services in the
life to come. Christian lore gives earthly glory to the dog of
St. Roch, a familiar beastie in French churches, honoured
for the succouring of his master smitten with plague. The
good Buddhist, to demonstrate that dog and man are merely
units in the cycle of transmigration, will quote the conversion
* " The History of Japan," Kaempfer, Maclehose, vol. iii, p. 16.
f " Angeli amant nos, quia nos Ckristus amavit. Dicitur certe vulgari proverbio ;
qui me amat, amat et canem meum."
t " The Indian and his Dog," Alex. Pope.
38

DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
of the owner of a white dog recorded in the Scriptures.
" At Stravasti, Buddha entered into the house of one Tu-T'i,
who was absent from home. Upon the divan a white dog was
eating from a bowl. At sight of Buddha it leapt to the ground
and barked at the Holy One. Buddha said : ' Miser, how
deep is thy degradation ! ' The dog betook itself to a corner
in dejection. When Tu-T'i returned and saw his dog so
sad he asked the cause of its misery. The servants replied,
' Buddha has done this.' Tu-T'i was angered and asked
Buddha for an explanation. Buddha said : ' I did but tell
him the truth. This animal is thy dead father. Born a dog,
as punishment for his avarice, he still guards his riches.
Order him to reveal the treasure which he has hidden, even
from thee, his son.' Tu-T'i returned to his home and said
to the dog, ' As thou hast been my father in thy previous
incarnation, all of that which was yours is now mine by
right. Show me thy hidden treasure.' The dog crept
beneath the divan and began scratching the earth. There
Tu-T'i dug and discovered great treasure. Forthwith he
was converted to Buddha." *
The lamas of Thibet suggest that the miserable pariah-
dogs of their country are the re-incarnation of priests who
have been faithless to their vows. The same idea may underly
the inclusion of a dog, white for ill-luck and mourning, in the
scapegoat party which is recorded by Nain Singh as being.
annually expelled from Lhasa. " On the 29th day of the first
month a man is selected who is called the Logon gyalpo (or
carrier of one year's ill-luck), who becomes a sort of scapegoat
for the sins of the people. For a week he perambulates
Lhasa as a sort of clown, with his face painted half black and
half white, and is permitted extraordinary license. He shakes
a black yak's tail over the heads of the people, thus transferring
* L. Wieger, " Bouddhisme," vol. xi, p. 109.
39

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
from them to himself the full measure of their ill-luck. Then
he receives certain presents from the government — a white
horse, a white dog, a white bird, with other smaller gifts of
provisions and offerings from the people. Finally, he is
hunted out of the town amidst the yells of the mob, towards
the Samye monastery, where he may (if he survives his
treatment at the hands of the people) be accommodated in the
Lhakang, or dead house."*
Certain animals, such as foxes and dogs, are considered
by Buddhists to be able to appear in human shape and to play
the part of the were-wolf, or incubus, of mediaeval legend.
Consequently, it is not surprising to find in Chinese and
Japanesejust as in European legend, that " the devil appears
in the horrible shape of some black dog or other frightful
hairy fraybuggs," and that the black dog which sits upon the
back of the sulky, Faust's black poodle, the Gabriel Hounds
which hunt along the tree-tops on dark and stormy nights,
and Sir Walter Scott's Mauthe dog — a " large black spaniel
with curled shaggy hair " — have analogies in Chinese super
stition, often as intergrowths with the old Chinese empirical
system of natural science called Feng Shui, used by Chinese
astrologers and diviner fortune-tellers to the present time.
They classify all beasts of astrological importance as subject to
the yang (male) influence of the sun — this category includes
the dog — or the ying (female) influence of the moon — com
prising the cat. The Chinese do not appear, however, to use
the traditional cat and dog antipathy in hate-charms as in
Palestine, where the putting of hatred between the members
of a family is attained by the giving of one half of the egg of a
black hen to a dog and the other to a cat, with the recitation of
appropriate charm-words ; nor have they the old legend of
Palestine, which states that once upon a time when the world
* " Tibet the Mysterious," by Sir Thomas Holdich, p. 310.
40

DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
was young, to each and to every kind of animal a duty was
assigned. The dog and cat were relieved of menial duty,
because of the faithfulness of the one and the cleanliness of
the other, and a written document was given them in attesta
tion thereof, and the dog took charge of it. He buried it
where he kept his stock of old bones, but this privilege of
exemption so roused the envy of the horse, ass, and ox, that
they bribed the rat to burrow underground and destroy the
charter. Since the loss of this document the dog has been
liable, on account of his carelessness, to be tied or chained
up by his master, and the cat has never forgiven him." *
It must be remembered that in matters of superstition
many Chinese still roam in the dark mazes through which the
mediaeval astrologers, soothsayers, and diviners led our
bewildered ancestors. A dog which is completely black is
believed to be able to frighten away spirits, and to this day a
Chinese witch-doctor who wishes to expel a particularly
malignant devil will ruthlessly slay a black dog in which not
one white hair is found, gather its innocent blood into a bowl,
and sprinkle this gore before the spirit with a wooden sword,
accompanying the ceremonial with mumbled prayers, charms,
and spells to support the sacrifice and exorcise the fiend to
eternal perdition. Not in China only has the dog been made
to suffer for utilitarian mankind. " To tame a lion, they used
to beat a little dogge before him." " What, man ! " says
Shakespeare, " there are ways to recover the general again :
a punishment more in policy than in malice ; even so as one
would beat his offenceless dog to affright an imperious
lion."f /
* Hanawer, Palest., " Animal Folklore," Palest. Exp. Fund, 1904, p. 265,
f This may throw light upon a curious passage dealing with the use of hunting-
tigers in Marco Polo's narrative, " The Grand Khan has many leopards and lynxes
kept for the purpose of chasing deer, and also many lions, which are larger than the
Babylonian lions, have good skins, and of a handsome colour, being streaked length- 41

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
Archdeacon Gray * describes the Taoist ceremony per
formed for the expulsion of spirits inducing suicide. " After
the priest has made a great many signs and performed the
kow-tow, he receives from the inmates a small black dog,
together with a chopper and a block ; and when he has severed
its tail from its body with a sharp blow, the wretched animal,
with a cord round its neck, is led, or rather dragged, piteously
howling, by the head of the family into every nook and corner
of the house. It is then taken to the front door and kicked
into the open street. The bleeding and yelping cur is sup
posed to frighten away the evil spirits, and to pursue them in
their flight through the streets. By way of purifying the
house, the priest then walks through it with a brass pan
containing a burning mixture made of sulphur, saltpetre, and
other inflammable ingredients." This custom may be com
pared for barbarity with the old German and Scandinavian
custom of hanging dogs with criminals as a symbolical mark
of disgrace and as an aggravation of the punishment .f
The following is quoted as an instance of the fantastic
shapes into which the professors of Feng Shui are willing to
distort their crude theories in the name of science :
" The influences J of the Five Elements § attack and impair
each other, and bloodthirsty animals conquer and overpower
each other ; how are these phenomena to be explained ? The
ways, with white, black, and red stripes. They are active in seizing boars, wild oxen
and asses, bears, stags, roebucks, and other beasts that are objects of the sport. It
is an admirable sight, when the lion is let loose, in pursuit of the animal, to observe
the savage eagerness and speed in which he overtakes it. His Majesty has them con
veyed for this purpose in cages placed upon cars ; and along with them is confined a
little dog, with which they become familiarized." Marsden " Travels of Marco
Polo," 1818, p. 338.
* Notes and Queries, 2nd Series, xii., p. 510.
f "China," J. H. Gray, vol. i., p. 336, Macmillan, 1878.
X Groot, " The Religious Systems of China," vol. iii., p. 988, from " Discussions
and Criticism from the Chinese ' Lun Heng ' of the Han Dynasty," chap. iii.
§ Wood, wind, fire, water, and earth.
42

DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
answer is : The branch Yin corresponds to the element wood,
whose animal is tiger ; Hsii appertains to earth, whose animal
is the dog ; Ch'en and Wei likewise appertain to earth, and
their animals are the cow and goat. Now as wood overpowers
earth, it follows that the tiger subdues dogs, cows, and goats.
Hai appertains to water, whose animal is the pig. Sze corre
sponds to fire, whose animal is the Serpent. Hence, since
water conquers fire, pigs can devour snakes. Tsze is identical
with water, whose animal is the rat. Wu appertains to fire,
whose animal is the horse. Since fire is destroyed by water,
should a horse devour a rat it will fail to relieve itself and die
of a swollen belly."

43

CHAPTER III
DOG-BREEDING
AS was natural in an agricultural people, dog-breeding
found early encouragement among the Chinese, and
^ no doubt the three heads, house, hunting and
edible, into which the "Book of Rites " classified the canine race,
owned several subdivisions, especially as regards the sporting
dogs. The early Chinese emperors went to excess in their
love of the chase, and the numerous embassies exchanged
with foreign rulers gave them every opportunity of intro
ducing at early periods rare dogs from neighbouring states,
including perhaps even such breeds as the greyhound, the
bulldog, the terrier and the slow-hound, which existed in
England at the time of the Roman occupation, and were of
such quality as to add zest to the gladiatorial sports and
gave to England not a little of its fame among the Romans, a
fame destined to be increased by descendants of those breeds.
During the Tudor and Stuart periods the renown of British
dogs, especially mastiffs, was such that they were used as
political presents to many European countries, as well as to
the Near and Far East. In 15 17 King Henry VIII thanked
the Marquis of Mantua for the horses which were being got
ready for him, and promised to recompense the Marquis
" with English horses and dogs." Nine years later Henry
sent to Francis of France " eight very handsome sporting
dogs." In 1522 the Duke of Urbino's envoy at Henry's
Court wrote that he had not forgotten the " little dog "
44

DOG-BREEDING
(cagnolo), and would do his best to obtain one. In 1540
Lady Lisle wrote to Madame du Bours in reply to a request
for poodles for the crossbow or hackbut, " I will send
to England for poodles (barbets), for I can get none in this
town except one which I send for your son. He is very
good at retrieving the head or bolt of a crossbow, both in
water and on land, and will fetch a tennis ball or a glove
put on the end of a stick, and other tricks." In 1546
Henry VIII sent to Mary of Hungary " greyhounds and
running dogs," and in the same year he made the French
queen " the gladdest woman in the world " by a present of
" hobbies, greyhounds, hounds and great dogs." In this
year, too, Anne of Cleves, who is credited by Lady Lytton
with possible introduction of the liver-and-white toy spaniel
into England, sent two brace of English greyhounds to her
brother, the Duke of Cleves.* In 1559 the envoy of the
Duke of Mantua at Queen Elizabeth's Court wrote : " The
Queen did not act thus with the French Lords, to whom she
gave gifts more than splendid, viz. To Mons. Montmorency :
. . . divers dogs — mastiffs, great and small, hounds (scurieri)
and setters — a quantity of every sort." These were no doubt
reared in the royal kennels in the Isle of Dogs, near the palace
of Greenwich. The breeding of fine mastiffs was probably
due to a state of public opinion which breathed the sentiment :
Let dogs delight to bark and bite,
For God hath made them so.
Let bears and lions growl and fight,
For 'tis their nature too.f
and considered dog-fighting, together with bull and bear-
baiting, to be little less than national pastimes. J Bull-
* " Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII." f Isaac Watts.
X " The fee of the Master of the Cocks [under James I] exceeded the united
salaries of two. Secretaries of State."
" The Master of the Buckhounds, who is also one of the Ministry, ranks next to
the Master of the Horse." " Murray's Dictionary," vol, vi, p. 213.
45

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
baiting, in which sport a tethered bull with blunted or
padded horns was pitted against dogs which he sometimes
tossed thirty or forty feet high, was a pastime almost national
in importance for centuries. Pepys remarks in 1666 that he
" saw some good sport of the bull's tossing of the dogs, one
into the very boxes." *
In 1557 the envoy of the Duke of Mantua, after remarking
that in the Tower of London " there is a seraglio in which
from grandeur they keep lions and tigers and cat-lions," goes
on to say that " there is the bear garden in Southwark, on
the banks of the Thames, where they keep big dogs to rear
for breeding, and to exercise them there are bears, wolves
and bulls ; so for such purposes they become very good
dogs (buonissimi cani)^ In 1608 to 16 10 James I sent dogs
as presents to the princes of Anhalt and Brunswick, also to
the Ambassador of Brandenburg. In 16 14 the Venetian
Ambassador in Spain reported that there had recently arrived
from James of England a present to Philip of Spain including
" palfreys, dogs for hunting lions, arquebuses and sables and
crossbows." In 1614 General Saris was employed by the
East India Company in opening up trade with Japan, and
was received in a very friendly manner by certain of the
Japanese feudal lords. As a result of his observations he
wrote to the " Captain Generall of the English appoynted to
Japan " that he should " make some small present to the
daimio of Hirado and Iki, and to his son. The fittest things
for the owld Kinge wilbe a vest of delicatt fine blacke cloth
* These barbarities cannot compare with those recorded by travellers in mediaeval
India. " Sometimes this manner of execution [tearing asunder by elephants] is used
by the Kinge [of Agra] and great men, Alsoe throwne to doggs bredd for that purpose.
Other tymes to wilde beasts, Yea, Sometymes appoyntinge certain men to teare the
offender with their teeth, of which Cuttwall Chaun was said to bee one, Commaunded
thereto by Jehangueere [Jahangir] because hee was a bigg fellowe and had a good
sett of teeth." " The Travels of Peter Mundy," Hakluyt Society, ser. II, vol. xxv,
p. 232.
46

HUNTING SCENE.
Reproduced from a picture in the Jehol Collection. Ch'ien Lung period. Painter unknown.

DOG-BREEDING
lyned through with black coniskinns made sweete ; to his
sonne a fair headpeec and gorgett, a box of all such thinges
as ar belonging to a faulconer, quayle calls, a mastife, a watter
spaniell and a faire grayhound." * In 1618 Queen Anne
sent six horses and thirty couple of hounds to the King of
France. In 1623 James presented Louis with another pack,
and in 1627 Louis XIII intimated to his sister, Henrietta
Maria Queen of England, that he would expect four hunting
dogs of her.-j-
In ancient China all treasures, including pearls, jade, or
rare animals, were considered to be Imperial property, and
their producers were bound to offer them in the first instance
to the Emperor, who was accustomed to give generous
reward, by official promotion or otherwise, in return. The
breeding of dogs possessed another incentive to the early
Chinese, not known to the inhabitants of the West, for in
China considerable importance was attached, on superstitious
grounds, to the colour and markings bred in dogs. For
tunate markings might bring honour to a family and to its
ancestors. This superstitious belief was encouraged, if not
originated, by geomancy or " Feng Shui." Similarly, the
reputed occurrence of a Chilin or phoenix was the most
auspicious of events, and the donor of such rare and precious
natural products to the Chinese Emperors was always richly
rewarded. The appearance of certain markings, such as a
black or yellow coat in conjunction with a white head, or two
white forelegs in a black dog, was hailed as sure presage of
official appointment. Similar superstitions survive to this
day in quaint couplets and proverbs which even now influence
the breeding of dogs. In pigeon-breeding the Chinese have
progressed a step farther than with their dogs. They have
* " Voyage of Capt. J. Saris to Japan," Hakluyt Soc, App. A., p. 209.
f " Calendar of State Papers, Venice."
47

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
evolved many species which have constant colour charac
teristics, each with its special highly imaginative Chinese
name, and each favoured by particular fanciers.
Hard times and the overthrow of the Manchus have,
however, done much to extinguish Chinese interest in breed
ing dogs. Had the Peking breed remained as fashionable as
it was in the early days of the nineteenth century, it seems
probable that the Chinese would have succeeded in per
petuating several varieties, each with characteristic markings,
instead of the one race now produced in Europe and America,
which is an amalgamation of the characteristics of several,
bred irrespective of markings. To the Chinese, saturated
with superstition, folk-lore and literary myths, every colour
has a value, and every marking serves to crystallize some
imaginative thought which can convey little to the foreigner
ignorant of Chinese underlying thought.
" Should a man breed a white dog with tiger markings,"
remarks one of the old geomantic books, " he shall shortly
become an official entrusted with 10,000 piculs (roughly
600 tons) of rice, from the Government." *
The ancient " Book of the Five Elements," rather more
exacting in its requirements, proves that dogs of various
colours existed in early times in China, as in Assyria : f
" Should a man breed :
" A black dog with white ears, he shall become rich and
noble." A white dog with a yellow head, his family will become
prosperous."A yellow dog with white tail, his family shall have
officials in it in every generation.
* " Ke Chih Ching Yuan " (Clear spring of ancient knowledge).
f The Assyrians and Babylonians " were acquainted with dogs of various colours,
for they derived omens from piebald dogs, yellow dogs, black dogs, white dogs and
the rest." " Mesopotamian Archaeology," by Percy S. P. Handcock, Macmillan, 1912
p. 19.
48

CHINESE DOG-BREEDER, LUNG FU SSU MARKET, PEKING

To face p. 48

DOG-BREEDING
" A black dog with white fore-legs, many male children
will be born to the family.
" A yellow dog with white fore-legs, he will have good luck.
" The breeding of a white dog with a black head is lucky,
and will bring a man riches.
"A white dog with a black tail will cause the family
through all generations to ride in chariots." *
With these old superstitious beliefs may be compared the
ancient Parsee rite for expulsion of the corpse-drug from the
dead by means of a dog having two spots above the eyes or
of a white dog having yellow ears. " As soon as this dog
has looked at the dead," remarks the ritual, " the Drug flees
back to hell in the shape of a fly.f
Numerous historians refer to the care bestowed by the
Emperors of the Tang and Sung Dynasties upon their dogs.
These Emperors, unlike the English kings, who when resident
at Greenwich kept their sporting kennels at the Isle of Dogs,
appear to have bred their dogs in the palace, and even in the
Imperial ancestral temple. Under the Emperor Wan Li
(1563-1620) this was prohibited, and one of the eunuchs,
guilty of keeping a small dog in this temple, escaped severe
punishment only on payment of a substantial " squeeze."
In Europe remarkable freedom was allowed to dog-owners
by the mediaeval Church. The office of " dog-whipper,"
whose holder's duty was to keep the congregation's dogs in
order while in church during services, was held in numerous
churches in England, and in some persisted beyond the
middle of the nineteenth century. On the Continent, too, it
was customary to allow dogs to enter sacred buildings with
their masters. " At Avignon the dogs made love or war, and
barked in the churches at pleasure." J
* In ancient China only members of families in which there were officials were
allowed to ride in carts.
-J- " Sacred Books of the East," Zend Avesta, vol. iv, p. lxxxvii.
X Notes and Queries, p. 343, October 1897,
d 49

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
The Chinese Emperors used their expeditions into the
hunting-parks for the training of their armies and for demon
strating their power to the tribes of Mongolia. Each of the
soldiers became a huntsman or beater for the occasion.
Similarly, though it does not appear likely that all of the
vast number of dogs used possessed powers of scent, any
more than do the great majority of dogs to be found in the
villages of the hunting-parks at the present time, every
available dog was pressed into service.
Friar Odoric, who spent three years between 1322 and 1328
in Peking, " took the opportunity to make diligent inquiry
from Christians, Saracens and all kinds of idolaters," who all
told him with one voice that " the king's players alone
amount to XIII tumans (10,000 men) ; that, of those others
who keep the dogs and wild beasts and fowls, there be
XV tumans ; of leeches to take charge of the royal Person
there be 400 idolaters, eight Christians and one Saracen." *
Marco Polo further speaks of two barons as " having
charge of the hounds, fleet and slow, and of the mastiffs," j*
and states that each of them maintained a body of 10,000 men
dressed alike, the one lot in livery of red, and the other in
blue, to accompany the Great Khan to the chase : "Of the
20,000 men there were 2000, each of whom was in charge
of one or more dogs, and when the Prince goes a-hunting,
one of these barons with his 10,000 men and something
like 5000 dogs J goes towards the right, whilst the other goes
towards the left with his party in like manner. The whole
line extends for a full day's journey, and no animal can
escape them. Truly it is a glorious sight to see the working
of the dogs and the huntsmen on such an occasion, and as
* " Cathay and the Way Thither," Yule.
f " Marco Polo," Marsden's edition, translated from the Latin.
X " Marco Polo," Marsden's edition reads " the dogs of different descriptions
... are not fewer than five thousand,"
50

DOG-BREEDING
the Lord rides a-fowling across the plains you will see this
big hunt come tearing up, one pack after a bird, and another
pack with a stag or some other beast, as it may hap, and
running the game down, now on this side and now on that,
so that it is really a most delightful sport and spectacle." *
The Ming Emperors devoted too much of their time to the
breeding of cats. One of the eunuchs registered a protest
against the practice, complaining that the cats were so noisy
that the Imperial children were caused to sicken and die. He
remarks that the cats should have been confined to special
quarters, and suggests that the Emperors encouraged their
sons to interest themselves in the breeding of cats and pigeons
because, surrounded by eunuchs and women, they might fail
to realize the importance of rearing children.
Critics of Chinese success in dog-breeding may point to
the absence of high development of powers of scent in
Chinese dogs. It must be remembered, however, that the
British pointer is a dog of modern times, produced since
1650, derived from a foreign race, the development of whose
powers has resulted from careful selection, and whose very
existence is due to the fowling-piece. As evidenced by
mention of sporting dogs in the " Book of Rites," written in
the seventh century B.C., the Chinese vie with the Romans
for the honour of being the first to record use of the dog in
the chase. " The first hint of the employment of the dog in
the pursuit of other animals is given by Oppian in his
" Cynegetica." He attributes it to Pollux about 200 years
after promulgation of the Levitical law." f
Breeds have become stable in England only in recent years
with the fixing of standards and the use of shows, started in
London in 1836 J and almost accidentally at Newcastle in
* " Marco Polo," Yule. f Encyclopedia Britannica, " The Dog."
J " Toy Dogs and their Ancestors," p. ioo. Si

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
1859, which have become possible on account of modern
improvements in transport. That the Chinese should have
been able to secure high specialization of breed in pigeons,
goldfish, lap-dogs and cats is a strong testimony to their
realization of the importance of selection at a time when skill
in the same art was less developed in Europe.
Development of the breeds of Pekingese dogs probably
owes more to the efforts of the palace eunuchs than to those
of their Imperial masters. An Emperor such as Tao Kuang
and his consort would, by their enthusiasm for breeding
pigeons and dogs, set the fashion, and the eunuchs, more
than a thousand in number, living in the " Forty-eight
Places " of the palace, would vie with one another in endea
vouring to breed to the standards set up, with a view to
securing either favour from their superiors by presentation
of good specimens, or profit from officials similarly inclined,
by sale.
Shows, breeding to closely defined points, and the keeping
of careful pedigrees, have never existed in China. The only
recognized standards to which dogs have been bred are
those contained in the dog-books of each Imperial master, as
painted by the Court painters. Very few of these books
have been allowed to leave the Imperial and princes' palaces.
Each Emperor caused illustrations of his favourite dogs to be
made by the Court painters in books or on scrolls, and in
this way was set the current fashion in breeding. The
highest compliment a Chinese breeder in Peking can give is
to judge that a specimen is good enough to "go into the
book," that is to say, into an Imperial dog-book. Such of
these books as have been obtained portray dogs closely
resembling the " Pekingese " type, as also the " Shih-tzu "
dog and the " Pug."
The old belief recorded of Jacob when he " took him rods
52

DOG-BREEDING
of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree, and pilled
white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was
still in the rods " and used them in breeding, still persists
both in Tibet and China. The Tibetan Lamas state that
images of the Tibetan lion are used in breeding the lion-dog.
The eunuchs of the Peking palace use pictures of good dogs
and dog-scrolls with the same intent.
The late Empress Dowager bred her pet dogs chiefly
with a view to developing symmetrical markings. There
appears little doubt that both she and her predecessors
strongly encouraged the lion-dog idea on account of the
implied comparison of themselves with Buddha. The " Old
Buddha " herself was, according to Miss Carl, strongly
against the development of any abnormality or artificial
modification of shape. This was not the view of the palace
eunuchs, however. They endeavoured to modify develop
ment of body in many ways. One method was to allow the
dog to take little exercise from the third month to maturity,
with the idea of lessening the appetite, and thus retarding
growth. Some of them were accustomed, even in recent
years, to hold the growing specimen in the hand for days at
a time, inducing, by gentle pressure of the fingers, a slight
exaggeration of width between the shoulders. Another
artifice was the feeding of the puppy with sugar, but it is
stated that this was found to induce thirst, with the result
that there was a tendency for the nose to lengthen on account
of over-drinking, especially during the third month. During
this period nose-development is said to be greatest, while
the development of the legs is believed to be most intense
during the fourth month. Consequently, from weaning,
about the fortieth day to the ninetieth, strong soup only
and no water is given to the puppies. One method alleged
to have been in use for arresting development was, as in the 53

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
case of foot-binding, particularly cruel. It is said that the
puppies, when small, were enveloped in wire cages closely
fitting the body and not removed until maturity was reached.
The methods of securing shortness of nose were more
various than effective. They appear to have been in vogue
only among the more ignorant breeders, and the better
informed are persuaded that the only reliable means of
securing good points is by careful selection in breeding, a
matter which is becoming increasingly difficult in China
through dearth of good specimens.
It is a common practice to break the cartilage of the nose
with the thumb-nail or a chopstick while the puppy is from
three to seven days old, but this can be detected on account
of the exaggerated snoring of the mutilated dog in after-life.
Dr. J. E. Gray, in describing the skull of a Chinese " Pug-
nosed Spaniel " in 1867, remarked, " The nose of the Chinese
or Japanese Pug is said by some to be artificially produced
by force suddenly or continuously applied, but this is cer
tainly not the case in the skull that is in the British Museum ;
for the bones of the upper jaw and the nose are quite regular
and similar on the two sides, showing no forced distortion of
any kind, such as is to be observed in the skulls of some
Bull-dogs." *
Other breeders feed their puppies from a flat plate, or
encourage them from the age of three months upwards to
bite pigskin stretched on a board. Others will massage the
nose daily, with the object of restraining growth of the
obstinate organ, which, only too often in Peking, appears to
be but little stunted by this persistent snubbing.
Dogs are largely bred in Mongolia for their skins.f " There
* " On the Skull of the Chinese Pug-nosed Spaniel or Lap-dog," by Dr J E
Gray, F.R.S., Proc. Zool. Soc, 1867, p. 40.
f Alexander Hosie, " Manchuria," p. 205.
54

DOG-BREEDING
are thousands of small dog-farms scattered over the northern
districts of Manchuria and Mongolia, where from ten to
hundreds of animals are reared yearly. When a girl is
married she receives perhaps six dogs as her dowry, and it
can easily be understood that this comparatively small be
ginning may be the foundation of a large fortune, seeing that
reproduction of ten per annum would in a few years give an
enormous total. A dog matures in from six to eight months,
and the coat is at its best during the winter, so that the
animal must be destroyed before the thaw sets in. It is
doubtful whether the dogs' skins in any other part of the
world are to be compared with those that come from Man
churia and Mongolia, either in size, length of hair, or
quality." Sir Alexander Hosie remarks that the flesh of the
dog is no doubt used for human food, and that its market
value enters largely into the farm's profit and loss account.
" The animals are killed, not with the knife, which might
injure the fur, but by strangulation. The skins dried and
frozen find a market in Mukden and other places, where they
are cured before the thaw affects them, and made into mats
and robes."
Many of these skins are exceptionally large and fine, closely
resembling those of the wolf and fox. Large numbers find
their way to the European markets.

55

CHAPTER IV
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
THIS heading is intended to include all breeds which
are not toy-dogs. No breed can be said to exist in
the East, as in Europe, for the special use of the
amateur sportsman. Game is captured for the sake of food,
and the element of sport, though attractive to the Chinese
and Japanese hunter, is a minor incentive. Consequently,
the term " sporting " is here applied to all dogs used in the
capture of game, and includes the chow, the greyhound, and
the wolf-hound. It may be contended that this classification
is no great improvement on that of the " Book of Rites." As a
matter of fact, no such classification can be perfect, for
dogs closely allied to the type which has become fixed in
England under the name of " chow " are used in China for
the hunting of deer, the shooting of pheasants, as guard dogs,
for the production of furs, for edible purposes, and as sledge
dogs. Numerically, this race is probably the most important
in the world. Extreme poverty of the people, and increasing
difficulty of maintenance, has weakened this most democratic
of all dog races, and caused it to deteriorate, but throughout
China there is a distinct resemblance to the chow in the
miscellaneous unclassified local breeds.
Laufer figures nine relief-bands on vases of the Han dynasty,
connected with hunting scenes, the representation of which
had become conventional at this period. The quarry is in
several cases the wild boar, " well characterized by its short,
56

RELIEF BAND ON VASE. HSIAO T'ANG SHAN. (FROM "CHINESE POTTERY OF THE HAN DYNASTY," BY BERTHOLD LAUFER.)

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
clumsy body, its long protruding snout, the shape of its head,
and its short, erect tail." The dogs, galloping ventre d terre,
are described by Laufer as greyhounds, but the tail of the
conventional representation is thick, and the body too sturdy
for such a breed, which, moreover, would be a type light
for the hunting of game of such weight as the boar. Laufer
suggests that the four scenes on the first * of these relief-
bands illustrate consecutive stages of the same chase, thus
describing the story of the same dog pursuing and finally
reaching the same boar in four scenes, which thus become a
" moving-picture." The second f Han relief -band illustrates tigers, with well-
defined black stripes, in flying gallop and trotting. A rider
on horseback, shooting with bow and arrow, a galloping hound
in pursuit, and what may be a hare or a deer . Laufer describes
this scene as a greyhound hunting a hare " characterized un
mistakably by his long, upright ears and short tail." The so-
called greyhound, however, has a thick neck, sturdy body, and
broad tail.
A third relief-band J also represents a " galloping grey
hound." Another § of the same period includes three hounds
" hunting stags, two of them unfortunately much effaced,
but the other so happily drawn, with its long, pointed head,
big breast, and thin loins, that it is unmistakable."
A fifth band || includes tigers and what are apparently
dogs having short, erect tails, short legs, and of build much
more sturdy than those hitherto shown.
Though it is not possible to define the exact points of these
early varieties of the canine race these Han potteries, in
addition to their vivid interest as artistic studies, certify to the
fact that pursuit of the tiger, the wild-boar, the deer, and of
* " Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty," Laufer, plate xlvi.
t Ibid,, plate xlviii. X Ibid., plate xlix § Ibid., plate 1. I! Ibid., plate Hi.
57

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the hare with dogs was a pastime current among the ancient
Chinese. The breeds in use were, no doubt, adapted to
some extent to counter the ferocity, strength, speed, and
elusive powers of each quarry respectively in a land which was
gradually being denuded of forests and entering a state of
close cultivation.
The name of the chow breed of dog appears to have
originated from " pidgin " English, which, now rapidly
disappearing, was a trade language composed of a mixture
of the most easily intelligible English and Chinese words
used in early trade intercourse in South China. In this
mixture there was originally a large element of Portuguese.
Some suggest that the word originated as pidgin Portuguese,
derived from " che," the Chinese for " to eat," used as the
first word in the customary Chinese greeting, which means
" Have you eaten rice ? " At one period the Chinese, whose
trade in ginger, or " chow-chow," with Europeans was
important, became known by the name of chow. It is,
therefore, probable that the name chow, as applied to the
dog commonly found in Canton, simply means a Chinese
dog, and does not refer to its having been used for food.
To the Western observer, the Chinese appear to have been
far more successful in modifying the colour and form of
canine breeds than in improving the powers of scent and
sporting qualities of their dogs. This is no doubt largely
due to the fact that for the last hundred years China has,
from the point of view of sport, gone backwards. The
Imperial hunts have been given up, preservation of the
Imperial hunting-parks and game protection have ceased
throughout China. The shot-gun, known to the Emperor
Ch'ien Lung — to whom a specimen now to be seen in the
National museum in Peking was sent by George III of
England — though made in China is used for commercial
58

5 *Y .x

<te

\

W*

^L

$**»

E
- fe I
Wm
Ay
RELIEF BAND ON VASE, HAN PERIOD. FROM LAUFER's " CHINESE POTTERY OF THE HAN DYNASTY "
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
rather than for sporting purposes. When shot with it the
game is more often sitting than on the wing. Powder and
shot are too expensive, and their supply to a mis-ruled people
under a weak Government is not encouraged. Consequently,
it is not surprising to find in China but little of that care
and skill which are devoted to the training of sporting dogs in
Europe. The existence of modern game laws is unknown through
the greater part of China, and such as exist are not known ever
to have been honoured in the observance. They were drafted
by officials having no knowledge of natural history, and,
partly, no doubt, on account of the vast area to be covered,
where published, have never been taken seriously.
Under the Chinese Emperors, preservation of game in the
hunting-parks appears to have been very strict. Even in
recent years poachers of Imperial deer were punished with
death. Settlement on the Imperial preserves, which in the
case of the Northern hunting-park comprised an area
approximately equal to that of England, was strictly pro
hibited, and a large guard of soldiers was maintained to
prevent encroachment. Marco Polo states : " For twenty
days' journey round the spot nobody is allowed to keep hawks
or hounds, though anywhere else whosoever list may keep
them. And, furthermore, throughout all the Emperor's
territory, nobody, however audacious, desires to hunt any
of these four animals, to wit, the hare, stag, buck, and roe, from
the month of March to the month of October. Anybody who
should do so would rue it bitterly. But those people are so
obedient to their lord's command that even if a man were to
find one of those animals asleep by the roadside he would not
touch it for the world ! And thus the game multiplies at
such a rate that the whole country swarms with it, and the
Emperor gets as much as he could desire. Beyond the term 59

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
I have mentioned, however, to wit that from March to
October, everybody may take these animals as he list."
Many writers have suggested, basing their opinions upon
translations from Polo's work, that the dogs employed in these
Imperial hunts were of mastiff breed. Some have gone so
far as to suggest that, in consequence, they must have come
from Tibet. It appears likely that the word used by Polo
represented merely dogs having considerable size, strength,
and hunting instinct such as were found in Europe and were
used for hunting heavy game.
The French word from which " mastiff " is derived indi
cates a mixture in the dog's race. Its earliest types were found
both in Gauland Britain. This race helped no doubt to produce
the hunting dogsfor which Britain was justlyfamous inmediaeval
times. In 1540 Henry VIII's envoy to the King of France
wrote : " The Constable took me to the King's dinner, whome
we found speaking of certain ' masties ' you gave him at Calais,
and how long it took to train them ; for when he first let slip
one at a wild-boar, he spied a white horse with a page upon
him, and he took the horse by the throat and they could not
pluck him off until he had strangled it. He laughed very
heartily at telling this, and he spoke of the pleasure he now
takes in shooting with a cross-bow, desiring to have a hound
that would draw well to a hurt deer. Your Majesty's father
sent to King Lewis a very good one of a mean sort. I hear
you could not do him a greater pleasure than send him such
a hound." *
This dog, however, has changed in modern times. " The
mastiff of Tibet was larger than the old English (whose ears
were formerly often semi-erect), but is smaller than the
modern English mastiff, averaging 27-30 inches at the
shoulder." This evolution modifying the dog's form to
» " Calendar of State Papers. Henry VIII."
60

HUNTING SCENE.
Reproduced from a picture in the Jehol Collection. Ch'ien Lung period.

i

'¦ V
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
the purpose for which it has been from time to time most
useful has ended in the race becoming fixed by the modern
show-system as a guard-dog. " The modern mastiff has an
excellent nose but is of little or no use for sporting purposes." *
This type of dog cannot be the same as that which existed in
the sixteenth century.
The Chinese Imperial hunts have been given up for a
century and upkeep of the dogs has long since ceased. It

HOUND REPRESENTED ON HAN BAS-RELIEF OF THE HSIAO T'ANG SHAN
(FROM A RUBBING)
may be that specimens may be found with the chiefs of some
of the Mongol tribes but with the gradual extinction of the
big game of China it is unlikely that many of the hounds exist.
Representations of these hounds are found in certain
pictures of the K'ang Hsi and Ch'ien Lung period from
Jehol. Laufer figures hunting-dogs of the Han period from
rubbings taken from bas-reliefs at Hsiao T'ang Shan. These
may be roughly dated 150 B.C. One of these bas-reliefs, of
colossal size, shows eight hunters afoot, carrying nets over their
shoulders and eight dogs preceding them.
" All the aforementioned greyhounds and hunting-dogs
* " Chambers' Encyclopaedia." See Rev. M. B. Wynn's " History of the Mastiff,"
1886. 6l

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
have smooth-haired tails ; only two (on the bas-reliefs of the
Hsiao T'ang Shan) are represented with bushy tails, the hair
being drawn in an ornamental and much exaggerated manner
on the lower side of them." *
Turning now to fowling, Laufer is of opinion that Chinese
culture in hawking has been derived from Turkish tribes.
He states that Schrader,f from a study of the history of
falconry in ancient Europe, has demonstrated that Turkistan
must be considered to be the mother-country of falconry,
whence it was carried to the Occident during the first invasions
in the Migration of Peoples. " The whole method of hawk-
training, as laid down in detail in the Chinese and Japanese
falconers' books, coincides in such a striking manner with the
same practice followed in Europe, and also by the Persians and
Arabs, that it must needs be attributed to a common source of
origin. J To mention only one of many instances : the hood,
a leather cap for blindfolding hawks in order to tame them,
was unknown to European falconers before the Crusades.
It was introduced by the German Emperor Frederick II,
who adopted it from the Syrian Arabs .§ The use of the
hood has been well known to Chinese falconers since times of
old, and is still prevalent in China. The origin (of falconry)
can be sought only in the vast steppes of Central Asia and in
the culture of the ancient Turks." ||
This statement is based upon discoveries of silver objects
in Siberia, upon which falconry and the use of hunting-
birds are represented, believed to date from as early as the
later iron period. Klementz made a find of a wall-painting
* " Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty," Laufer, p. 272.
f Schrader, " Reallexicon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde " (Strassburg,
1901), p. 211.
X For an account of the modern use of hawks in Japan see " Japan Day by Day,"
by Ed. S. Morse, vol. ii, p. 381 et seq.
§ " De Arte Venandi cum Avibus," 1245.
|| Laufer, " Chinese Pottery ofthe Han Dynasty," p. 231.
62

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
representing two figures of men, one of whom seems to be
carrying a falcon, in a cave near Turfan in Turkistan*
" In China, hawks, eagles, and other large birds of prey, are
early mentioned in the ' Shih king ' and in the ' Li ki/
particularly in poetical comparisons ; but in classical litera
ture no mention is made of falconry or of the training of birds
for the chase, which seems to have come up not earlier than

FIGURE OF DOG ON HAN BAS-RELIEF OF HSIAO T*ANG SHAN
the Han dynasty, and soon developed into the favourite sport
and pastime of emperors and noblemen." f
Marco Polo describes the Emperor's method of fowling
with falcons and other hawks : " And let me tell you, when
he goes a-fowling with his Ger falcons and other hawks he
is attended by full 10,000 men who are disposed in couples.
Every man of them is provided with a whistle and hood, so as
to be able to call in a hawk and hold it in hand. And when the
Emperor makes a cast there is no need that he follow it up,
because these men I speak of keep so good a look-out that they
never lose sight of the bird, and if these have need of help
they are ready to render it." J
* " Expedition nach Turfan," St. Petersburg, 1899.
f " Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty," Laufer, p. 232.
X " Marco Polo's Travels," Yule. 63

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
Laufer states further : " The oldest representation of
falconry in China is found on one of the Han bas-reliefs
of the Hsiao t'ang shan.* A man on foot holds a falcon on
his right fist ; and a greyhound is hunting a stag in front of
him. The next in point of time are two wood engravings in
the dictionary ' Erh-ya/ f which may be stated to present a
rather faithful copy of the illustrations to this work extant in
the fourth or sixth centuries. At all events, it may lay just
claim to the honour of being the oldest graphic book-illustra
tion of falconry in the world ; the oldest English (and alto
gether European) representation J being from an Anglo-
Saxon manuscript of the end of the ninth century or beginning
of the tenth, preserved in the British Museum. While the
oldest Chinese book on falconry seems to come down from
the Sui dynasty (a.d. 518-617), the first European print on
the subject is the German book of Anon, printed in Augsburg
in 1472."
Though Kaempfer remarks of the Japanese : " They hunt
but little and only with common dogs, this kind of diversion
being not very proper for so populous a Country, and where
there is so little game," Capt. John Saris wrote about eighty
years earlier of the " Captain Generall " of the garrison of
Fushimi : " Hee marched in very great state, beyond that the
others did. He hunted and hawked all the way, having his
owne Hounds and Hawkes along with him, the Hawkes being
hooded and lured as ours are. Their horses are not tall but
of the size of our midling nags, short and well trust (trussed),
small headed and very full of mettle, in my opinion far ex
celling the Spanish Iennet in pride and stomacke." §
* Chavannes, " La sculpture sur pierre en Chine," p. 77, and plate xxxviii.
f Book II, p. 23k
X Joseph Strutt, " The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England," new
edition, London, 1898, p. 88, Fig. 3.
§ " Voyage of John Saris," Hakluyt Society, 1612-1613.
64

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
Arkwright * remarks that the first European reference to
dogs " which know of beasts and birds by the scent," dates
from about a.d. 1260, and opinion appears fairly unanimous
that they came from Spain ; " as one talks of a greyhound of
Britain, the boarhounds and bird-dogs come from Spain,"
remarks an early writer quoted by the same authority.
Another writer remarks that Robert Dudley, Duke of North
umberland, born in 1504, who " was a compleat Gent, in all
suitable employments," was " the first of all that taught a dog
to sit in order to catch partridges." * This, no doubt, was
the method practised with the spaniels f mentioned fairly
frequently in English records of the time of Henry VIII.
The sporting spaniels were originally large dogs and became
modified to pointers by selection and cross-breeding. " No
hound or greyhound, spaniel or other kind of dog to go in the
streets by day unless ' hardeled or ledde in leses or lyams or
otherwise, so it be no " noyance " under pain of forfeiture
to the taker and a fine of 4d. to the owner.' " And again,
Robin the King's Majesty's spaniel keeper, was paid 56s. 9d.
" for hair cloth to rub the spaniels with and for meat and
lodging at Maidenhead and Windsor and at Putney, when
the King dined at my lord of Hartfordes." J
The figure from Laufer's " Chinese Pottery of the Han
Dynasty," which is a composition from rubbings from a bas-
relief of the Han period, represents a form of sport practised
in China to this day. Whether or not the possession of
* " The Pointer," W. Arkwright, pp. 6 and io.
f Spaniel. Murray gives the forms spaynel, spanyel, spayngyel (old French
espaignol, espaigneul, " Spanish dog "), spaignol. First mentioned 1388. Chaucer,
" Wife's Prologue," p. 267 : " For as a spaynel she wol on hym lepe," 1410. " Master
of Game " (M. S. Digby, p. 182) : " A goode spaynel shulde not be to rough, but
his tail shulde be rough." 1621. Burton, " Anat. Mel." : " Like a ranging Spaniel
that barkes at every bird he sees." Spaynel and spanyell were also used in the
fourteenth century = a Spaniard.
X " Letters and Papers," 1542 and 1546.
E 65

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
powers of scent for birds is indicated must remain a matter
for conjecture, and the dogs are somewhat roughly drawn.
On the right are two pedestrians carrying bird-nets of the
size now used in taking quail in China. Before them are two
hounds having rather bushy tails, erect ears, and long muzzles,
galloping in pursuit of two hares, identified by their short
tails and long ears. On the left another hunter holds a grey
hound in leash. Above the hares is depicted a dog, appar
ently in quest, but conceivably at point. Above the grey
hound is a bird, probably a hawk, hovering.
The taking of quail with nets of exactly the shape repre
sented, and with dogs of " chow " type, having rudimentary
scent and point, may be seen in use by native hunters in many
parts of China to-day. Pheasants also are captured in the
same way, a hawk being sometimes used to prevent the quarry
from rising or running. Hares are captured in similar fashion.
The following is the Chinese description of a hawking-
party carried out by one of the Manchu nobles in recent
times. Such parties were common in the district to the
north-west of Tientsin about 1895 :
The assistants were eight in number. Two rangers led
the party from a distance. Their special function was
discovery of the " form " of the hare. Six men in charge
of hawks and dogs were spread out fan-wise behind, their
masters following the party on horseback or on foot, carry
ing their long-barrelled guns. Of the six men in charge of
the dogs and hawks two held the hounds, rather thicker-
built than the foreign greyhound, in leash. Two, one on
either side, carried large hawks (t'u hu-lit. " hare falcon " ;
the name is sometimes applied to the goshawk) at their
wrists, and two at either extremity ofthe line carried sparrow-
hawks (yao, female of accipiter nisus ; the name is also
applied to accipiter gularis). On discovering a hare the
66

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
ranger blew a sharp blast upon his whistle. The visor of
the hood of each of the large hawks was then lifted, but
the hood, bearing a red tassel at its tip, was left in place.
The sparrow-hawks were then released. Each of these,
taking the red tassel of the nearer hawk's hood in its beak,
tore off the hood. The large hawks were then released,
and the hare being started, followed it, one on either side,

il ii i 'iill

FIGURES OF HUNTING-DOGS ON HAN BAS-RELIEF (FROM KIN SHIH SO)
stooping alternately, each hawk beating it with the (tai)
ball of its talon so loudly as to be heard at one or two hun
dred yards' distance. After a certain amount of this treat
ment the hare lay down exhausted. The hawks then
hovered, one on either side. The dogs meanwhile had
been released. On reaching the hare they lay down, one
on either side of the hare. The hawks alighted on their
backs, waiting for the huntsmen. On their arrival the
hind-legs of the hare were drawn back with a crook and
broken by a sharp blow with a narrow rod. The hare
was then killed and a little of the flesh given to each of the
hawks. Should the hare have broken for cover when put up it
would have been coursed with the dogs, the hawks being
held back for fear of injury in thorny bushes. If released
they would have perched near the wood on guard. In taking 67

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the hare in such difficult ground the gun would be used.
In open country use of the gun is unnecessary. The gun
being a match or flint-lock it was almost impossible to shoot
birds on the wing. A hawk commonly used in the catching
of hares in China is the huang ying (lit. yellow eagle— Astur
palumbarius, the goshawk), which fixes its talons in the
sides of the hare and is dragged with spread wings until
the quarry is exhausted. The chi-ying (lit. bird-eagle) is
the male of the huang-ying and weighs about z\ lbs. Being
small of body it is suited only to the catching of pheasants.
The Han bas-relief mentioned above was found in the
village of Chiao Ch'eng Chi, west of Chia Hsiang in Western
Shantung. The explanation of the scene depicted, made by
the editors of the " Kin Shih So," the Chinese work,* from
which the illustration is derived, reads : " On the lower panel
one man leads a dog, two men carry nets for the quail. A
pheasant and a hare are running at full speed, for it repre
sents a hunt." This, however, must not be taken more
seriously than the remarks of other Chinese literary commen
tators written at late periods with a view to elucidation of
technical subjects of which they had no special knowledge.
Use of the fowling-piece and the art of shooting flying only
came into being in England about the year 1725.! In Europe
hawking had been superseded by the netting of partridges
with the spaniel trained to set at the birds and to cause them
to allow the net to be drawn up to and over them. Hawking,
the netting of quails, francolins, or partridges, and pheasants,
as well as the use of the muzzle-loader and breech-loader
sporting-guns are all practised side by side in China by the
natives to-day. In South China the capture of birds is less
* Vol. iv., section " Shih So."
¦J- Notes and Queries, 2nd series, v, p. 306 ; and Edinburgh Review, August 1825,
vol. xliii, p. 457.
68

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
practised than in the North, on account of the idea that birds
exercise good geomantic influence over the country. Notices
are often posted in Southern villages to the effect that neither
birds nor the trees on which they roost are to be destroyed.
In Chinese fowling the faithful chow, or a close relation,
ranks a good second to his master in the operation of capture.
Ever distrustful of strangers, he is the faithful guardian of
his village, wakeful and noisy at night, sleepy and persecuted
during the day. Some claim for him on occasion the qualities
of that deadly class of dogs " which bite bitterly before they
barcke, for they flye upon a man, without utterance of voyce,
snatch at him, and catch him by the throate, and most cruelly
byte out collopes of fleasche." * He is brave in the defence of
his home, keen of nose, and untiring in the chase, though
sorely oppressed by the warmness of his heavy coat, necessary
as a protection against the thorns and prickly creepers which
tangle his native thickets. His powers of scent are used to-day
in the capture of birds for the table, just as, in all probability,
before the European bird-dog was invented, they availed the
oriental hunter in the capture of antagonists in the favourite
Chinese sport of quail-fighting. His staunchness at " point "
may be but slight. Sportsmen, however, who know him will
agree that the chow or the pointer-cross is best fitted to stand
the rigours of the China climate, and that in his native thickets
and tangled clearings he will, by his forceful tactics, behind
such inveterate runners as the strong-sinewed Mongolian
pheasant or the swift-legged francolin of Yunnan, bring birds
to the gun, while the staunchness of the foreign pointer dis
tinguished in field-trials, brings seeming mockery from the
pursued, and is to the fowler little less than a delusion.
White, in 1802, writes of the importation of a pair of dogs,
* Dr. Caius, Abraham Fleming's translation quoted in " Praise of the Dog," Ethel
E. Bicknell.
69

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
evidently chows, from Canton. He says they were " such as
are fattened in that country for the purpose of being eaten ;
they are about the size of a moderate spaniel ; of a pale yellow
colour, with coarse bristling hairs on their backs ; sharp
upright ears and peaked heads, which give them a very fox
like appearance. Their hind-legs are unusually straight,
without any bend at the hock or ham, to such a degree as to
give them an awkward gait when they trot. When they are
in motion their tails are curved high over their backs like
those of some hounds, and have a bare place on the outside
from the tip midway, that does not seem to be matter of acci
dent but somewhat singular. Their eyes are jet-black, small
and piercing ; the insides of their lips and mouths of the same
colour, and their tongue blue. When taken out into a field
the bitch showed some disposition for hunting, and dwelt
on the scent of a covey of partridges till she sprung them,
giving her tongue all the time. These dogs bark much, in
a short, thick manner, like foxes, and have a surly, savage
demeanour, like their ancestors, which are not domesticated
but tied up in sties, where they are fed for the table with
rice-meal and other farinaceous food. These dogs did not
relish flesh when they came to England." *
This is a good description, except for colour, which varies
almost infinitely between jet-black and snowy white, for the
breed as it exists in China to-day. Native hunters insist
that his tongue shall be black.
Similar dogs are used for drawing sledges in Mongolia
and the Ninguta and Sanhsing districts of Northern Man
churia. " The Tartar dogs are much valued, and deservedly ;
they harness them to sledges which they draw over the snow
and frozen rivers. ' We met/ says one of the missionaries,
to whom we owe the map of Tartary, ' a lady of Ussuri who
* White's " Natural History of Selbome," vol. ii, p. 77, 1802.
70

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
was returning from Peking. She informed us that she had a
hundred dogs for her sleigh. One goes in front as guide,
those in harness follow it without turning aside, halting only
at certain points, where they are exchanged for others taken
from those held in leash. She maintained that she had often
made a continuous journey of ioo li (30 miles).' " *
Similar, no doubt, is the race of dogs said by Griffis f to
be the only animal domesticated by the Ainu of Japan. He
says they are taught to hunt bear and deer, to watch on the
shore for the incoming salmon, to rush into the water, drive
the fish, bite off the salmon's head, and to leave its body at his
master's feet.
The breed appears to extend North into Tibet, for
Percival Landon describes the dogs which swarm over that
country and form one of its principal features as being of a
type " rather that of the Esquimaux sledge-dog." J
Dr. Wells Williams states that " In Anhui a peculiar
variety (of dog) has pendent ears of great length and thin
wirey tails." §
Some writers mention Chinese crested dogs and a hairless
dog. The hairless type appears to be as elusive as the
" Raccoon dogs of China and Japan," || and the naked dogs of
Turkey and Egypt. The Zoological Society records that a
hairless Egyptian variety of the familiar dog died in its garden
in 1833. Buffon described a dog naturally destitute of hair
under the name " Le Chien Turc." Later writers state that
the race is unknown in Turkey. Others deny that a hairless
Egyptian race has any existence.
* Grosier, " De la Chine," vol. iv, p. 244.
f W. E. Griffis, " The Japanese Nation in Evolution," p. 9. For a similar use of
the dog in salmon-fishing in Britain, see Pinkerton's " Voyages," vol. ii.
X " Lhasa," Percival Landon, p. 387.
§ " Middle Kingdom," vol. i, p. 319.
Proc. Zool. Soc, 1868, p. 492. 71

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
The Greyhound, Wolf-hound, and Kansu Greyhound
Existence of the greyhound at an early period in Shantung
Province is proved by a rubbing * from a bas-relief of the Han
period at Wu Liang in Shantung Province. The greyhound,
which is altogether unmistakable, is described by Laufer as
sitting on the ground in front of a carthorse, a man standing on
its left, and as seeming to belong to the people driving in
the cart. The same figure of a greyhound, in exactly the
same posture, is delineated on another bas-relief, also here
squatting in front of a cart whose horse has been unharnessed
and is standing to one side under a tree, while a man, probably
the teamster, is to the left in front of the dog.
In North China the " long-dog " is known as the hsi-kou
or thin-dog, often qualified by the name Min-tzu, a prefecture
in Shantung said to have been famous at one period for the
breed. The legendary Heavenly Dog is represented as being
of this breed. The term is probably the antithesis to that of
the " short-dog," introduced from the Southern Shansi
States about iooo B.cf
Both rough and smooth-coated varieties of the dog exist,
and they closely resemble the British race. The known fre
quency of intercourse between Eastern monarchs renders it
probable that this dog is akin to the Persian greyhound, of
which race a specimen reached England before 1858. It was
used in hunting the wild-ass and antelopes as well as the cours
ing of hares. On the cutting of the crops of maize, millet, and
wheat in the vast plains north of the Yang-tse, numbers of
hares are left without cover. The villagers spend their spare
time coursing them with these dogs. The European dog is
acknowledged to be superior to the Chinese, and is said to

* Chavannes, " La Sculpture en Pierre en Chine," plate xxv.
f Chap, i, p. 16.

72

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS

have been crossed with it to improve the breed. English
greyhounds were famous in Europe, and an article of export
in the fifteenth century. In 1471 the following " instruc
tions and orders " were given to Francisco Salvatico,
Councillor of the Duke of Milan, about to go to England :
" We desire you to obtain some fine English hackneys
of those called ' hobby ' for the use of ourself and the
duchess our consort, as well as
some greyhounds for our hunting,
a laudable exercise in which we
take great delight, and so we have
decided to send you to England
where we understand that each of
these things is very plentiful and of
rare excellence. We are giving you
a thousand gold ducats for the
purpose to buy the best and finest
horses you can find and dogs also.
In order that you may find and
buy them more easily we are
sending with you el Rossetto, our
master of horse, and two of our
dog-keepers, who know our tastes and the quality of horses
and dogs that we require."
Salvatico was unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of
the Duke of Burgundy at Sluys, where he was consigned to the
castle and " stripped of all his letters and things," but after
diplomatic representations was released. Two months later
he wrote from France that he was " much perplexed as to
what to do, with English affairs in their existing state," and
that he was " all ready to go and also to proceed to Ireland,
whence all the hackney (obico) horses come."
Five years later there was transmitted to King Edward a
73

GREYHOUND REPRESENTED ON HAN BAS-
RELIEF OF WU LIANG IN SHANTUNG
Chavannes ; La Sculpture en Pierre en Chine.

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
letter from the Duke of Milan to his Ambassador : " We
were especially fond of Brebur, whom the King sent, but
whether from change of air or some other accident he fell
sick, and though we gave him every care he died. This has
caused us much grief. We beg His Majesty to send another
dog of the same race, as nothing would give us greater pleasure.
We send the present bearer for no other reason." Sforza,
the Duke of Milan, wrote to King Henry in 1487 : " The
two noble dogs which we desired from your island have
arrived safely, and nothing could please us better." * In
1584 Stafford wrote to Walsingham to " entreat you for some
greyhounds, especially Irish, or the largest sort of English
ones ... for the Cardinal de Medicis." f
A little later the East India Company began to take energetic
steps for the opening up of trade with Japan and China.
In doing so it made use of the high reputation of the then
existing British breeds of dogs, and they became a common
article of export on the British ships. There can be little
doubt that greyhounds from England reached China at this
period. In 1 6 14 Captain Saris recommended the sending of a
" fine greyhound " to the son of the Daimio of Hirado. In
the same year the Governor of Surat requested the East
India Company to send as presents for the Great Mogul
" looking-glasses, figures of beasts or birds made of glass,
mastiffs, greyhounds, spaniels, and little dogs."
In 1615 the Company's factor wrote that King James's
letters had been delivered to the King of Acheen and other
parts of Sumatra, and suggested " a corslet and helmet will be
well accepted by him ; he takes great delight in dogs, and also
in drinking and making men drunk." The King of Acheen
replied to King James begging him " to send him ten mastiff
* " Calendar of State Papers," Milan, 1471. f Ibid., 1583-4.
74

KANSU GREYHOUNDS

MASTIFF TOMB-DOG, IN TERRA-COTTA.
TANG PERIOD. (AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)
PRESENTED BY KUNGPAH, T. KING, ESQ.

KANSU GREYHOUND

CHINESE ROYAL-COATED GREYHOUND
PEKING

To face p. 74

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
dogs and bitches, with a great gun, wherein a man may sit
upright." *
A separate Chinese variety is known as the Hsi Yang Min-
tzu, and comes from the Mahommedan districts of Kansu and
Shensi, where it is used for hunting hares and foxes. It is a
diminutive greyhound, short-coated, beautifully proportioned,
of distinctive type and breed. A large variety is said to exist.
Three specimens were brought to Peking in 1914. Measure
ments of two of these are appended.

Nose to joining on of neck
Girth of skull .
Girth of muzzle
Length of neck-joint to shoulders
Girth round neck
Girth of foreleg
Girth of thigh
Girth of chest .
Girth of loins .
Neck to tail
Length of tail .
Length of ear .
AgeColour .
Coat
Sex

A kindred breed of coursing dog is the Chinese wolf-hound,
which is found in the encampments of the Mongolian princes,
and is used for hunting wolves and foxes. Many of the chiefs
have from 40 to 50 couple of these hounds. Few have been
seen by Europeans. They are said to be similar to the Borzoi.
Two of them were brought to Tientsin some years ago and are
remembered, when escaped from their keepers, as having
captured a Pekingese dog which was unfortunate enough to

Smaller inches

Larger
inches

• 9

10

• 13 6
. 6

14 6|

11

.. 12*

• 4
. 14

• • is*

• 25

34

¦ 17

20

. 20

22

• 15
• 3*
8 months

13 4
Fully grown

. Liver
. Short

1-2 years
Very light
yellow Short

. Male

Male

* " Calendar ofthe State," East Indies, 1513-1625.

75

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
cross their path, tearing it to pieces and devouring it on the
spot. " The hunting-dogs are clever in seizing wild animals,
and are kept in great numbers in Mongolia. These are the
' hunting-dogs higher than stags ' that Chou Po-ch'i of the
Yuan dynasty mentions in a poem in his ' Diary of a Journey
to the Capital.'" *
Nothing is known of the origin of the Tibetan mastiff.
German writers have assumed that the " ao " dog of the tribes
of Leu was of this breed without, as has been remarked already,
sufficient historical basis. The Tibetan mastiff certainly is
a large dog and the " Erh Ya," a Chinese dictionary written
many centuries after the importation of the dogs of Leu,
describes the character " ao " as referring to dogs four
(ancient) Chinese feet high. Laufer remarks that the word
" ao " was probably never a current term for any species of
dog but, seeing that a similarly formed character with the same
sound represented " a huge sea-fish," " a huge turtle," " a
bird of ill-omen," " a worthless fellow," originally implied the
notion of something huge, weird, and extraordinary.!
There is no Chinese evidence suggesting that a race of
mastiffs existed in Tibet in prehistoric times. Export of
mastiffs from Tibet into China has never been recorded by
the Chinese nor have they mentioned the existence of a large
race of dogs in that country which, originally the home of
semi-nomad tribes, became consolidated under one ruler and
known to history only in the seventh century a.d. That
fierce dogs of large size existed in China in early times is
proved by the discoveries of pottery figures of guard dogs in
graves of the Han period. Laufer J illustrates " the full
figure of a dog of Han pottery, with green glaze which, for
* " Annals of Ch'eng te fu," Jehol, Book 29, p. 25a.
f " Pottery of the Han Dynasty," p. 255. J Ibid., Laufer, plate lxiv.
76

POTTERY MASTIFF, IN SIDE AND FRONT VIEW. HAN PERIOD. (FROM LAUFER'S "CHINESE POTTERY OF THE HAN DYNASTY.")

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
the most part, has dissolved into a silver iridescence." This
dog is clearly a sturdy chow of a type commonly found in
Yunnan Province. It has prick ears, bushy and well-curled
erect tail, straight hind legs and non-pendulous lips, but large
eyes and broad head. These tomb-dog figures have evidently
been made in large numbers, usually on the cheap scale
current in modern Chinese funeral offerings and grave fur
nishings. Strongly characteristic of these Han guardian-
dogs are the massive collar and body-straps which, by their
stoutness, indicate that the guard-dog of the period was
extremely powerful. In their form, neck and chest-band
connected by a strap in front and bound into an iron ring
over the back, they clearly originate the efficient harness with
which the Chinese have been accustomed to hold their more
powerful dogs in leash through historical times. The iron
buckles at the side of the harness are strongly made and very
characteristic. The tail in some of the clay specimens is
bushy and well curled over the back.* In others, however,
though curled, it is short and with no brush. Stiffness of the
hind legs so characteristic of the chow breed is clearly shown
in these models. f
It may be that these pottery tomb-dogs are the repre
sentatives of dogs which were in the possession of the deceased,
and that at an earlier period the dogs themselves were
* The Assyrian dogs of Asshur-bani-pal wore plaited neck-collars. Judging from
the reliefs and clay figures reproduced in Handcock's work, the curl of the tail of
these dogs is open, and does not closely resemble that of the Tibetan mastiff breed.
The ears are not pricked, but rather pendulous. The hind legs are not straight, and
are bent in running. The suggestion by Layard that the Assyrian breed is still
extant in Tibet (though not in Mesopotamia) does not seem justified.
f " The only peculiarity that I have noticed about them (the Tibetan mastiffs)
is that the tail is nearly always curled upward on the back, where the hair is displaced
by the constant rubbing of the tail." A. Cunningham, " Ladak, Physical, Statistical,
and Historical," London, 1854, p. 218. Cf. White on the chow dog : " When they
are in motion their tails are curved high over their backs like those of some hounds,
and have a bare place on the outside from the tip midway, that does not seem like a
matter of accident, but somewhat singular."
77

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
slaughtered that they might accompany their master's spirit
in its journey. " All Americans believe in the soul's journey
to another world and some speak of the bridge leading to
heaven, and others of the Milky Way as the path of souls.
The custom of removing the corpse by a special door, found
among the Algonquins, is ancient in China and Thibet, and
was once well known in Europe also. The dog slain at the
tomb becomes the guide of the soul, as in Persia." *
The inclusion of dogs in burial ceremony can be traced
back to the Copper period, when man was still using stone
implements and had in Europe only two kinds of domestic
dog (C. palustris and C. intermedius). A young girl of the
period has been found to be protected by four dogs' heads
placed symmetrically with the fangs outwards and at the
cornets, below a circle of stones with animal bones. The soil
was covered with a heap of small stones nearly six feet deep.
Elliott remarks that this, no doubt, superstitious ceremony may
have had something to do with the ever-present danger of
wolves. The people who lived in this village belonged to
the Cromagnon and Furfooz types.f
A similar custom exists among certain African tribes at the
present time, a dog being slaughtered at the burial of a
chief.J It is believed that in Africa this dog-sacrifice has
taken the place of the sacrifice of slaves or of enemies captured
in war. The well-defined leading-harness appears to indicate
that in China the idea was rather to provide a guide for the
spirit through the darkness of the future existence. Similar
harness may be seen on dogs leading the blind in China at
the present day.
Clay figures of the human servitors of the deceased are
* " The Rise of Man," by C. R. Conder, 1908.
f " Prehistoric Man and his Story," by G. F. Scott Elliott, 1915.
X " Ban of the Bori," by Tremayne.
78

HUNTING SCENE.
Reproduced from a picture in the Jehol Collection. Ch'ien Lung period. Painter unknown.

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
found in Japanese tombs. The Nihongi gives details of these
burial customs : " The brother of the Emperor Suinin
(29 B.C. to a.d. 70) died and was buried at Musa. All those
who had been in his personal service were gathered together
and were buried alive in an upright position around his barrow.
They did not die for many days, but wept and bewailed
day and night. At length they died and became putrid.
Dogs and crows came together and ate them up." The Em
peror, who had listened to the lamentations, ordered the
abolition of this custom, and it is said that from the year
A.D. 3 clay figures instead of human beings were buried in or
about the barrows*
" A large breed of dogs, so fierce and bold that two of them
together will attack a lion (tiger) " is mentioned by Marco
Polo in connexion with the Province of Kueichow.f Laufer
suggests that these are identical with the Yii lin dogs men
tioned by the Chinese as being produced in Yii lin chou of
Kuanghsi Province, extremely high and large, with drooping
ears, and tail different from that of the common dog.J There
does not, however, appear to be any good ground for this
suggestion. Marco Polo refers to several kinds of dogs in Tibet.
He speaks of the large and fine dogs, which are of great
service in catching the musk-beasts (Book II, Chap. 45).
In Chap. 46 he says : " These people of Tebet are an ill-
conditioned race. They have mastiff dogs as big as donkeys,
which are capital at seizing wild beasts (and in particular the
wild oxen which are called Beyamini, very large and fierce
animals). They have also sundry other kinds of sporting
dogs and excellent lanner falcons (and sakers) swift in flight,
* " The World's History," vol. ii, p. 3.
f " T'u shu chi ch'eng," vol. dxciii, p. 5.
X " Pottery of the Han Dynasty," Laufer, p. 265.
79

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
and well trained, which are got in the mountains of the
country." *
In the Province of Yunnan the musk and barking-deer,
which are small beasts of 40-50 lbs. in maximum weight,
are hunted with chow dogs of somewhat larger size and
weight. Both deer inhabit mountain forests where thin
undergrowth and plenty of rocks obtain. They feed upon
grass, and in the case of the musk-deer upon moss and lichen.
They are very active and sure-footed, traversing rocks and
precipitous ground with great agility. It is unlikely that the
Tibetans have ever used dogs of mastiff size for hunting
these deer. The wild yak, on the other hand, is known
to inhabit the open slopes of Tibet, and the use of a large
heavy dog in its capture is natural .f Yule notes, " Mr.
Cooper at Ta-ts'ien lu, mentions a pack of dogs of another
breed (than the large Tibetan dog), tan and black, ' fine
animals of the size of setters.' "
The German suggestion, based on Marco Polo's account,
that in his time mastiffs were exported in great numbers
from Tibet to China, cannot be correct. He certainly
does mention that there were vast numbers of " mastiffs " J
at the court of the Great Khan, but the word mastiff or masty
was one having a broader signification in those days than
in these of shows and careful definition of points. The
* W. Yule, " The Book of Ser Marco Polo," third edition by H. Cordier, London,
1903, vol. ii, p. 52.
f In the Mongol text of the " Yuan ch'ao pi shi " (Pallad. Trans. 148) in one case,
the valour and fierceness of the Mongols are compared with those qualities in the
dogs of Tubot. The Chinese translator (fourteenth century) . renders "dogs of
Tubot " by dogs of " Si fan." Bretschneider, " Mediaeval Researches from E.
Asiatic Sources." p. 23, vol. ii.
X Mastiff. " Murray's Dictionary," vol. vi, p. 220, states that the word is more
or less confused with old French mestif, mongrel. The form mastin occurs only in
Caxton's translations from French : cf. Mdtin. The word occurs first in 1330 as
mastif. 1601. Holland, "Pliny," i, 218 : "The Colophonians and Castabaleans
maintained certain squadrons of mastiue dogs for their war service." The forms
masty, mastie also occur.
80

PROM A SCROLL OF A HUNDRED PEKINGESE DOGS.
Tao Kuang period, after Tsou Yi-Kwei, K'ang Hsi period.

'28

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
Tibetan mastiff, too, has proved itself difficult to acclimatize
in certain foreign countries, and is unable to bear the heat of
summer in North China. It appears likely that a foreign
mastiff race, possibly Mongol, was originally imported into
Tibet, and at that altitude was developed into a breed of size
and weight suitable for its uses. Research in Tibet itself
can alone furnish sound evidence upon the subject. Whether
the Tibetans have bred a dog as large as possible with a view
to securing some beast analogous to the dog-lion of their
scriptures is a matter which may reward inquiry. Buddha
was first preached in Tibet about a.d. 632. The Chinese
remarked of the early Tibetans that they were accustomed to
sacrifice " sheep, dogs, and monkeys." * This race of dogs is
known to be widely distributed throughout Tibet. Ac
cording to Rockhill ,f mastiffs are rare in Eastern Tibet.
Pratt states that the best specimens round Tatsienlu come
from the Deggi district. Rockhill figures a mastiff which he
describes as of Punaka stock. J Ramsay § says that pure
mastiffs are procurable only in Lhasa, very handsome and
costly to purchase.||
During the seventeenth century Tibetan mastiffs were not
well known to the potentates of the East, and could not have
been exported to them, for they, and especially the Shah of
Persia, prized exceedingly such mastiffs as they could procure
from England through the East India Company.
In 1614 the Company's representatives at the Court of
the King of " Ajmere " wrote that all the dogs sent by King
* Rockhill, " Life of Buddha," p. 204.
f Journal R. Asiatic Soc, 1891, pp. 244 et seq.
X " Explorations in Mongolia and Thibet," Rockhill.
§ " Western Thibet, Lahore," 1890, p. 33.
|| Compare in Nain Sing's description of his visit to the Thok Jalung gold mines :
" At the door of the tent was tied one of those gigantic black Lhasa dogs, of a breed
which Nain Sing at once recognized by his deep jowl and white chest-mark." " Tibet
the Mysterious," by Sir Thomas Holdich, p. 241.
F 8l

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
James to the King died on the voyage except one young
mastiff which was caused to fight with a leopard and killed
it, and also with a bear, which some dogs sent by the King
of Persia would not touch, and so " disgraced the Persian
dogs, whereby the King was exceedingly pleased." " Two
or three mastiffs, a couple of Irish greyhounds, and a couple of
well-fed water-spaniels would give him great content."
In 1616 Sir John Roe, the Company's representative at the
Court of the Great Mogul, wrote that of the Company's
presents the dogs only were well liked. The next year the
Company's factor wrote, " From the Persian Court and army
near the confines of the Turk, twenty-five days from Ispa
han," that among a list of " necessaries " desired by the next
fleet were " a suit of armour, two young and fierce mastiffs,
and, above all, as many little dogs, both smooth and rough-
haired, as can be sent. His women, it seems, do aim at this
commodity." On the next day an additional list of toys
required by the Persian monarch was sent : " Some choice
fighting-cocks' and hens, turkey cocks and hens, a dog and a
bitch that draw dry foot — these with the little women's curs
he chiefly desires of anything you can send him." Four
years later, however, the factor at Ispahan states that " Their
present of dogs is almost come to nothing. Twig, Swan,
and one of the beagles grew mad, whereof they died, albeit
Fras. Mason hath taken great pains with them." The Persian
demand for British dogs continued, however, for we find the
factor at the Persian Court writing : " The king demands
coats of mail, mastiffs, water and land-spaniels, Irish grey
hounds, and the smallest lap-dogs to be found, well-tempered
knives, some of the finest and choicest sorts of China, drinking
glasses, and a kind of blue stone whereof they make powder
for eyes."
Mastiffs continued to be exported, for in 1625 we nnd in
82

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
the minutes of the Court of the East India Company a com
plaint that the principal mastiffs which were to have been
sent abroad as presents were seized by the master of the
Bear Garden for the King. It was, perhaps, in retaliation
for such complaints that at about the same time dispatch of
four mastiffs on one of the'Company's ships was vetoed by the
King on account of overcrowding.
In 1623 tne Company's factors at Batavia remark : " Broad
cloth and fine perpetuanos of good and lively colours would
yearly vend in these parts, also four or five mastiffs of a
fair and stout kind." *
The Tibetan mastiff was first figured in Mr. Bryan Hodg
son's " Drawings of Nepalese Animals." For the protection
of their encampments against wolves, bands of robbers and
petty thieves, for the herding of their sheep, yaks, and horses
in a country whose climate is arctic in winter, the possession
of a race of exceptionally powerful and shaggy dogs is a
necessity to the Tibetan. The breed has been known to
modern Europe since 1774, when Bogle, who was sent by
Warren Hastings as his deputy to visit the Teshu Lama,
mentioned the dogs as being of the shepherd breed, " the
same kind with those called Nepal dogs, large size, often
shagged like a lion, and extremely fierce." Bogle also refers
to greyhounds and says, " The Pyn Cushos keep a parcel of all
kinds of dogs at Rinjaitzay." He also refers to a " wolf
chained at the foot of the stair." f Bower writes : " We
bought a Tibetan sheep-dog here (at Pobrang), to guard the
camp, for four rupees. These dogs are something like
big, powerfully built collies, and are excellent as watch-dogs,
but one never gets fond of them, as they possess nothing of the
nobleness of character that European dogs have, and are
* " Calendar of State Papers, East Indies," 1513-1625.
f " Tibet," Bogle and Manning, Markham, pp. 68 and 116.
83

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
generally of a suspicious and cowardly nature." * Bonvalot
mentions " two splendid black dogs with red paws, enormous
beasts with heads like bears." He also describes the Tibetan
hunting-dogs. " Now and again we meet with hunters carry
ing matchlocks, forks, and lances, with powerful dogs in
leash, long-haired like our shepherds' dogs, and with broad
heads shaped like that of a bear. Many of these dogs are
black, with reddish-brown spots, this latter being generally
the colour of their chests and paws as it is that of the hares to
the south of the higher tablelands, f
It is likely that travellers have been mistaken to a con
siderable degree in describing the Tibetan dogs as of
enormous size. They are large and powerful, but the
appearance of vast size is, no doubt, largely due to their
very thick and long coat. The size of the black-tongued
chow dogs used in hunting deer in Yunnan Province
is very deceptive, as is immediately apparent when they
become thoroughly wetted. These dogs, too, are of a sus
picious nature, surly and hostile to the white man. They
are not, however, cowardly in the chase. Travellers in Thibet
cite cases of considerable courage on the part of these dogs
such as one in which a dog attacked a wolf without support
of any kind.
In 1867, Dr. W. Lockhart wrote that from Mongolia " a
noble black dog, as large as a full-sized Newfoundland, is
brought to Peking. He is used as a sheep-dog." J His
function, however, was rather protection than that of the
English sheep-dog, for, as Dr. Caius remarks : " It is not in
Englande, as it is in France, as it is in Flanders, as it is in
Syria, as it is in Tartaria, where the sheepe follow the
shepherd." §
* " Across Tibet," Bower, 1894, p. 16.
f " Across Tibet," G. Bonvalot, Pitman's translation, vol. ii, p. 96.
X Proc. Zool. Soc, 1867. § Abraham Fleming's translation, 1576.
84

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
Very few specimens have reached Europe or have ever been
seen by foreigners, consequently, attempts at accurate de
scription of the breed do not seem justified. A pair of dogs
of the breed, including the Prince of Wales's " Siring," figured
in Dalziel's " British Dogs,"* was exhibited at the Alexandra
Palace Show in 1875.
The race is represented throughout Mongolia by species
no doubt closely allied, which, in size and ferocity, approach
those of the native of Tibet. The partiality of Chinese
leopards for canine diet is crystallized in an old Chinese
saying, " The dog is the wine of the leopard." In Mongolia,
however, the tables are turned, and the natives attribute
comparative freedom from leopards to the ferocity of their
dogs. So fierce and dangerous are these, that the Mongolians
are obliged by their laws to come out and protect travellers
entering their encampments. Until they receive this pro
tection, horsemen remain in the saddle ; foot-travellers keep
the dogs at bay as best they can with sticks.
The race is similar to the British mastiff, but stronger and
more heavily built. The head is longer, the pendent ears
larger, the lips deeper, the tail long and brush-like, the coat
heavier, and the expression more fierce. The colour is often
black or brown, with light muzzle and legs. The race, native
of a country whose tablelands average 16,500 ft. above sea-
level, is difficult to acclimatize in foreign countries, apparently
through inability to bear the heat of summer. A pair taken
to the alpine climate of Yunnanfu in 191 1 succumbed within
four months. The Tibetan priests have occasionally suc
ceeded in rearing the breed in Peking, keeping the dogs in a
cellar during the hot weather. Sarat Chandra Das f con
sidered that the race was found in a wild state in the country.
He speaks of a collection of stuffed animals in one of the mon-
* Vol. ii, p. 185. f "JNarrative of a Journey to Lhasa," 1885.
85

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
asteries, including specimens of " the snow leopard, wild
sheep, goat (called Dong), stag, and wild mastiff."
Das mentions that the dog was prized as a most useful
animal by all classes in Tibet. The killing of dogs was
severely punished. " If a dog is killed by blows on his hinder
part it is to be taken for granted that it is to some extent
blameless, as it must have been running for its life and being
chastised or pursued. In such instances the compensation
for a good house-dog is 37 rupees, for a dokpyi or mastiff 25
rupees, and for a common dog 12 rupees. If a dog is killed
by blows on its head the offence is considered very light.
In such cases the dog is considered to have been the offender
and to have been killed in self-defence, so that there is no
punishment." Old English law had less sympathy for the
dog and his master. " If any person have a dog liable to
hurt people and he hath notice thereof and if, after, he doth
any hurt to cattle or otherwise, it is a misdemeanour of the
highest kinds ; and if he doth bodily hurt to any of His
Majesty's liege subjects so that death ensue, it is Manslaughter
or Murder in the owner of the said dog, after notice, according
to the circumstances." *
The importance of the house-dog to the Tibetans is shown
by a further remark by Das : " When a thief steals a lock or
key or a watch-dog from a house his offence will be tantamount
to stealing the contents of the house or store to which these
belonged. The stealing of a lock or key or a dog is the same
as robbing the treasure which they guard."
These customs may be connected with the ancient religious
beliefs found in the Zend Avesta : " Whosoever shall smite
either a shepherd's dog, or a house-dog, or a vagrant dog or a
hunting-dog, his soul when passing to the other world, shall
fly amid louder howling and fiercer pursuing than does the
* Notes and Queries, 7th series, viii, p. 234.
86

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
sheep when the wolf rushes upon it in the lofty forest. . . .
If a man shall smite a shepherd's dog so that it becomes unfit
for work, if he shall cut off its ear or its paw, and thereupon
a thief or wolf break in and carry away sheep from the fold,
without the dog giving any warning, the man shall pay for the
lost sheep, and he shall pay for the wound of the dog as for
wilful wounding. If a man shall smite a house-dog so that
it becomes unfit for work . . . and thereupon a thief or a wolf
break in . . . the man shall pay for the lost goods, and he
shall pay for the wound of the dog." *
In connexion with the death of the Grand Lama, Das
states that at Tashi-Lumpo there were found " large packs of
hounds and mastiffs which the Grand Lama had kept for
sporting purposes, though the sacerdotal function precluded
him from shooting animals."
In the course of his remarks on the funeral ceremonies
of the Tibetans, Das comments on the participation of
dogs with vultures in the gruesome rites as to disposal of
the dead, practised throughout Lamaist Mongolia to this
day. Sir Thomas Holdich mentions the " savage corpse-eating
dogs which infest the purlieus of Lhasa, and says that " a
solitary wayfarer on foot runs no little risk from the number of
savage dogs which prowl around the city wall feeding on offal
and human corpses." f Manning's description of Lhasa is
* " Sacred Books of the East," vol. iv, p. 154.
f " Tibet the Mysterious," by Sir Thomas Holdich, p. 258. " The giving of the
dead to dogs and vultures was a Persian practice, and was perhaps a custom of great
antiquity among the Aryans generally." " The Rise of Man," by C. R. Conder.
" According to Strabo the manners of the Bactrians differed in little from those of
the Scythians in their vicinity. The old men, Onesicritus asserted, were abandoned
whilst yet living, to the dogs, which were thence called ' Jburiers of the dead.' ... In
the present ritual of the Parsis the dog plays a very prominent part. Amongst other
various particulars relating to the animal, it is enjoined that dogs of different colours
should be made to see a dead body on its way to be exposed, either thrice or six or
nine times, that they may drive away the evil spirit, the Daruj Nesosh, who comes
87

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
little more pleasing. " There is nothing striking, nothing .
pleasing in its appearance. The inhabitants are begrimed
with dirt and smut. The avenues are full of dogs, some growl-
ling and gnawing bits of hide which lie about in profusion
and emit a charnel-house smell ; others limping and looking
livid ; others ulcerated ; others starved and dying and pecked
at by ravens, some dead and preyed upon."
Das deals with the treatment of hydrophobia in Tibet.
His remarks are quoted as an interesting comment on the
superstitious medical practice which is, no doubt, current in
Tibet at the present day, and is only now losing ground in
China where in Yunnan Province a teaspoonful of tin-filings
and a similar quantity of copper-filings mixed daily in a dog's
food are considered as a sovereign protection against rabies —
a custom no more irrational than the English use of a hair of
the dog that bit, or the Arab appeal to sympathetic magic in
seeking to cure hydrophobia by use of the head of a dog burnt,
reduced to ashes, and kneaded with vinegar.
" The poison of a white rabid dog with red, flushed nose
affects at all times ; that of a red or brown dog is more
dangerous when one is bitten at midday, midnight, or sunrise ;
that of a parti-coloured dog, between 8 a.m. to i p.m. ; of
spotted ones at 9 p.m. or at twilight ; of iron-grey ones at
night or dawn ; and that of a yellow rabid dog is sure to be
fatal when one is bitten at dusk or 9 a.m. The baneful
effects of this dangerous malady break out seven days after
the bite of a white dog, one month after that of a black dog,
16 days after that of a parti-coloured, 26 days after that of an
ash-grey, from one month to yl months in the case of a red,
from the North and settles upon the carcase in the shape of a fly." " Antiquities of
Afghanistan," p. 163, Wilson.
" When either the yellow dog with fair eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is
brought there then the Drug Nasu flies away to the regions of the North." Zend
Avesta, Fargard, viii, 3.
88

SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
3 to 7 months in that of a blackish-yellow, one year and a
half-month in that of a spotted, and a year and 8 months after
the bite of a bluish-black or tiger-coloured rabid dog. It is
difficult to cure the disease when caused by a bite of the last
kind of dogs at 7 p.m. or dusk, or by that of a black dog at
dawn ; but if a blue dog bites at midday, a red one at midnight,
a spotted one at dawn, or a white one early in the morning,
the patient can easily be cured."

89

CHAPTER V
THE CHINESE LION
The lion not indigenous : Popularity due to the introduction of Buddhism
from India : The lion in captivity in China : Origin of lion-worship : The
lion in Indian Buddhism : The lion in Foism : The lion in Lamaism : De
scription of the Lamaist lion : The spirit-lion and the lion-dog : Buddhist
lion-stories : Chinese artistic idea of the lion : The lion in heraldry.
THE history and attributes of Tibetan, Pekingese and
Japanese toy-dogs are so closely interwoven with
those of the Buddhist lion that a digression is
necessary in order to define their relationships.
At the dawn of historical time the tiger held pride of place
in popular imagination both in China and Japan. It was
the king of land animals,* and though deposed in China,
continues to be the royal quadruped in Corea. Early repre
sentations in pottery bore the character wang— " king "—fanci
fully seen by the Chinese in the tiger's forehead stripes.
Absence of references in the old writings indicates that the
lion was altogether unknown in China up to the time of its
introduction from abroad. The lion was unknown to Feng
Shui, China's ancient natural science, and though the lion is
one of the twelve signs of the Chinese ecliptic, in some degree
analogous to the signs of the zodiac, as indicating the twelve
places in which the sun and moon came into conjunction,
the Chinese have no constellation Leo. Why then, it may
be asked, have they adopted a foreign importation as lord of
beasts, as the commonest motif in their art, and as the centre
* Bushell, " Chinese Art," vol. 2, p. 9.
90

LAMAIST LION (MALE). BRONZE.
YUNG HO KUNG (LAMA TEMPLE,
PEKING),( CH'IEN LUNG PERIOD.
Inscription ** Ta Ching Ch'ien Lung Nien
Tsao." Exact date unknown

STONE LAMAIST LION; TIEN AN MEN.
IMPERIAL PALACE, PEKING

XX ^^ \-\ N VVIVT

1^.

THE ANIMAL WORLD REVERENCING A SACRED TREE. RELIEF
FROM EAST GATE, SANCHI (INDIA), ABOUT 140 B.C.
(Gibson, ** Buddhist Art in India ")

MING SEAL BRONZE LION MING SEAL
SUNG PERIOD

BRONZE LION
MING PERIOD

BRONZE LION
MING PERIOD

IVORY SEAL
MING PERIOD
To face p. 90

THE CHINESE LION
of more symbolism and legend than any other beast in any
country ? The answer is found in the close association of the
lion with Buddhism, which was a foreign religion. Buddhism
reached China directly from India, and indirectly, as Lamaism,
through Tibet.
Lions are still found in India in the State of Kathiawar.*
There is little doubt, however, that the lion has never existed
in the wild state in China. The few records dealing with it
in captivity may be dismissed before entering upon more
abstruse subjects such as the lion in Buddhism and Lamaism,
its symbolism and relation to the lion-dog.
The Chinese Emperors of the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.) were
probably the first to become interested in lions. Chang
Ch'ien, one of their envoys, returned from his Western
travels in the year 126 B.C. and informed the Chinese Emperor
of the wonders of India and of Buddhism.
Intercourse between China, India, Parthia and other
Buddhist countries became frequent from 126 B.C. onwards,
through the Sinkiang trade route passing north of Tibet.
The first recorded importation of lions occurred in a.d. 87.
They, came from An-hsi, Parthia. Their close association
with Buddhism accounts for the fact that from this time
onwards they were frequently imported as tribute or presents
from numerous Eastern states and also from Europe, until
the successive conquests of Islam, the declared enemy of all
unclean beasts, interrupted communications.
Chinese artists have always been in difficulties in their
representations of the lion. Few of them could secure access
to living models of the king of beasts. Consequently they
had recourse either to the conventionalized figures, pure
* " Lions were numerous in the northern parts of the United Provinces as late as
the time of Bishop Heber in 1824, but are now found only in Kathiawar. The last
specimen recorded in Northern India was killed in the Gwalior State in 1872." " The
Oxford History of India," p. 153. 91

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
Buddhist and, secondarily, Lamaist, for their sacred represen
tations, or for lay pictures to the fanciful descriptions such
as that of the scholiasts of the Han Annals. " The lion
resembles a tiger, and is yellow ; it has side-whiskers and
the soft hair at the end of its tail is of the size of a grain-
measure (tou)." " In fact, the Chinese have never had a
correct conception of the lion, nor have their artists ever
drawn a natural sketch of a lion from life, but merely copied
the fanciful conventionalized types of lions introduced into
China from India with Buddhism." *
When the Chinese pilgrim Sung Yun (a.d. 518) saw two
young lions at the Court of Gaudhara, he wondered that the
pictures of these animals, common in China, were not at all
good likenesses." f
Lions continued to be sent to succeeding Chinese Emperors
up to the time of K'ang Hsi. The Portuguese possessed
lions, doubtless for the purposes of propaganda, at Macao.
The following note is recorded as late as the sixteenth
century : " Nothing fetched so great a price among the
Chinese as a lion, for this beast does not occur in those
countries. They look upon it with intense admiration, and
give any price for it." J
Old paintings of tribute-bearing embassies to the Chinese
Emperors include lions gambolling with a multicoloured
ball. Kublai Khan followed the example of Alexander the Great
in keeping lions in his palace. After State banquets the wild
beasts were paraded as a diversion for the Imperial guests.
" Then came mummers leading lions which they caused to
salute the lord with a reverence," says Friar Odoric.

* " Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty," Laufer, pp. 238-9.
f Z. Yule, " Marco Polo," third edition, vol. i, p. 399.
X " Cathay and the Way Thither," vol. ii, p. 298.

92

THE CHINESE LION
There existed in Peking in Kublai Khan's time small dogs
which so resembled lions that a Chinese historian in describing
the Imperial menagerie remarks that the lions are of the
same colour and astonishingly like the golden-coated nimble
dogs which are commonly bred by the people in their homes.*
The following description of a fourteenth-century Imperial
hunt f seems worth quotation, though Marco Polo always
mistakes tigers for lions. " When the Great Khan {Magnus
Canis) goes a hunting 'tis thus ordered. At some twenty
days' journey from Cambalech (Peking) there is a fine forest
of eight days' journey in compass ; and in it are such multi
tudes and varieties of animals as are truly wonderful. All
round this forest there be keepers posted on account of the
Khan, to take diligent charge thereof ; and every third or
fourth year he goeth with his people to this forest. On such
occasions they first surround the whole forest with beaters,
and let slip the dogs and the hawks trained to this sport, and
then, gradually closing in upon the game, they drive it to a
certain fine open spot that there is in the middle of the wood.
Here there becomes massed together an extraordinary multi
tude of wild beasts, such as lions, wild oxen, bears, stags,
and a great variety of others, and all in a state of the greatest
alarm. For there is such a prodigious noise and uproar
raised by the birds and the dogs that have been let slip into
the wood, that a person cannot hear what his neighbour says ;
and all the unfortunate wild beasts quiver with terror at the
disturbance. And when they all have been driven together
into that open glade, the Great Khan comes up on three
elephants and shoots five arrows at the game."
Chinese history relates in detail how two hundred and
fifty years later the Emperor Kang Hsi, with the aid of two
* Jih Hsia Chiu Wen K'ao.
f " Cathay and the Way Thither," Yule.
93

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
hunting lions overcame two bears, one of them weighing
1300 catties, and deposited the skins stretched over wooden
dummies in the Yung Ho Kung (Lama temple), where the
dummies may still be seen. It may be that these hunting
lions were useful rather for the prestige they gave their
masters than for the hunting itself. Rameses II and III
each possessed a tame lion which accompanied them to
battle and attacked the enemy. Budge, however, remarks
that they were probably more valued as symbols of the
Sun-god than as effective combatants. The Egyptians be
lieved that a god was always incarnate in their king.
Passing now to the religious aspect of the subject it may
be suggested that the origin of lion-worship goes back to a
time when lions were very plentiful in Northern Africa and
in Asia, and perhaps to a period when man's unequal struggle
with the King of Beasts was habitually decided in favour of
the latter. The lion was worshipped by the Egyptians and
was usually associated with the sun-god. Sacred lions were
kept at many places throughout Egypt. By the time of the
reign of Tiglath-pileser, King of Assyria, 700 B.C., lion-
worship was probably in its decline in that country, for lion
hunting had become the favourite sport of the Assyrian
kings, and this ruler boasts, " Under the auspices of Nineb
(God of War), my patron, I killed 120 lions in my youthful
ardour, in the fulness of my manly might on my own feet ;
and 800 lions I killed from my chariot." This humbling of
the lion was effected probably in Syria. Lower Egypt was
occupied by the Assyrians early in the sixth century B.C.,
but by its close the Assyrian power had been superseded by
that of Babylon, to be overthrown in its turn by Cyrus, King
of the Persians, in 539 B.C.
The Persians, previous to the Mohammedan conquest, paid
special homage to the lion. It is not possible to define the
94

IRON LIONS BEFORE THE TEMPLE OF CHIAO CHUN, GOD OF COOKERY
PEKING, 1665. K'ANG HSI PERIOD

LAMAIST BRONZE LIONS, MODERN
(FROM THE TEMPLE OF A HOUSEHOLD, PEKING)

To face p. 94

a a

THE CHINESE LION
period at which this veneration gave way to simple curiosity
and the interest of the menagerie owner. In the temples of
the Persian goddess Anahita the lions were so tame that
they caressed visitors to her shrine in the most friendly
manner. In Greece lions were used by the priests of Cybele for
exorcising devils, as they are used in North Africa to this
day* The lion was associated with Buddhism from a very early
date, for Asoka, the Buddhist Emperor of India, whose
conversion took place 260 B.C., and to whose extreme activity
Buddhism owes its world-wide expansion and possibly its
very existence, erected many stone and wooden pillars often
bearing Buddhist inscriptions and capped by a crouching
Buddhist lion. He orders one of the edicts to be chiselled
" wheresoever stone pillars exist." This, together with the
active Chinese belief in charms and amulets, is very possibly
the origin of the innumerable lion-surmounted pillars found
throughout China in cemeteries, on the sign-poles of shops,
on bridges, and in fact wherever an opportunity for such
ornamentation occurs .f The figure of a lion is frequently
used as a charm in front of a Chinese door. A similar charm
exists in Assyria. " Spin together hair from a dog and hair
from a lion and thread three cornelians thereon, bind it on
and he shall recover," is a magical prescription against
sickness in that country .J The theory of subjection of the
lion to Buddha probably existed in Asoka's time. The lion
on the famous Lauriya pillar, for instance, was apparently
used to exemplify the subjection of the fiercest passions to
the gentle influences of Buddhism and possibly to vivify
* Sir A. Pease, " The Book of the Lion."
f For notes on the lion-pillars of Shensi, see Laufer, "Pottery of the Han
Dynasty," p. 240.
X " Semitic Magic," R. Campbell Johnson, p. Ixiv.
95

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
Buddhist approval of the setting up of " curative arrange
ments for beasts " everywhere in India " as far as Ceylon "
and to the borders of " Antiochus the Greek King." *
Chinese representations of the Buddhist " true " or sacred
lions may be classified as being of two distinct types : the
pure Buddhist and the Lamaist. The former is that which
came to China with early Indian Buddhism or Foism, possibly
before the division of Buddhism into the great Northern
and Southern sects after the Council of Jalandhara (a.d. ioo),
and certainly before the arrival of Lamaism.
This variety is represented without harness. Its mane is
not curled, and there is no orb or cub beneath the paw of
male or female. The influence of this Southern Buddhism
or Foism was strong in China up to the middle of the seventh
century, when Buddhism declined rapidly in Northern India,
finally becoming extinct, except in Ceylon, the Chinese " lion
country," whose armorial bearings are lions to this day.
What Buddhism lost in India, however, it gained in Tibet,
whence (dating from the seventh century a.d.) it obtained
both religious and political supremacy.
Buddhism did not establish itself firmly among the Chinese
until the year a.d. 67, when the Emperor Ming Ti publicly
encouraged Buddhist missionaries from India and himself
embraced Buddhism.
The practice of placing monuments before doorways in
China is recorded as early as the anterior T'ang Dynasty,
about 1 766-1 75 3 B.C., but the earliest recorded instance
found in Chinese literature of the use of stone lions is in the
case of the palace of Huo Bin, an important official who died
in 117 B.C., soon after Chang Chien's return from the West.
Buddhism flourished exceedingly in China, and became
the State religion in the fifth and sixth centuries. Early in
* " Asoka," Vincent A. Smith.
96

THE CHINESE LION
the T'ang dynasty (a.d. 618-906) the headquarters of the
faith was moved from India, in which its power was fast
giving place to Hinduism, to China, which was then a world-
power, and as such was appealed to by many of the countries
of Central Asia for defence against the rising power of the
Arabs and Mohammed. There is no doubt that representa
tions of the Buddhist lion, as well as of its living original,
became very common during the T'ang and Sung Dynasties —
the golden period of Chinese art — though few have come
down to us.
Tibet was conquered by Genghis Khan about a.d. 1206,
and Kublai Khan was thus brought into contact with
Lamaism. He called the Grand Lama to his Court, and,
after consulting the representatives of Christianity and several
other faiths, he ultimately adopted as his State religion
Lamaism, which thus received a mighty accession of
strength.* The Lama priests of Tibet distinguished between " true
lions " — the spiritual beasts whose images are found in the
Buddhist sacred places — and " dog-lions," the earthly beasts
known to the menagerie. They teach that the true lion is a
mountain spirit, having powers of instantaneous projection
through space, visible or invisible at will, and similarly
capable of infinite magnification or reduction of size.
The Lamaist lion was no doubt produced in Tibet before
the seventh century a.d. by the grafting upon Buddhism of
the sun-worship of Egypt, the nature-worship of the races of
the Euphrates Valley, the Christian influence of the Nestorians
and superstitions of numerous cults persisting after the
break-up of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires. These
vvere all subjected, for their visible representation, to Greek
influence, for Greek art was, during the first three centuries
* " L. A. Waddell's " Lamaism."
G 97

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
of our era at least, an article of exportation,*- and artists and
artasters seem to have travelled everywhere in search of
employment, adapting the models of their native art to the
requirements of the local religion. Laufer remarks, " I have
no doubt that the prototype of the figure of the lion on the
Han pottery reliefs found its way to China through the
same channels as the design of the archer on horseback ; i.e.
through the medium of Scythian and old Siberian art. The
occurrence of the lion on works of Scythian art is very
frequent ; and as to Siberia, we have many examples of it
on the famous gold plaques of the Eremitage, on which, as
in China, the lion is represented, particularly in hunting
scenes. The type of the Scythian and Siberian lion is
undoubtedly derived from Mycenian and Greek art, and
thus the transplanting of it to Chinese soil is historically and
logically accounted for."
The Lamaists teach that the " dog-lion " is as inferior to
the " true lion " of their religion as is the canine species to
the leonine. These species are, however, as will be explained
later, closely connected in Buddhist lore, and the commonly
found Western fallacy suggesting that Buddhists reverence
dogs and that Chinese toy-dogs are held sacred, based no
doubt on the likeness between the sacred lion and the
Pekingese dog, has found support from the Lamaist association
of the lion-dog with the sacred spirit-lion found in Tibetan
scripture. Both Tibetans and Chinese have no doubt bred
a race of toy-dogs to resemble as closely as possible their
respective ideas of the spirit-lion.
The close connexion of Tibetan lore with Egyptian science
is commented on by Captain Turner, one of the first English
men to enter Tibet, sent by Warren Hastings in an endeavour
to open up trade intercourse in 1800. Turner mentions that
* " Buddhist Art in India," Burgess.
98

¦

PORCELAIN LIONS. MING PERIOD

1

TERRA-COTTA INCENSE-BURNERS. MING PERIOD
(AUTHOR'S COLLECTION) Seep. 121

To face p. 98

THE CHINESE LION
he received a visit from Soopoon Choomboo, one of the
high officials, and remarks, " He was accompanied by the
Treasurer ; our conversation was extremely miscellaneous.
Egypt, in their language eunani, and the lions, singhi* were
favourite topics of conversation with him. Between this
country indeed and Tibet there seemed at some time or
other to have existed a frequent communication, and Egypt
appeared even now to merit respectful mention whenever
they named it. From hence perhaps they have derived their
veneration for the sovereign of brutes, which they evince by
the distinguished place they assign him in their sacred
architecture. " There is no religious edifice but what is adorned with
the head of the lion at every angle, having bells pendant from
his lower jaw, and the same figure is equally common at
every projection of the palace walls. It is certain that no
contiguous country can supply an example of the animal
existing in it, in a state of nature, at this day. The lake
Maunserore was mentioned to me, as having lions on its
banks, but this assertion I considered as fabulous, originating
possibly in a desire to attach greater dignity to the source of
the Ganges and Bermapooter by adding to it one more
object of veneration.
" Lions are the natives of a warmer region ; the burning
sands of Nubia, Ethiopia and Arabia seem to be their proper
habitation. But be this as it may, we see the head of the
lion held up in Tibet with marks of high distinction and
respect, though we can trace no certain clue to discover by
what means he obtained the honour." f
*jLaufer says that the Tibetan word for " lion " (seng-ge) was borrowed from the
Sanskrit simha. Giles translates suan (suan-i is a lion-like animal occurring in
Chinese literature before the lion was known in China) as " a lion from Tibet."
Research may show that suan-ni and seng-ge have a common origin.
f " An account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet," by
Captain Sam. Turner, 1800.
99

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
In sharp opposition to Foism, which favoured simplicity,
the Tibetans have done their utmost to centre upon the
lion, which in Lamaism has become the most picturesque of
its minor retainers, the maximum of fable and superstition.
The Lamaists appear to have desired to conjure up a visible
symbol of the power of their faith in order to impress its
realism upon a people which, being isolated from the rest of
the world, is uneducated, credulous and highly superstitious.
The best representations of the Tibetan Buddhist lion
which have come down to us are those of bronze or stone
which stood originally in the southern doorways of the
Imperial or Princes' palaces or of the Lama temple in
Peking. They represent a short-bodied beast, well knit and
of extraordinary strength, with massive legs and pads, head
somewhat rectangular, sometimes ornamented with stars,
nose short, the whole aspect being canine rather than feline.
The face, with broad, thick pug-nose and gaping mouth,
shows the influence of early mediaeval art exemplified in the
ogres and gargoyles of Western religion. The mane is
extraordinarily bushy, wig-like, in fact, and made up of curls
as of conch-shells, with compressed volutes both right and
left-handed. A straight whisker or beard split in the middle
hangs from the lower lip. There are fringes behind the
fore-arms and heels of the hind legs. The tail is short, with
a bushy tip. The beast is harnessed with a broad and very
open collar studded with brass openwork. From it hang
pointed tassels or perhaps a bell attached by a ring to a
ram-horned lion-head with flaring side-mane, at the apex of
the somewhat pointed chest. There emerges from behind
the mane a double tape-like leading-string, shortened by
knots and loops, resting on the back and terminating at the
insertion of the tail. These animals are, of course, recognized
by all Chinese as lions distinct from all the numerous lion-
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THE CHINESE LION
like beasts included in Oriental mythology. Figures of the
kind are invariably in pairs, one of which, the male, has its
right pad set upon a ball of coarse embroidered pattern, while
the left pad of the female rests upon a lion-cub holding the
beak-like claws of the lioness in its mouth. The ethereal
nature of the beasts is shown by flame-like emanations often
represented as playing over their bodies. The figures are set
each upon a richly embroidered cloth called the " ching-
ti'erh " or " Bible-cloth," of a design found in similar
Assyrian monuments, which is used in Tibet for covering the
temple tables where the sacred books are laid. This cloth
overlies a low pedestal of framework design, which is also
richly ornamented and similar to the tables, being built low
to serve as a seat on which the Tibetan priest sits crossed-
legged when reading. A very frequent addition is that of a
cord or noose held in the mouth of the lion as if in play.
Numerous small modifications and additions occur, such as
stars on the body of the lion. Similar stars are found on
Assyrian, Siberian, Tibetan and Chinese lions alike, thus
clearly demonstrating a close common art-origin. What these
stars represent does not appear to have been explained.
The relationship of the " true " or " spirit-lion " and the
lion-dog is defined by the following extract from the Tibetan
sacred writings : "In the West there was a Buddha named
Manjusri (the Chinese Wenshu) who was always accom
panied by a small ' hah-pah ' (pet) dog and who travelled
the four continents as a simple priest. On his travels he one
day met a Taoist who begged him to obtain an audience with
Manjusri. The Buddha invited the Taoist to accompany
him to his home. When the Taoist had taken tea and rice,
he again requested the Buddha to secure for him a vision of
Manjusri Buddha. The Buddha told him that he must
observe his vows with great strictness and that Manjusri 101

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
would then be manifested to him. On this the Taoist,
bursting into anger, cried vehemently, ' I am indeed keeping
my vows. If not, why should I have come hither to see the
Buddha ? ' Then said the Buddha, * If this be verily so, look
up into the sky.' The Taoist raised his head and perceived
in the sky a glow of five-coloured light together with clouds
of five colours. In the heavens he saw the ' hah-pah ' dog
transformed into a mighty lion with the Buddha riding upon
his back. The Taoist had affinity with Buddha in a previous
incarnation, and consequently was enabled to see the true
Buddha.* It is of interest to note that St. Thomas the Apostle, who
is believed through the traditions of the early Church to
have propagated Christianity in India, High Asia and to the
Walls of China, is represented by Indian tradition as having
come to India riding upon a lion and accompanied by two
dogs.f The association of a god with a canine assistant dates from
the time of Anubis worship in Egypt. In Asia it can be
traced back to a period anterior to the separation of the
Persians and Hindus, the myth being found in the religions
of both peoples. The dog of Mithras, god of the sky and a
divinity of light, was venerated as the companion of the deity
by the Persians. The worship of Mithras, deified before
405 B.C., was modified later by the star-worship of the
Chaldeans, who identified Mithras with Shamash, god of the
sun, by the Armenian religion, and by that of the Greeks of
Asia Minor, who identified Mithras with Helios. About
60 B.C. the worship of Mithras was brought to Rome, and it
became so fashionable that during the second and third
centuries a.d. it constituted a formidable rival to Christianity.
Mithras slaying the " earth-bull " with the help of his dog
* Tibetan " Yuan Liu " Ching. f Marignolli, 1338.
102

THE CHINESE LION
is frequently represented in Roman sculpture. Persian bas-
reliefs represent Mithras in the form of a youth wearing a
conical cap, slaying the sacred bull, whose sacrifice was
supposed to have originated terrestrial life. His dog is
shown springing towards the wound in the bull's side.
Accompanying these are a serpent, a raven, a lion, symbolizing
the element fire, and a torch-bearer.*
Some believe that light on the origins of certain early
Egyptian practices is to be found among the customs of the
tribes of Africa. Speke f mentions that the heraldic device
of Mtesa, King of Uganda, consisted of a white dog, a shield,
a spear, and a woman. On state occasions Mtesa was
accustomed to lead a small dog on a leash.
Another of the Lama Gospels says, " The lion is the King
of Beasts. Its power of increase is without limit. Similarly
it may diminish (at will) and become like unto a dog. Even
so is the anger of man. He who keepeth his anger in subjec
tion shall be free from calamity, but the woe of him that
shall fail to bridle his wrath shall be even as the boundless
increase in size of the lion. Through the lion's form there
fore is the nature of anger known unto man." J
The dog-lion idea is illustrated by the Chinese written
character for " lion." The most important Order of Merit
given to high State officials in China from the earliest times
included the decorations Great Instructor and Lesser In
structor (T'ai Shih, Shao Shih). Since the introduction of
Buddhism these ranks, because Shih also means " lion,"
have been pictorially represented by lions. This custom
originated in part from the fact that up to the T'ang Dynasty
(a.d. 6 i 8) the " lion " and " Instructor " characters as well
as sounds were identical. The root " dog " was subsequently
* See Mithras, Encyclopaedia Britannica.
f " Travels to the Sources of the Nile." J Tu Lu Wa Ching.
103

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
introduced into the " lion " character to make it clear that a
beast and not a human being was indicated. The composite
nature of the character aptly illustrates the blending of the
identities of the lion with that of the dog in the Chinese
imagination. In Shantung the natives call the small lion figures which
guard the roof-corners of all Chinese temples and date from
the T'ang period "hai pah kou" (sea small dogs). The deer-
heads which guard the roof-trees are called " chang k'ou
shou " (long-mouthed beast or beast-heads). The geomantic
idea is that the dogs, resembling spirit-lions in being the
denizens of the deep, are able to protect buildings against
fire, and that the long-mouthed beasts devouring the wind
are a sure protection against destruction by the powers of
the air.
Images of the Buddhist lion are found in miniature before
the altar of the god in many Chinese households. They
undoubtedly participate in the veneration due to their Master,
but though sometimes known to the unlettered as the dogs
of Fo or Buddha, are not reverenced as dogs.
In India from the earliest times the Buddhists pictured
curious leonine creatures with dog's heads among the mythical
animals which worshipped at the sacred places in order to
obtain a better incarnation.
The Chinese idea of subjection of lions to Buddha is
exemplified by two stories from the Life of Buddha compiled
by Pao Ch'eng, a Chinese monk of the Ming dynasty :
Devadatta turned the heart of King Ajatasatru against
Buddha, and persuaded him to come to his city with a view
to crushing him and his disciples under the feet of inebriated
elephants. " On the next day at the hour of meat, Buddha
and his arhats entered the city. Forthwith a herd of elephants
rendered drunk with wine charged them with fierce trumpet-
104

WOODEN LION, PEKING

LION FIGURES GUARDING A CORNER OF
PAVILION-ROOF. SUMMER PALACE, PEKING

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Photo, Zumbrum, Peking
STONE PEDESTAL OF PAILOU BUILT BY THE EMPEROR YUNG LOU. MING
TOMBS, NEAR PEKING. ETHEREAL LIONS WITH THE EMBROIDERED BALL
AND TAPE-LIKE CORDS To face p. 104

IRON LIONS. YAO WANG TEMPLE, PEKING
Dedicated to Cheng Lung. God of Medicine. K'ang Hsi Period

*.

(LAMA TEMPLE, PEKING)

LION

To face p. 104

THE CHINESE LION
ings, overthrowing walls and bursting in houses. The arhats
took refuge by lifting themselves into the air. Anandha
alone remained with Buddha. The elephants bore down
upon them, head to head. Then Buddha stretched forth one
hand whose fingers changed themselves into five lions which

BUDDHA'S VICTORY OVER THE INEBRIATED ELEPHANTS
FROM DR. L. WIEGER'S "BUDDHISM "
roared with a voice shaking heaven and earth. The elephants
prostrated themselves in terror, marking their repentance by
the shedding of tears."
A similar story is that of the subjection of the infuriated
buffalo. " Scarcely had Buddha entered the jungle when the wicked
buffalo burst upon him at a gallop with erect tail and lowered
horns, bellowing furiously. Buddha calmly extended his
*<>5

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
hand, whose five fingers became five lions. At the same
time a circle of fire surrounded Buddha, the lions, and the
infuriated beast. The buffalo, terrified by the lions and held
captive by the fire, prostrated itself before Buddha, hung its
head in a contrite manner and licked his feet. The buffalo
ceased to eat and drink, died, and was reborn a deva in the
heaven of Indra." *
The idolatry practised by the Lamas caused them to
animate the lion images standing before their temples just as
the feeling for nature in early Indian Buddhist art vivified
the Western forms of sculpture introduced from Greece and
Rome. As a recent example of the veneration of the Buddhist
" true-lion " there may be mentioned an incident which
occurred in the case of a pair of Ming lions now standing
outside the Peking Chien Men. When removing these in
May 19 16 from what is now called the Kung Fu, in old days
the palace of Prince Wu, east of the Imperial City, great
difficulty was found in unseating the second from its pedestal.
A Buddhist priest was called in. He offered wine to the
spirit on an altar improvised before the idol. An incantation
written in red characters on yellow paper was then affixed to
the lion's breast. Its eyes were bound with red cloth. The
idol then vacated its pedestal without further demur.
A more recent example is reported from Honan. " At
Ucheng every expedient had been used to attract the rain.
After processions to the city temple and putting the idol out
to the sun a while had failed, the stone lions at the entrance
of the temple were sprinkled with water. This failed also
to bring the rain. The south gate was kept shut because
' fire is in the South,' thus causing travellers to make a
detour of some miles in order to catch their morning train. "f
* " Buddhism," vol. ii, Dr. L. Wieger.
t North China Herald, February 7, 1920,
106

THE CHINESE LION
Among the Assyrians the bull was the sign of the god borne
to battle in the same way as the standards of the Romans,
and, just as the Cross and the Crescent became the emblems
of warring religions in later days, so the lion appears to have
been adopted by the Buddhists, whose faith preaches peace

BUDDHA'S CONVERSION OF BUFFALOES. FROM
DR. L. WIEGER'S "BUDDHISM "
and humanity as their heraldic symbol. Buddhism has
never appealed to the grim arbitrament of war for the imposing
of its doctrines upon foreign nations, and it is therefore
natural that its symbols should have failed to assume the
accentuated and universally realized importance which, largely
on account of warlike operations, accrued to the similar
symbols of Christianity and Mohammedanism.
To the Western mind utilization of the King of Beasts to
107

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
symbolize docility and the subjection of human passions
under the benign influence of religion appears so great a
contradiction as to be almost paradoxical and even grotesque.
It may, however, seem to the Chinese equally grotesque in
the Crusaders to have adopted lions of wonderful form as
the commonest of armorial bearings when battling to extend
by dint of arms their idea of the faith of the Prince of Peace.
European heraldry and armory originated with the Cru
sades. The knowledge of natural history possessed by the
mediaeval artists was limited. They proved themselves
capable of depicting shaggy figures of lions frequently of
astonishing tenuity of body, crowned with two heads, their
tails being sometimes bifurcated and of remarkable length.
These creations often boasted numerous other highly fanciful
and astonishing characteristics * illustrated by the British
coat-of-arms. The Chinese need not be too severely criti
cized in adopting somewhat inaccurate sculptured representa
tions for the chief animal retainers of Buddhism f and for
connecting with these certain myths which are composed of
too flimsy material to resist the test of modern scientific
inquiry. Use of the lion as a heraldic emblem by the Chinese
appears to have been only slightly developed, but that the
heraldic idea has existed is indicated by the facts that the use
of leonine images before doorways was restricted by law to
temples and official buildings, that the size of their bronze or
stone representations indicated the importance of the building
* See Davies, " Guide to Heraldry."
f The inaccuracies, moreover, are partly Indian. " The conventionalized lion of
Indian art betrays its anterior Asiatic character, particularly in the arrangement of
the mane. A series of lion-like animals appear in art as early as the Asoka period.
Especially these conventionalized lions became still more baroque. The so-called
sardulas (N. India) and yalis (S. India) of the later Indian art are overloaded with
shaggy hair and petty curls." A. Grunwedel, " Buddhistische Studien," vol. v,
p. 70.
108

RECENT PAINTING OF LIONS (POPULAR TYPE) BY THE FAMOUS PAINTER REN HSUN

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
or of its official inhabitant, and that in certain princely
palaces in Peking the door-guardians are, to use the termi
nology of heraldry, statant instead of sejant, the latter being
the customary posture of the Buddhist lion in China. It is
to be noted, too, that the Buddhist lions, like the Egyptian
gryphon, traditionally occupy the position of the " sup
porters " in heraldry, an art which is of course mediaeval and
comparatively young in its origins.
In most exceptional cases only was it possible for a Chinese
painter to see a living lion. Consequently the strolling street
artist, who even now continues to educate Chinese opinion
in matters artistic, was obliged, in his efforts to obtain an
accurate model, to fall back upon the word-pictures of the
literary, or the Buddhist statues. The literati, unfortunately,
were anything but efficient in powers of accurate description
and scientific detail. As already remarked, the Chinese
historians who recorded the first importation of lions described
them as being bearded, with whiskers and hairy ears. The
bushiness of their tails and manes was likened to the horse
or rhinoceros hair-tassel which figured on the top of the
old-fashioned Chinese official hat.
Chinese painters love to portray the lion in a style restricted
to a common type, showing variations only in detail. These
variations were never so fanciful as the liberties in which
mediaeval heraldic designers so freely indulged at the expense
of the exact attributes of the Royal Beast.
To the mediaeval knight the " gryphon " had a very real
existence, and the weightiest of arguments would no doubt
have been available to convince any who might have had the
temerity to doubt the existence or importance of the " griffin "
prototype. It must be noted that the naive temperament of
Eastern nations disposes them to regard even animal images
used decoratively as the living animals they represent. The
no

THE CHINESE LION
European unicorn is a blend of the horse and the bull. The
head, body and legs of the animal are those of a horse ; the
feet, tail and horn of the nature of those of a bull.
It is a point in favour of the common origin of symbols
that the Chinese have also their lion and unicorn. The
popular idea is that the unicorn is of the size of a goat with
a horn projecting from the centre of its forehead. It has the
power of distinguishing right from wrong, and for this
reason legend has employed it, like the Iodan Moran of the
Hebrews, in a court of justice, to indicate guilt by pointing
with its horn Many Chinese writers assert that this animal
exists to the present day in Tibet. Chinese bronzes repre
sent the unicorn with a parrot on its back. In these, the
unicorn symbolizes dumb justice, while the parrot stands for
the talkative advocate capable of expounding the truth.
There may be a possible comparison of the lion and the
unicorn in China with the lion and the unicorn of the royal
arms of England. Each nation appears to held the lion for
strength and the unicorn for justice. No other existing
nation possesses these emblems, and the only others to have
held them are the houses of Judah and Israel. In many
passages in the Old Testament Judah is referred to as a lion.
Israel, on the other hand, is referred to variously as both
animals. " He (Israel) hath as it were the strength of an
unicorn : he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall
break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.
He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion : who
shall stir him up ? " * * Numbers xxiv.

Ill

CHAPTER VI
SYMBOLISM OF THE BUDDHIST AND
LAMAIST LION
IN Christian ecclesiastical art the lion is sometimes used
to represent the devil, who goes about " like a roaring
lion," but more frequently symbolizes the Redeemer
himself on account of its royalty, courage, watchfulness,
strength, and alleged mercy to the fallen. At the church
door lions symbolized the watchfulness of God over His
people, noting their going out and their coming in, and
spying out all their ways, watching also for their protection
and to guard the sanctuary.*
The significance of the lion in Buddhism is altogether
different. " Buddha placed the lions before his temple that
his priests might remember to subject their passions." The
Lamaist idea is that Buddha on entering his temple has
ordered the two lions which have accompanied him to seat
themselves upon the altar-cloth-covered tables set at the
door, and that by awaiting his return in motionless obedience
they serve as a reminder of the subjection of the passions by
the Holy Creed.
It appears likely that the Tibetans owe the form of their
lion monuments to Greek travelling artists, and much of
their lion lore to the Egyptians. In Egypt the lion was a
hieroglyphic or sacred character before the Chinese began to
write and long before Tibet or the lion became known to
* " Sacristy," Herr B. Eckl.
112

TIBETAN LION (FEMALE), K'ANG HSI PERIOD. ITALIAN LEGATION, PEKING

TIBETAN LION (MALE), K'ANG HSI PERIOD. ITALIAN LEGATION, PEKING

-~&xa

SYMBOLISM— BUDDHIST AND LAMAIST LION.
the ancients of the Far East. Wallis Budge states that the
Egyptians believed that the gates of dawn and evening
through which the Sun-god passed each day were guarded
by lion-gods. In order to keep evil spirits and fleshly foes
from those who dwelt within, they placed statues of the lion to
guard the living at the doors of their palaces, and to guard
the dead at the doors of their tombs* Other authorities
state that being persuaded that the lion slept with his -eyes
open, the Egyptians placed the figure of this animal at the
entrance of their temples. f
Another monument common to Buddhism and the religions
of Western Asia is that of a Divine Being riding upon a
lion. The idea of subjection of the King of Beasts to the
might of religion is no doubt common to all such representa
tions. Cybele, standing on a car drawn by lions, was
worshipped in Phrygia. Atargatis, the great Syrian goddess
of Hierapolis-Bambyce, was portrayed sitting on lions and
wearing a tower on her head. In the rock-hewn sculptures
of Bogaz-Keui, a youth stands on a lioness or panther
immediately behind the great goddess, who is supported by
a similar animal. J
It appears likely that the Oriental deities, represented as
standing or sitting in human form on the backs of lions or
other animals, were in the original religions indistinguishable
from the beasts themselves. With a growth of the knowledge
and power of man he discontinued worship of the bestial
shape, and gradually recognizing that his worship was directed
rather towards the abstract principle of power and majesty,
super-imposed a human or divine form having the lower
nature in complete subjection.
• A. E. Wallis Budge, " The Gods of the Egyptians."
f Buffon, " Histoire Naturelle," vol. vi.
X " The Golden Bough," Hazer, vol. i, p. 137.
H 113

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
Chinese Buddhism * represents Wenshu Buddha, the God
of Learning (the Tibetan Manjusri), as riding upon a lion,
in company with Kuan-yin, Goddess of Mercy, riding upon
a hou, and Pu-hsien upon an elephant, pacifying the warring
demons of the earth at the beginning of history. Trans
ference of the attributes of one divinity to a supporter is
illustrated by the fact that the Buddhists accord to the lion
greater wisdom than to any other of the lower creation. Its
sagacity is likened to the learning of its master, Wenshu.
The harness with which all Lamaist lions are adorned
assists in symbolizing the servitude of the lion to Buddha.
The lion was to some extent used in the sense of being the
champion of Buddhism, also as a defender of Buddha and
of the faithful ; for Buddhists often burn two lions made of
fir twigs at the funeral of important officials, with the object
of expressing a hope that the guardians of Buddhism may
protect the deceased in the life to come.
A further use of the simile of lion-subjugation occurs in
the Lamaist writings :
" Buddha released the wild beasts of a certain mountain
from the depredations of the lion by causing them to read
his Bible. The lion, finding that he no longer hungered for
their flesh and that they lived in no fear of him, discovered
the secret of the miracle from the fox. The lion then asked
Buddha for instruction, and as a result his temperament was
changed to active benevolence. By this means it is proved
that the power of Buddha's Bible in leading to do good is
without limit. The lion crouches before the seat of Buddha
to eternity. Two lions sit before his seat, and eight lions
around it." f
* Fung Shen Pang, " Popular Book of Superstitions " (recent, but universally
known in China.)
f Cha Pu Lao P'an Yuan Bible.
II4

SYMBOLISM— BUDDHIST AND LAMAIST LION
This is therefore a Buddhist realization of the pious
thought contained in the Hebrew prophecy of the time when
" the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and

WENSHU (MANJUSRI) BUDDHA RIDING UPON A LION, PU-HSIEN UPON AN ELEPHANT, AND
KUAN- YIN MOUNTING A HOU (FUNG SHEN PANG)
the young lion and the fatling together," " and the lion shall
eat straw like the ox." *
The attributes of the two lions before Buddhist temples
are celebrated at religious " Lion-masques " held from time
to time all over China, Tibet, and in Japan, where, as
remarked by Captain Brinkley, the so-called Dog or Lion of
Fo (Shishi no Kachira) is carried in the Sano procession in
Tokyo. In China a pair of lion-head cardboard masks with
cloth bodies, counterfeiting the temple guardians, are carried
in procession from certain temples. Sometimes they are made
to halt at the temple door and playfully bar ingress to
* Is. xi. 6-7.
us

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
demons. They are then made to follow a large knitted ball
to some eminence, where they sport with it to the delighted
applause of large audiences.
These plays are known as " Shuah Shih-tzu " or " Exer
cizing the Lions." They are promoted by the pious for
collecting charitable subscriptions and at the same time
acquiring religious merit. They are comparable to the old
English mystery plays. Several temples in Peking possess
lion-mask counterfeits of the pair of lions guarding the
temple entrance. The embroidered ball of the monuments
is represented in these plays by a coloured cloth attached to
a staff. In the illustrations the player on the right will be
seen holding this emblem.
Although Buddha is now known to have been born about
550 B.C., the cosmogonical form of Indian Buddhism, as
early as the first century A.D., was set forth as existent from
all eternity. It was therefore easy to incorporate sun-myths,
and the importation of these into Buddhism from a foreign
source was largely influenced by the science of astronomy, in
which the Chaldeans and Egyptians were remarkably advanced
as early as 4000 years before the Christian era.
To a sun-myth is probably due the representation of an
embroidered ball under the paw of the male Lamaist lion in
the temple-door monuments. This lion-and-embroidered-
ball (" Shih-tzu Kun Hsiu Chiu ") design is the commonest
motif in Chinese art and, as illustrating the triumph of wit
over brute force, supplies one of the most frequently used
proverbs in the language. Ancient pictures of tribute em
bassies almost invariably show the King of Beasts tamely
following an embroidered ball.
It may be recalled that each of the Swedish heraldic lions
rests a forepaw upon a globe, and the lion of St. Mark rests
its right paw upon a copy of the Gospel. There are two lion
116

BUDDHIST LION-MASQUE, PEKING, I914

BUDDHIST LION-MASQUE, PEKING, 1914

To face p. 11&

JAPANESE LION MASQUE PLAYERS IN PORCELAIN

To face p. n6

SYMBOLISM— BUDDHIST AND LAMAIST LION
gods in the ancient Egyptian ritual. They support the sun
and are attached to the limits of heaven, the extreme bounds
of the sun's journeys.* The ancient Egyptian gods, " Shu
with his sister Tefnut," are types of the dual lion. They are
the servants of the sun-god. The one lion is a god of the
Southern heaven and the horizon of the West supporting the
sun as it sinks, the other of the northern heaven and the
horizon of the East pushing forward the sun as it rises." *
It is interesting to note that the lions before Buddhist door
ways are almost invariably ranged east and west — east to
typify the Yang or male influence, and west to characterize
the Yin or female influence.
In Japanese astronomy the Chinese lion symbol occurs as
the eleventh of the twelve celestial signs. It is also commonly
found in Japanese art. The Japanese, however, refer to this
sign as that of the dog. This error appears to be due to a
curious misunderstanding of Foist lore on the part of the
Japanese Buddhists, who derived their religion from China
through Corea. This may perhaps be an instance of the
Egyptian influence which favoured dog-worship and appears
to have had no small importance in Japanese sun-worship
in Shintoism. The Chinese gave the dog no place
among the twelve celestial signs, but at a date which must
have been posterior to the introduction of Buddhism did
give a place to the lion, which, of course, only became
known to them with Buddhism .f The Japanese appear to
have mistaken the fanciful Chinese Foist representations of
the lion for dogs, calling them the " dogs of Fo." They
adopted the same forms, the pair Koma Inu (Dog of Corea)
and Ama Inu (heavenly dog), practically identical in shape
* " Book of the Beginnings," G. Massey.
f Except perhaps in art of the Han period. See Laufer's " Chinese Pottery of the
Han Dynasty," p. 242.
H7

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
with the Chinese lions, but without the attributes introduced
into China by the Lamaists. Such lion-guardians protect the
entrance to the tomb of Tokugawa Iyesasu, who died in
A.D. 1604, at Nikko. These guardians are commonly found
in Japan as in China at the entrances to temples (miya).
Another instance of error in knowledge of Chinese Buddhist
art in Japan is the illustrating and describing of a Chinese
lion as a kylin by Kaempfer, who derived his information
from a well-educated Japanese. The Shinto priests, too,
have lion-images in their temples, though these are clearly
Buddhist. The throne of the Dalai Lama at Lhasa is supported by
carved lions.* Similarly lions are found at the foot of the
Japanese Imperial throne, serving as supports to the golden
chair upon which the Mikado sits. They sit upright upon
their haunches with straight forelegs. Their mouths are
gaping, their mane is curled in tufts, their tails are bifurcated,
and according to Griffis they are called " Corean dogs."
Griffis thinks that they may here typify the vassalage of
Corea, said to have been conquered by the Empress Jingu.
She called the King of Shinra " the dog of Japan." f
The lioness on the western side of the Chinese doorway has
her left paw resting upon an upturned lion-cub, and her
claws are in its mouth. The whelp is supposed to be sucking
milk through the claws, for the old Chinese belief is that the
lioness secretes milk in her pads.
These legends may be compared with the old European
superstition linked in mediaeval times with Christianity, that
the lion-whelp was born dead, and brought to life on the
third day by being breathed on by its father.
These two Chinese superstitions are no doubt due to
* " Thibet the Mysterious," by Sir Thomas Holdich, p. 318.
f Griffis, " Corea the Hermit Nation," p. 5a.
Il8

BUDDHIST LION-MASQUE, PEKING, 19T.4

To face p. 118

SYMBOLISM— BUDDHIST AND LAMAIST LION
Lamaism, for the Scriptures read : " When a man wishes to
obtain the milk of lions, he first makes an embroidered ball
of many colours and places this upon their path. Upon
seeing it the lions are attracted. Having played with it for
a long time the ball is soaked with milk. Thus may man
obtain its milk from the ball. Thence comes the saying of
the ancients that man is the wisest of all living beings. This
is the very truth." *
To the Chinese, Corea, possibly on account of its being
almost surrounded by the sea, is even more the home of the
ethereal lion than is Tibet. One of the earliest of Chinese
myths credits the sea with being the home of dragons. In
modern Chinese fable the dragon has nine children, of which
the lion is one. The Coreans turned this belief to great
profit up to recent years by stimulating the Chinese faith in
the great efficacy of the " Corean purify heart pill " — a
nostrum which, considered to be extraordinarily powerful as
a sedative for fever, recently shared with ginseng root the
wide reputation which caused its market value to be its
weight in gold. The pill was said to contain a large propor
tion of lion's milk collected, in the manner indicated by the
Tibetan biblical legend, from cotton and cloth balls exposed
by night at the ends of the flag-poles of Buddhist temples,
and particularly accessible to the numerous lion-spirits
frequenting Corea on account of its proximity to the sea.
Since the abolition of the Corean embassies to Peking and
the annexation of the Hermit Kingdom by Japan, the sale of
this old-world nostrum has greatly diminished.
Among the patrons of early Northern Buddhism were the
Scythians and Indo-Persians, a race of sun-worshippers. The
placing of a whelp beneath the paw of the western, or female,
lion outside Chinese temples may also be connected with
* P'a Erh Ch'in Gospel. II9

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
sun-worship. The ancient Egyptian sacred year began with
the sun in the sign of Leo, constituted by two lions and a
whelp. It may be recalled, as mentioned earlier, that " the
young lion and an old lion that couched " were the twin-lion
blazon of Judah. It is interesting to note that the Chinese
lions were frequently represented as holding in their jaws a
broad ribbon, often pictured as a piece of string or rope.
In the Egyptian ritual the stars or planets are described as
hauling the sun * along with ropes, and the balance of the
equinox was ruled by the two lion-gods who pulled at the
ropes of the scales .f Again, in Southern Pacific mythology
— especially that of the Maori, which is startlingly similar in
many respects to the Egyptian — the sun hauls the full moon
up over the horizon by means of ropes. It is just possible
that such ropes have some mythological connexion in an
early conception common to these widely separated races.
The existence of the old sun myth is further recalled by the
frequent picturing of the stars on the head of the Lamaist
lions. These are frequently found in potteries of the Ming
period, and also in cloisonne incense-burners of the time of
Ch'ien Lung. The Chinese have no constellation Leo.
Similar stars are, in Scythic X art, found on the ibex and the
horse and, in Assyria, upon lions. They much resemble the
stars found upon Tibetan luck-flags, possibly pointing to the
use of the objects as omens and charms. The practice of
using miniature lions as charms is universal in China to this
day.
* Sun-dog. This name is not in use in China. A pair of lions, each with a ball
beneath one of the fore-paws, is placed before many temples of the Shinto religion
in Japan. The Shinto priests were originally worshippers of the sun. Their religion,
like the sun-worship of the Egyptians, was much older than Buddhism, but in later
periods the two neighbouring beliefs have mutually borrowed many attributes. It
is possible that the Shinto association of lions with sun-worship may have led to the
use of the term " sun-dog," current in Japan.
f " Book of the Beginnings," G. Massey. J " Scythians and Greeks," Minns.
120

BRONZE INCENSE-BURNER, SUNG PERIOD
(AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)

SILVER SNUFF BOTTLE
(AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)

PAIR OF IVORY OPIUM BOXES
(AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)

MINIATURE BRONZE LION AND A COREAN " PURIFY HEART PILL '
(lion's MILK PILL)
RECENTLY PURCHASED IN PEKING

Tofacep. 120

>J

SYMBOLISM— BUDDHIST AND LAMAIST LION
Another link in the evidence connecting the lion with sun-
and fire-worship exists in the belief, current during the
mediaeval period, that the lion was associated with fire and
smoke. Consequently, a very large number of incense-
burners fashioned in the shape of lions can be assigned to this
period. These burners were usually hollow, the smoke being
caused to issue from the lion's jaws.
Among the early mediaeval Christians the lion sometimes
was used to represent Christ Himself. The Buddhists
actually borrowed from the lion and gave to Buddha certain
leonine physical characteristics. Conversely, their spirit-lions
in monuments were endowed with certain remarkable non-
leonine characteristics which were derived from representa
tions of Buddha himself. Among these may be noted
absence of the outward evidences of sex, domed head, curly
tufts of hair on the head, and a long tongue.
Among the thirty-two superior marks which distinguished
Buddha from others of the human race were :
(4) Between the eyebrows a little ball shining like silver
or snow.
(12) The tongue large and long.
(13) The jaws those of a lion.
(17) The skin having a tinge of gold colour.
(19) The upper part of the body that of a lion*
It is not surprising that in breeding dogs to resemble the
Lamaist lion as closely as possible, Chinese breeders have
encouraged the development of physical characteristics which
in Buddhist lore in some cases were common both to the
lion and to Buddha himself.
The Lamaists were so much at a loss to explain their lion's
twisted curls that they invented a legend, now current, that
Buddha remained so long in motionless contemplation that
* " Buddhist Art in India," V. Burgess. 121

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the snails crawled over his head. Lamaism suggests that the
lion had five large curls at the top of its head to simulate the
flags worn in the ancient head-dress of high military officials.
Buddha said : " Upon the lion's head are five hair-curls.
The- middle one is a general, and the others like unto his
four flags. The nine hair-curls below are their support."
On referring to Egyptian mythology, we find that the two
lion-gods wore a special feather head-dress. Assyrian models,
not later than the seventh century B.C., show a sheath-like
head-dress which possibly began to be represented as curled
at about the same time that the Buddhists, who originally
represented Buddha with free-falling, waved hair, began to
ascribe to their deity, as one of his superior marks, short and
curly hair.
Tufts of hair on the legs of Chinese lion-statues have been
mentioned. The well-developed fringes on the legs of
" Pekingese " dogs are comparable to them. The Assyrian
lions were shaved when domesticated. Of the mane, only a
frill or collar was left round the face ; on the body some
tufts and bands of hair were left on the back, along the
flanks, and behind the thighs. The tuft was left at the end
of the tail *
* " The Book of the Lion," Sir A. Pease.

122

Photo, Zumbrum, Peking
WEN SHU (MANJUSRI) BUDDHA RIDING ON A LION (HUANG SSU, NEAR PEKING).
The Huang Ssu was built in J 647, by the Emperor Shun Chih. (This temple was
recently destroyed by fire)

To face p. 122

CHAPTER VII
HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO DOGS OF
PEKINGESE TYPE.
IT has been suggested by some that the type of dog known
among Europeans as the " Pekingese " has existed in
China from a very early period as a distinct race
having essentially the points now characterizing it. Others
argue that it is only within the last two hundred years that
the type closely resembling the modern " Pekingese " has
been evolved. Study of such information as it has been
possible to collect will leave a decision with the reader's own
judgment. About 500 years B.C. it is recorded that dogs were used in
the kingdom now represented by the Province of Shansi, for
sporting purposes. Some of these were probably small dogs,
for it is mentioned that after the day's sport one kind of dog
followed its master's chariot, while " those having short
mouths were carried in the carts."
It was only at the end of the first century of our era that
the Chinese books become a little more specific as to the
nature of the dogs mentioned. They speak of some of them
as being called by the name " Pai," which later Chinese
authorities explain as referring to a very small " short-
legged " and " short-headed " type of dog " which belongs
under the table." The Chinese table of the period was low,
and those round it sat on mats.
It will be seen later that some ancestors at least of the
123

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
modern " Pekingese " dog came from Europe. In evidence
of the fact that communication with Europe existed at an
early period it may here be mentioned that the name " China "
is probably due to the country's becoming known to the
Graeco-Roman world during the Ts'in Dynasty (255-206 B.C.)
about the time of Ptolemy (247-222 B.C.). A little later silk
was introduced into Rome and Greece by the northern
overland route. This overland caravan route became
thoroughly established during the Han Dynasty, a hundred
years before the Christian era. The profusion of silks which
were worn by the wealthy Romans all came from the looms
of Han in exchange for the products of the West, chiefly
glass, steel, pottery, elephants, horses, and most probably, in
view of the custom of including them as objects of exchange
between states even at this early period, the pet dogs for
which the Eastern Roman Empire and Greece were famous.
With the death of Ling Ti the Eastern Han Kingdom,
which constituted China, broke up into three parts. These
united for a short period only to be split into sixteen minor
kingdoms which waged war among themselves for a period
lasting roughly from a.d. 300-400. No less than six dynasties
rose and fell before Buddhism introduced into China at the
beginning of the first century B.C., became the dominating
religion. " By the year 420 of our era a decisive change was wrought
for China, full of the most important consequences for the
future of her literature and art ; and that was a clear division
of the groups of Chinese states into North and South
Dynasties — the whole north, the ancestral seats, being taken
over by Tartar conquerors.
The Emperors of pure Chinese stock now moved their
capital down to the lately civilized south. This separation,
with relatively long intervals of peace between the two
124

HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
sections, lasted nearly two centuries, down to a.d. 589-605,
when the reunion of China was cemented under Yang Ti.
In these two full centuries Chinese culture, including poetry
and art, was entirely recreated." *
After the almost simultaneous blotting out of the Roman
and Han Empires, the Tartars and Huns largely blocked the
trade-route and cut off peaceful traffic to a period as late as
the middle of the fifth century of our era. Communications
then for a second time became possible up to the end of the
T'ang Dynasty (a.d. 907), when they were again disjointed
by the spread of Islam, which no doubt interfered with
ambassadorial and trading missions to China, but did not
necessarily completely interrupt exchange of dogs. Islam, it
is true, classes dogs as unclean, but Katmir, the watchdog,
was admitted to heaven by Mohammed for guarding the
Seven Sleepers. The Turks were not averse to presents of
rare canine specimens. In the seventeenth century they
succoured starving dogs and used dogs for hunting. The
women, too, prized and reared Maltese dogs. The Venetian
Ambassador in Constantinople wrote to the Doge and Senate
in 1583 that the Ambassador of Queen Elizabeth of England,
" in spite of all the opposition offered to him by the French
Ambassador, has this morning kissed the Sultan's hands. He
has presented His Majesty with a most beautiful watch set
with jewels and pearls, two pretty lap-dogs, thirteen pieces
of silver gilt. . . ." f In 1594 he wrote that " two great
sporting dogs " were requested of the Venetian Government
in the Sultan's name. The Doge and Senate appear to have
had difficulty in satisfying the Sultan, for in 1607 the Venetian
Ambassador at the English Court wrote that he would
execute the order of His Serenity the Doge to buy " two big
* Fenollosa, " Epochs in Chinese and Japanese Art," vol. i, p. 35.
f " Calendar of State Papers. Venice."
125

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
fierce dogs " to be sent to Constantinople as a present from
the Venetian Government to the Turk. He sent them
in 1609.
Against the Emperor Kao Wei, of the Northern Chi
Dynasty, who reigned 565-577, and with Ling Ti and a few
others known to the Chinese as the Madcap Monarchs, it is
recorded :
" In 565 a.d. the Emperor gave the name of Ch'ih Hu or
' red tiger ' to a certain Persian dog. He also gave it the
rank and privileges of Chun Chun (closely allied to those of
a duke). The dog was fed with the choicest meat and rice.
It was granted the revenue of a Prefecture. When the
Emperor was mounted the dog rode upon a mat placed in
front of the saddle." *
The Persian dog referred to must have been small to have
been able to ride on a mat in front of its master's saddle.
The others were very possibly sporting dogs, for it must be
remembered that this monarch's inordinate love of the chase
lost him both his kingdom and his life. It happened in
this way :
" The Emperor, accompanied by a favourite concubine, left
Ping Yang for Hsinchow in Shansi on a hunting expedition.
During his absence, troops from Peichow attacked Ping Yang.
Three successive messengers were sent in hot haste to ask
for reinforcements, but the Secretary of State reproved them
all for wishing to interrupt the monarch's sport. The
Emperor was hunting one evening, and had just killed when
a fourth messenger brought him the news that Ping Yang
had fallen. Kao Wei was then minded to go back imme
diately, but his concubine successfully implored him to make
one more drive. Upon his return he collected a great army,
surrounded Ping Yang and endeavoured, by day and by
* San Kuo Tien Lueh of the T'ang Dynasty.
126

FROM AN IMPERIAL DOG SCROLL
PAINTED BY MIAO SU-CHIUN, INSTRUCTRESS IN PAINTING TO THE LATE EMPRESS
DOWAGER, DATED SEPTEMBER 189O
2 3 4

l
*?f

V I

fo

v

I

d

W&

NO. x. LI-ERH (PEAR). LONG-COATED HAH-PAH NO. 3. CHIEH-TZU (LUCKY), LO-SZE DOG.

Length of Body, 1 ft. 5 in. Height 8 in. NO. 4.
Sent from Thibet as a present to the * Emperor. Its
temperament is that of a human being
NO* 2. SHIH-LIU (POMEGRANATE). LO-SZE DOG. N0 5*
Length of Body J ft. 5 in. Height 8.5 in.

i

Length of Body J ft. 3 in. Height 6.8 in.
HSIANG-ERH (FRAGRANT). HAH-PAH DOG.
Length of Body 1 ft. 6 in. Height 7.5 in.
TA-TZU (MONGOL) . TIGER-HEAD LO-SZE DOG.
Height of Body 1 ft. 7 in. Height 8 in.
9 10

NO. 6. PAO-ERH (PRECIOUS). LO-SZE DOG.
Length of Body 1 ft. 4 in. Height 6.5 in.
NO. 7, CH'OU-ERH (SMELL) HAH-PAH DOG.
Length of Body 1 ft. 7 in. Height 6.7 in.

I

NO. 8, HSING-ERH (APRICOT). HAH-PAH DOG.
Length of Body 1 ft. 6 in. ** Mother cross-bred.'
NO. 9, MO-HAI (INKSTAND) LO-SZE DOG.
NO. IO. P'lNG-ERH (BOTTLE) HAH-PAH DOG.
Length of Body 1 ft. 8.5 in. Height 8.5 in.

12

NO. II. T'AO-ERH (PEACH). STRIPED LO-SZE DOG. NO. 12. YCJ-TING (jADE BUTTON). HAH-PAH DOG,
Length of Body 1 ft. 6 in. Height 7.9 in. Length of body J ft, 5 in. Height 8 in.
Come from Heilingfciang. To face p. 126

HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
night, to storm it. His soldiers tunnelled beneath the walls
of the city and a part of it fell to the ground, leaving a great
breach easy to be stormed. The Imperial officers urged a
general assault, but the Emperor ordered them to wait for
the arrival of his favourite. The preparation of her toilet,
however, caused such delay that the defenders were enabled
to barricade the breach with beams. A few days later the
Emperor, accompanied by this concubine and his ministers,
was watching a minor engagement, which finally turned
against his troops, with the result that the lady, being stricken
with panic, counselled flight. Her fears communicated them
selves to the ministers and also to the monarch himself.
Notwithstanding his great superiority of troops, the Emperor
fled — first to Taiyuenfu and then to his capital, Changtefu.
These in turn fell into the hands of the pursuing enemy, and,
fleeing towards the Province of Shantung, the defeated
Emperor was caught half way. Finally, together with his
concubine, he was executed." *
References to pet dogs are numerous in the T'ang history :
" The Emperor of the Turkoman country visited the
Honan Emperor in 609 and accompanied the Emperor Yang
Ti on an expedition to Korea. He married a Chinese princess
on his return. His successor sent an envoy with two dogs,
one male and one female, to the Emperor Kou Tzu (618-629).
Their height was about 6 tsun (inches), and their length 1 ch'ih
(foot) and a little.f These dogs were of great intelligence.
They could lead horses by the reins, and each was trained to
light its master's path at night by carrying a torch in its mouth.
These dogs were born in the Fu Lin country." J
* Yu P'i T'ung Chien.
f This was probably the Chinese builder's scale. On this scale one Chinese foot
of 10 Chinese inches is equal to i2| British inches. These dogs were therefore
7J inches high and iaj inches long.
X T'ung K'ao, by Ma Tuan Lin (lived about a.d. 960, in Sung Dynasty), and
T'ung Tien by Tu Yo.
127

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
The name Fu Lin, also read Fo Lin, may or may not be
the Chinese transliteration of eiV rhv irokiv, said to be the
origin of the name Stambul, but these dogs certainly came
from the West, and there is little doubt that Byzantium, now
Constantinople, the Eastern capital of the Roman Empire,
was designated by the word.*
The last distinct record of a communication from the
Byzantine Empire is found in a.d. 1371 under the Emperor
Hung Wu. It is interesting to note that by this time the
Chinese capital was definitely fixed at Peking, but that up
to the middle of the seventeenth century the Chinese literati
continued to call the small Imperial dogs by the generic
name of " Dogs of Fu Lin." Modern research has shown
that the silk trade between the Eastern Roman or Byzantine
Empire and China was considered to be of very considerable
importance by the Courts of both China and the West, as
well as by the Turks and other fluctuating peoples through
whose country the trade passed. In 719 there arrived in
China an embassy from Fu Lin bringing lions and spiral-
horned sheep. The Byzantine Emperor at this time was
Leo the Isaurian. There are definite records of at least
seven direct embassies from Fu Lin to China between the
years a.d. 600 and 1400. Seeing that the powerful T'ang
monarchs, whose empire in the case of T'ai Tsung stretched
westward to the Caspian, displayed great interest m the Fu
Lin breed of dogs, it would not be surprising if later research
were to demonstrate that numerous specimens of the breed
were imported to Hsianfu, the T'ang capital, direct from
Byzantium. The success of the Mohammedans interfered with, and
possibly put an end to the Byzantine trade which had been
* " Cathay and the Way Thither," Yule, vol. i, p. 44 ; and Bushell, " Chinese Art,"
P-73-
128

SIGNED: " RESPECTFULLY PRESENTED. LENGMEI,
CAREFULLY PAINTED." K'ANG HSU PERIOD
(AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)

To face p. 128

HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
carried on for a long period over a land route, through
deserts and over mountains, requiring a journey of two years
through the heart of Asia. Silk and other valuable mer
chandise may have filtered through after the Arab conquests,
but as the canine race is unclean to the Mohammedan, it
appears less likely that dogs were sent as presents to China
from Fu Lin after its capture by the Arabs.
The fact that shortness of nose is not recorded as a special
characteristic of these dogs appears to indicate that they were
remarkable for their small size and intelligence rather than
for other special characteristics. Early writers refer to the
remarkable small Maltese pet dogs from Zapuntello and
Malta as being an article of export throughout the Near
East. This fact makes it more than possible that Fu Lin
dogs were of the " Maltese " race, but whether, in these early
days, there were two or three varieties as described in
a.d. 1755, " short-haired or long-haired or maned," * and
" in size resemblijng the ordinary weasel," is of course
unknown. Comparison of the Japanese and Pekingese races at early
periods should throw light upon the nature of the small dogs
of the time, for, if both the modern " Pekingese " and
" Japanese " dogs are derived from the same ancestral stock
of this period, and if there has been little subsequent crossing
of the breeds, their ancestor must then have closely resembled
these two present-day races.
We now reach one of the most famous references to small
dogs in Chinese history. It is recorded that the Emperor
Ming of the T'ang Dynasty, who ruled from a.d. 713-755,
had a favourite wife named Yang Kwei Fei, whose beauty is
historic. It happened one day that the Emperor was playing
* Johnston's " Milan " ; " Toy Dogs and their Ancestors," by the Hon. Mrs. Neville
Lytton, p. 30.
I 129

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
at chess with a certain prince. Perceiving that her Imperial
master was certain to suffer the indignity of defeat, his wife,
who was an interested spectator, contrived to loose her pet
dog upon the board, so that the pieces were upset and the
game ruined, to the great delight of the Emperor. This dog
was white * in colour, and was named " Wo " (pronounced
Waugh). It came from the K'ang country, one of the nine
kingdoms founded by the Emperor Wen in the Pamirs .f
Possibly the famous poet Yuan Wei Ch'ih of this period
was referring to this dog when he wrote the couplet quoted
in K'ang Hsi's dictionary :
How fierce is proud Wo,
Though still in his slumbers.
The Emperor K'ang Hsi's dictionary refers to the character
" Wo," and states that this name was applied to a race of
small dogs. The name was probably in general use towards
the close of the T'ang Dynasty.
The first occasion on which the Ssuchuan " pai " X pro-
* Stated to have been white in one only of many references.
f " Kuang Shih Lai Fu," by Ho Hsi Min.
j Bai Dog. The oldest generic name for small dogs is " pai," pronounced in the
ancient dialect of Shansi approximately " bye." It is recorded from the Han
dynasty, 100-200 B.C. The mongol name for pet dogs is No-hai. The Thibetan is
Chi-choong. The famous dictionary compiled under the Emperor K'ang Hsi (a.d. 1662-1723)
quotes two old encyclopaedias as considering the word " pai " to refer to :
(1) A dog with short legs. Quotation from the " Shuo Wen." Han Dynasty. About
a.d. 150.
(2) A dog with a short head. Quotation from the " Kwang Yun," Sung Dynasty.
About a.d. iooo. This authority states that the above character was also pro
nounced " p'ai " — pronounced pie in English.
(3) An under-table dog. " Kwang Yun," Sung Dynasty, a.d. iooo. This
authority also states that " bai " refers to a " short-headed " dog.
High tables have been used in China for about iooo years only. This quotation
makes reference to small tables similar to those whose use survives in Japan to the
present day, so that the writers may be taken to mean that " bai " refers to a race of
small dogs which were generally short-legged as well as " short-headed."
It will therefore be noted that the character referred to a short-legged dog from, at
130

HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
nounced " bai ") dog, which became commonly known as
the " Lo-Chiang " dog, is mentioned in Chinese literature is
that on which the Hsin Lo State of Korea sent as tribute to
Japan in A.D. 732, " one parrot, one thrush, one Ssuchuan
' pai ' dog, one hunting dog," and other animals.* Lo-chiang
(or Lo-kiang) is a sub-prefecture in Nienchow, about thirty
miles north of Chengtu, the provincial capital of Ssuchuan.
The Lo-chiang dog appears to have remained in fashion for
three centuries, and one became very famous under the Sung
Dynasty. "In the reign of Hsi Tsoong (874-889) of the T'ang
Dynasty, a member of the Council of State named Wang
To owned a very " short-legged " (p'ei-chiao) dog named
Hua-ya (flowery duck). One night an assassin broke into
his house through the roof, but, being discovered by the dog,
was frustrated." f
This reference marks the break-up of the T'ang Dynasty,
latest, a.d. 150; from about a.d. iooo, at latest, it certainly referred to "short-
headed," " short-legged," " under-table," small dogs which may have been of
different breeds.
The commonest generic name found in Chinese writings is " the dogs of Fu Lin."
It appears certain, however, that though this name persisted as a classical term used
by scholars up to the beginning of the Manchu Dynasty, it has long ceased to be the
common spbken name. The name may even have been purely literary, and never
used outside the writings of the scholars. Chinese who are interested in pet dogs
now always use the term " ba-erh " dog, and less commonly " hah-bah " dog as the
generic term. When using the colloquial term Chinese writers appear to have
endeavoured rather to represent the sounds for the common names in use, than to
establish a fixed generic character.
It seems probable that the old " bai-rh " survives in the present word " bah-rh."
It may be noted here that generic names are usually monosyllabic among the Chinese,
and would naturally tend to remain so . Any lengthening of the name would be likely
to have a descriptive or qualificative meaning. The Chinese written character repre
senting the sound would very naturally vary because the Chinese have never given
to the canine race the importance with which it is regarded by the European. Con
sequently the references in Chinese literature to the " bah-rh " dog(which was written
by the scholars " Fu-Lin dog ") were probably so rare that a writer would invent a
character for the latter name.
* " Hsii Jih-pen Chi."
f " Yuan Chien Lei Han." *3l

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the second in Chinese history of the five periods of peace
which allowed literature and art to flourish. For half a
century the country was torn by internal strife, which resulted
in the establishment of five successive dynasties, each lasting
for not more than ten years, and each ready, if occasion
offered, to change its capital city from Hsianfu, the T'ang
metropolis. In 969 these warring dynasties gave place to
the great Sung Dynasty, which, for nearly two hundred
years, ruled in peace in both North and South China,
and still continued to rule for another hundred years, at
its Hangchow capital in South China, while desperately
fighting in the North with the Mongols, who finally over
threw it.
" About the year a.d. 990 an official in Ssuchuan gave the
Emperor T'ai Tsung of the Sung Dynasty a Lo-chiang dog
named T'ao Hua (peach flower) from Ho-chow (about fifty
miles north of Chungking). It was extremely small and very
intelligent. It followed the Emperor everywhere. When
there was an audience the dog preceded him, and by its bark
announced its Imperial master's arrival. When the Emperor
T'ai Tsung was ill it refused to eat. When the Emperor died
the dog manifested its sorrow with tears and whining. The
palace eunuchs endeavoured to train the dog to precede the
new Emperor, but without success. The Emperor caused to
be made an iron cage with white cushions in sign of mourning,
and this, containing the dog, was carried in the Imperial
chair to his master's tomb. There the dog died, and the
Emperor Chen Tsung (a faithful disciple true to the Con
fucian doctrine) issued a decree ordering it to be wrapped in
the cloth of an Imperial umbrella and buried alongside of its
master." *
The historical record from which this reference is taken
* " Yuan Chien Lei Han," vol. cxxxvi.
132

SHORT-COATED " PEKINGESE." MODERN

BACK OF CHINESE HAND-MIRROR. TAO KUANG
PERIOD (ABOUT 1850), PAINTED ON SILK

To face p. 132

HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
proceeds to quote in honour of this dog two long odes
written by Li Chih, a famous poet of the period.
About the year a.d. 1041, in the reign of the Emperor Ren
Tsung of the same dynasty, the soldiers in the Imperial
palace became mutinous. The Emperor, who was in one of
the houses of the palace, was much frightened by the uproar.
A certain censor, perhaps remembering the story of T'ai
Tsung's dog, memorialized him as follows : " In Ssuchuan
there is a place named Lo-chiang famous for its dogs. Search
should be made for one of these having a red coat and a
short tail. Such as these are very quick of ear and should be
bred in the palace so as to give early warning of trouble
outside." The enemies of this censor, whose name was
Sung, nicknamed him " Sung Lo-chiang " for having given
the Emperor this advice.*
No special breed of small dogs has existed at Lo-chiang in
modern times, and the present customary name for small pet
dogs in Ssuchuan is said to be " Peking " dog. In view of
the fact that -sze is a common suffix to Ssuchuan place-names,
it appears possible that an old name, Lo-chiang-sze, has been
contracted into Lo-sze, which is the common name in Peking
for the short-haired pug breed. It therefore appears possible
that the Lo-chiang dog, so famous in Chinese history, was in
reality practically identical with the English pug, which is
known to be descended from Chinese ancestors.
History records that the Emperor K'ang Hsi's study at
Peking was ornamented by three pictures catalogued as
" Rocks, cat and dog," " Dogs in play," " Cats and dogs."
Apparently these represented small pet dogs, possibly of
the Lo-chiang breed, for the pictures were painted by a
native of Ssuchuan, and almost certainly for an Emperor
* " Yuan Chien Lei Han," vol. cxxxvi. The nickname cannot be accurately
translated, but an approximate rendering may be " Pug-dog Sung."
133

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
reigning at Chengtu during the period of the five dynasties —
907-960.* During the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1333), the Mongol Em
perors, following the example set them by Assyrian monarchs
two thousand years previously, prided themselves on their
menageries, and Marco Polo records that lions roamed the
courts of the Peking palace.
" It was the custom of the Emperors on the days when
they give feasts in honour of the Princes and High Officials
to take out at the Ten Thousand Years' Hill (the Coal Hill)
all the beasts — tigers, leopards, bears, elephants — parading
them one by one before the guests. After these were brought
the lions. These beasts are small and short in body. They
are astonishingly like the ' golden-coated, nimble dogs '
which are commonly bred by people themselves in their own
homes. All animals, when they see the lions, are terrified.
Their anger is more fearsome than that of all other beasts." f
It is just possible that some of these " golden-coated
nimble dogs " were introduced into Europe during this
period, for, during the latter part of the Yuan Dynasty,
Chinese princes were received by the papal court at Rome,
and Franciscan missionaries had established some forty
bishoprics in the Celestial Kingdom. Marco Polo visited
China, saw Hangchow, and left us the one account of
mediaeval China that is at all trustworthy. Christianity had
probably penetrated China at a much earlier period. Nes
torian bishops are known to have been appointed in the first
quarter of the eighth century.!
A further reference to a " golden-coated " dog probably
belongs to this period. A Chinese chronicler says : " There
* " Pei Wai Chai Shu Hua P'u," vols, xcv-c.
f " Jih Hsia Chiu Wen K'ao," Chuo Keng Lu.
X " Cathay and the Way Thither," Yule, vol. i, p. 103,
J34

HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
was a civilian named Shen Heng Chi who bred a ' Chin
Ssu ' (lit. golden-silk) dog in his home. This dog was not
more than one foot long, and was very intelligent. When
guests were presented the dog lay beneath the table. After
the dog had been reared for three years the owner fell ill.
The dog in sympathy refused to eat. After a few days the
master died. The dog showed signs of excessive grief when
the corpse was put in the coffin. The coffin was kept in the
home for one year, during which time the dog always lay
beneath it. When the corpse was being removed for burial
the dog beat its head with such violence against the coffin
that it died."
After the overthrow of the degenerate line of Kublai Khan
in 1368, no European penetrated into China for nearly two
hundred years. The cult of the race of pet dogs seems to
have fluctuated with the interest taken in the breed by the
Emperors. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1628), there is
no mention of kennels in the list of Imperial stables, etc., and
it seems probable that pet dogs were altogether out of fashion.
The Sons of Heaven appear to have interested themselves
specially in cat-breeding, a hobby against which, in England,
there was a prejudice during the Middle Ages, as cats were
associated in the popular imagination with witchery and
other diabolical agencies. Some of the Chinese Emperors
carried their enthusiasm for cats to remarkable excess, for
the eunuch Liu Jou Yii, writing his reminiscences under the
last three Mings, puts on record that " There are three or
four men, body-servants of the Emperor, whose special
business is the feeding of those cats which have official rank
or are famous. Upon all of these cats the Emperors have
bestowed their affections one above the other. Awaiting the
Emperor's grant of names and official rank ordinary male
cats are called pages, while emasculated cats are called ' old
135

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
father,' the analogue for the female being ' old maid.' The
pay given to the eunuchs for upkeep of each cat is according
to its rank. So noisy are the cats that all the Emperor's sons
and daughters at childhood are continually brought to sick
ness, even unto death ; and who is there that dares to com
plain ? If there had been some places near the dwelling-house
in which the cats could have been confined it would have
been a good thing. We have heard that, because their sons
and grandsons grew up in the palace under nurses, and
loving only one wife, do not realize the importance of the
rearing of children and of obtaining sons, the Imperial ances
tors bred cats and pigeons. Over the doors also they hung
snake characters, pictures of iooo boys and the hundred sons, so
that when the Emperor should see the inscriptions and the rear
ing of the cats and pigeons there might be brought to his atten
tion the importance of the rearing of numerous children." *
Dr. Macgowan, arguing from the facts that cats are not
included among the six domestic animals recorded by the
early Chinese nor among the zodiacal constellations, suggests
that the cat was domesticated at a late period in China.
Yuen-chuang, the pilgrim monk who in the seventh century
a.d. returned after sixteen years' wandering in India, brought
cats with him to protect his collection of Sanskrit Buddhist
books from rat-gnawing. That account, supposedly of the first
introduction of cats, is, however, somewhat undermined by the
following anecdote of Confucius : " Tseng Shen and Min Tzu,
canonized disciples of the Sage, were listening outside to the
music of the Master, who, as was his wont, was soothing
himself by the lute that he loved so well, when suddenly the
strain was changed. On entering and inquiring what the
change meant they were told by Confucius that he had
seen a cat making for a rat, and that he had struck up
* Ming Kung Shih, " Palace Affairs of the Ming Dynasty," vol. ii.
136

HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
another tune to stimulate the cat in its attack upon the
rodent." *
These conflicting statements are from authoritative sources,
and it is impossible to offer a satisfactory explanation,
remarks Macgowan. He holds that the cat was brought to
East Asia from the West. The animal is named but twice
in all the long periods of early Chinese history, and as a
domesticated animal only once. Possibly the cat of Con
fucian times was a wild cat only partially domesticated.
Cats appear to have continued to be the favourite pets of
the Chinese court ladies to the end of the Ming period, but
soon perhaps gave place to the small breeds of dogs. In
1655, soon after passing Lin-ching on the Grand Canal,
John Nieuhoff wrote :
" In this Province [about Peking] are white rough cats, not
unlike the Malteeza Dogs, with long ears, which are there
the ladies' joysting hounds or play-fellows ; they will catch
no mice, being too much made of." f
Linchinchow is still well-known in China for its white cats
having eyes of different colours. It may have been the home
of the " white cat of a rare species brought from Asia, whose
eyes were of different colours, the right yellow as a topaz, the
left blue as sapphire," which was provided by Leonardo da
Vinci for the amusement of Monna Lisa del Gioconda when
painting her portrait, 1 503-15064
Athanasius Kircher,§ when describing the custom of foot-
binding among the Chinese ladies, is translated, " Others say
that this co-ercitation was enacted by a law of the wise men,
that women may learn to sit at home, which if they do not
voluntarily, they are by this means compelled. Their habit
* " Cats," China Br. R.A.S., 1891, p. 128.
f John Ogilby's " Embassy from the East India Company," p. 105, 1669.
X " Roman de Leonard de Vinci," J. Sorreze.
§ John Ogilby's " Embassy from the East India Company," p. 70.
137

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
is modest and full of gravity, being veiled so that no part is
naked except the face : they adorn their heads, especially
the more noble sort (and those that live at Court) with divers
wreaths and fillets beset with precious stones, which add a
wonderful splendour. Their vests interwoven with flowers,
birds, and the like ornaments, trail at their feet, but yet so
that what they esteem their chief beauty is not obscured, and
to pass away their time, they sport with little dogs,* birds,
and such delights."
The breeding of dogs within the precincts of the Imperial
Ancestral Temple was prohibited. Under the Emperor Wan
Li (1563-1620), in spite of this prohibition, a certain eunuch
named Tu secretly kept a small hai-bah f or hsieh-bah
* The French version reads " cats.'
f Hai-Bah (or Ai-Bah) Dog. The name " bai " is found lengthened by either of the
three characters " ai," " hai," or " hah." Of these " ai " and " hai " appear first in
the Ming period, during which the generic name was " hai-pah " or " ai-pah." The
character used for " ai " means " short." That for " hai " in the Ming word " hai-
pah " dog was either a character meaning " sea " — all lions and mythical monsters
are even now considered by superstitious Chinese to belong to the sea — or one
meaning " unicorn," an animal often confounded with the Buddhist lion. The
dragon-world underneath the sea is part of primitive Chinese mythology, and the
Chinese spirit-lion was classed as one of the fabled nine dragon children. The lion-
unicorn or " hsieh-chai " is found embroidered on the robes of censors and judges, and
indicates the fifth grade of official rank. The " hsieh-chai " is also found, but very rarely,
in place of the lions outside a Buddhist temple. In Shantung the name for the small
faience dogs (the origin of which is anterior to the introduction of Buddhism into
China) which guard the corners of all important roofs against fire, is " hai-bah " dog
— literally " sea small dogs."
The term " hah-bah " dog does not appear previous to the Ching or Manchu
Dynasty. The Manchu name for the small dog species is " Kha-per-i," pronounced
ha-per-i. Laufer considers the term " hah-pah " to be of Turkish origin. It seems
not unlikely that the Manchu influence has brought about the use of a word con
founding ha-per-i and hai-bah-rh, and modifying each to the name " hah-bah-rh "
which means, in colloquial Peking dialect, " to limp, to roll in the walk." This word
would, to the uneducated Chinese, have some sort of meaning applicable to the
slightly rolling gait encouraged in the Pekingese breed, while the word " hai-bah " or
" Kha-per-i " would convey little, or no meaning whatsoever.
There appears to be little doubt, although there are no written records on the
point, that the commonest vernacular name in the Tao Kuang period was " bah-rh,"
dog. This appears certain from the testimony of living witnesses and from the
138

HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
[lit. " unicorn " — " scratch " or " scramble "] dog to which
he was attached. This came to the knowledge of a certain
chief eunuch of the Board of Punishments well-known for
his relentless severity. He threatened to inform the Emperor
of this crime, but was dissuaded by a douceur of something
over iooo taels in silver.
It was during the Ming period that modern European
traders first entered into trade relations with the Chinese
Empire — the Portuguese in 1516, the Spanish from the
Philippines in 1575, the Dutch in 1604, and the English in
the dying days of the dynasty in 1637 ; the Portuguese
traded solely at Canton, the Spanish permitted the Chinese
to trade with them at Manila, and the Dutch and English
traded at first at Amoy and in Formosa.
From as early as the Sung Dynasty direct foreign trade
with the Chinese capitals had been but slight. Merchant
caravans from the seven or eight kingdoms on the western
frontier of China were allowed in under pretence of being
ambassadors bearing tribute to the Chinese Emperors. They
brought public letters forged in the names of the sovereigns
they professed to represent, with jade, diamonds and similar
merchandise suitable for such arduous overland transport.
In exchange they received lavish entertainment and presents
far exceeding the value of their own. The Jesuit records of
occurrence of eight dogs in certain illustrations of the breed — a pictorial pun on the
Chinese word for " eight " which has the same sound, " bah-rh."
The Chinese are so weak in exact definitions and scientific distinctions, that it is
difficult to decide the question as to whether " bah-rh " or " hah-bah " has the wider
significance at the present time. Both terms are commonly used in Peking to denote
any small pet dog of any breed, Chinese or foreign ; but the Chinese readily use the
words " Shih-ze " or " Lo-sze " as qualificative ofthe " ba-erh " dog, meaning " lion "
or " pug " small dog ; yet they refuse similarly to qualify the " hah-bah " dog. This
appears to indicate that the " bah-rh " dog is the broad stock from which the Chinese
consider the lion dog and the pug dog to be minor offshoots, while the term " hah-
bah " may be taken to comprise what is probably an amalgamation of several varieties,
which were probably fairly distinct in the Tao Kuang period and are now roughly
comprehended in the English breed named " Pekingese."
139

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the early part of the seventeenth century refer to these sham
embassies, and state that " the Chinese themselves are quite
aware of the imposture, but they allow their Emperor to be
befooled in this manner as if to persuade him that the whole
world is tributary to the Chinese Empire." *
There is said to be a record in the Peking palace archives
to the effect that during the reign of K'ang Hsi (1662-1723)
or Ch'ien Lung, a high official named Fu sent a " Chin Mao
Shih Tzu " (golden-coated lion-dog) to the Emperor. Kircher,
writing about 1667, figures the monarch of the " China-
Tartarian Empire," who must have been K'ang Hsi, and a
short-coated dog of spaniel size having a long nose and
straight legs. The dog wears a collar with bells, and has a
ring, with a bell attached, through its ear.f
Forty-two years later Peter the Great sent an embassy to
the court of the Emperor K'ang Hsi. It was received with
greater honour than has been shown to any other embassy
before or since. In its records we read that on its arrival, by
the land route, at Peking an envoy was sent by the Chinese
Emperor to welcome the Ambassador. " The aleggada
remained for the space of three hours, talking on different
subjects. The minister, it seems, was a great sportsman.
He asked to see the ambassador's dogs, which were a few
greyhounds and some French buckhounds. He was desired
to receive, in a present, any of them which pleased him best,
but he would accept only a couple of greyhounds."
November 29. " The ambassador at the same time delivered
to the Mandarin, as a present from himself to the Emperor,
several toys of value, a fine managed horse, some greyhounds
and large buckhounds.
" Everything was entered in a book very exactly, even the
* " Cathay and the Way Thither," vol. iv, p. 243.
f Figured in both John Ogilby's and the French translations.
14O

PORCELAIN DOGS FROM PEKING. TAO KUANG PERIOD
(AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)

CHINESE PUG DOG,
FROM AN IMPERIAL DOG BOOK

SHEN CHUAN. BY HIGH OFFICIAL OF
K'ANG HSI (EARLY) PERIOD
Posthumous name Wen Chuch Kumj. His son
was also a famous painter, and was born 1669,
died 1735

PORCELAIN DOGS FROM PEKING. TAO KUANG PERIOD
(AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)

To face p 146

HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
names and qualities of each particular dog. There was also
tied about the neck of each dog a yellow silk cord drawn
through a hole in a little bit of wood which hung from the
dog's neck as a mark of its belonging to the court. The
Chinese in general are very fond of little harlequin dogs that
play monkey tricks. A servant of ours had one of that kind
which he sold for an hundred ounces of silver." *
K'ang Hsi allowed the Jesuit missionaries to build their
cathedral near the palace in Peking, and this appears to be
the most likely period for introduction of the Peking races of
dogs to Europe from China or Japan, for specimens must
have been procurable in the Chinese capital and provincial
cities. In speaking of the local products in Peking, a book of the
Ch'ien Lung period (1736-1796) says that the city is noted
for its Persian cats, which are of great size, and for its Fu
Ling dogs, which are extremely small .f Peking and the
province of Chili did not cease to be famous for their cats
with this period, for the Abbe Grosier states in 1819, " The
cat, in China as in Europe, is the tender object of predilection
and the favourite of the gentler sex. Those of the Province
of Pechili have obtained preference over all their rivals by
their pretty ways and by their fine coats. The Chinese
ladies never allow them to leave their apartments, where the
most delicate of nourishment and the tenderest of care are
lavished upon them. These cats are of a pure white, their
coat is very long, the hairs fine and silky. Their ears are
pendent. They do not catch mice, and leave this ignoble
chase to the cats of vulgar race with which, be it noted, China
is abundantly supplied." J
* Pinkerton's " Voyages," vol. vii, p. 381 ; Bell's " Travels in Asia " ; Ismayloff's
" Embassy to Kamhi," 1719.
f " Jih Hsia Chin Wen K'ao."
X Grosier " De la Chine," vol. iv, p. 2 and 5. 141

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
It seems probable that it was from the Ch'ien Lung period
that the Chinese began to call these dogs " Peiching Kou " or
" Pekingese " — a name which is now in common use through
out China.
No " Pekingese " appear to have been mentioned or
recorded by Lord Macartney's Embassy to Peking in 1792,
and the first authentic importation into England took place
in i860. ¦ None were shown until some years later.
The official records of the later periods of the Ching or
Manchu Dynasty have not yet been compiled and published,
but it is probable that they will have nothing to say of the
pigeons of the Emperor T'ao Kuang and of the dogs of his
consort, matters well-known to modern hearsay, but not
considered by modern Chinese historians to be of fitting
importance for historical record.

142

" PAINTED BY THE IMPERIAL BRUSH OF TZU HSI, EMPRESS DOWAGER,
IN THE NINTH YEAR OF T'UNG CHIH (1870) IN THE LAST TEN DAYS
OF THE THIRD MONTH OF SPRING "
(author's COLLECTION)
This picture bears the Imperial Seal and congratulatory verses by three high
officials of the period
Picture presented to Prince Wei by the late Empress Dowager

To face p. 142

CHAPTER VIII
EVOLUTION OF THE PEKINGESE TYPE
FANCIERS of the Pekingese breed of dogs, a breed
which, to the eye of the present-day European,
bears a closer resemblance than do the Chinese
and the European lion-dog to the King of Beasts, will ask
themselves such questions as : " How far back can the Pek
ingese type be traced ? What is the origin of the breed and
of its distinctive points ? When was it first remarked as a
distinct type by the Chinese ? What is the date of its first
importation into Europe ? "
Knowledge of the existence of " short " and " square "
dogs a thousand or more years B.C. is scarcely evidence
definite enough to justify a positive statement that small dogs
existed in China at quite so remote a period. Use of the name
" pai " for a " short-legged " and " short-headed " type of dog
" which belongs under the table," at the end of the first
century a.d. is, however, evidence which speaks -for itself.
That this type of dog was outdone by the dogs imported
from " Fulin " or " Folin," in both superior intelligence and
minuteness of size, appears perfectly clear from the en
thusiasm with which the arrival of these dogs, which were
not unlikely of the then current Maltese breed, was welcomed.
As regards the points of these dogs, Chinese writers of the
T'ang Dynasty would probably have likened them to lions
had there been a striking resemblance or if any of them had
been particularly shaggy-coated, but they did not. No clear H3

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
similarity to lions is recorded before the time of Kublai
Khan. The first Chinese mention of a " lion-dog " in 1371
(Southern Sung Dynasty) probably dealt with the long-
coated variety almost invariably referred to by the Chinese
when they use the term " shih-tzu," and was a dog of fair size,
for it followed and attacked a murderer.
As the Chinese Imperial breed has ancestors which came
from Byzantium and were very possibly connected with the
Maltese of the period, it is of interest to add a few notes
summarizing what is known of that breed in Europe.
On the final division of the Roman dominions in a.d. 395,
Malta was assigned to the Empire of Constantinople. The
Hon. Mrs. Lytton, in her book on " Toy Dogs and their
Ancestors," points out that there were two " Melitas " (Malta
and Zapuntello*) famous for their dogs among the ancients,
and that they had two breeds, both small, one somewhat re
sembling the modern " Maltese " and the other " Pomeranian "
in type. Without entering too deeply into the relationships
of the old type of Maltese dogs, it is of interest to quote one or
two references from The Hon. Mrs. Lytton's careful collec
tion. The dogs of Melita were very famous as pets, and were
bred by the men and women of both Rome and Greece.
There are numerous references to the breed, both in poetry
and prose. Difficulties of transport and absence of shows,
no doubt, caused the breeds to have considerably less type
than modern breeds of dogs, but early references are almost
unanimous in describing the specimens as being very small.
Aristotle describes the marten as being about the size of a
Maltese dog of the little, tiny sort. Athenodorus remarks
that the Sybarites cared for nothing but Maltese puppy dogs
and effeminate men. Acterius, Bishop of Amacia (about
* This town in Italy has been connected through history with the breed, possibly
from a reference given by the unreliable naturalist Pliny k
*44

EVOLUTION OF THE PEKINGESE TYPE
a.d. 375-405) remarks " that the Turks who live in the towns
do not keep domestic dogs, and the dogs have no special
masters, except the very little tiny Maltese and Polonian
ones, which are much prized and which the women of good
family rear for pleasure." * Dr. Caius f wrote : " There are
also among us, among the kind of (or, another kind of) high
bred dogs, but outside the common run of these dogs (namely)
those which Callimachus calls Melitei, from the Island of
Melita in the Sicilian Strait, whence that kind chiefly had its
origin also. That kind is very small indeed, and chiefly
sought after for the amusement and pleasure of women. The
smaller the kind the more pleasing it is, so that they may
carry them in their bosoms in their beds ; and in their arms
in their carriages. That kind of dog is altogether useless for
any purposes except that they ease pain of the stomach, being
often applied to it, or frequently borne in the bosom of the
diseased person (easing pain) by their moderate warmth."
Fleming, writing in 1576, added an explanatory note to his
translation of Dr. Caius, and remarked of the Maltese that
they were" dogges curled and rough all over, which by
reason of the length of their haire make showe neither of
face nor of body ; yet these curs, forsooth, because they
are so strange, are greatly set by, esteemed, taken up and
made of many times in the rooms of the Spaniels Gentle or
Comforter." The Maltese was subsequently called the Shock dog.
Johnston, writing in 1755, describes the Maltese as being
" either short-haired or long-haired or maned." " In size
they resemble the ordinary weasel." " That they may be
born with shaggy coats, their keepers line the places where
they lie with sheepskins, that they may always have them
* " Toy Dogs and their Ancestors," pp. 266, 269, 272, 25.
f A physician to Queen Elizabeth, wrote in 1570. Translated in " Toy Dogs."
K 145

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
before their eyes." * "At Lyons in Gaul they were sold for
ten gold pieces each, and at Bologna for forty pounds."
In 1588 Harrison speaks of the Maltese, " the smaller .they
be and thereto if they have a hole in the fore part of their
heads the better they are accepted." * This appears to be the
first European reference to the " stop " now characteristic of
all the breeds of Chinese toy-dog.
Overland communication between China and the Byzantine
Empire existed up to the time of Hung Wu in a.d. 1371.
Constantinople was taken by the Turks in 1453 ; exchange of
dogs may therefore have taken place up to this period, but
has not been recorded since the T'ang Dynasty.
The literati continued to call the small race of Imperial
dogs " Fu-lin " or " Folin " dog up to the middle of the
seventeenth century. This may have been a piece of the
literary conservatism common among Chinese writers. The
name would, no doubt, have persisted still longer had the
breed continued unchanged.
From the latter part of the twelfth century two other breeds
— the long-coated Chinese Lion-dog and the Lo-chiang dog
were known to the Chinese. Probably no race was called
" Pekingese " in China much earlier than the seventeenth
century, though the Imperial court had taken up residence at
Peking about the middle of the thirteenth century. The
people of Peking have no special distinctive name for the
" Pekingese " type of dog. This presumably is evidence in
favour of its having always been the predominating type among
the pet-dogs of the city. No paintings on porcelain or porce
lain models of the Pekingese type, dating from earlier than
the beginning of the nineteenth century, are known to exist.
It has been suggested that the Japanese toy-dog, whose
importation to Japan dates from the seventh century, indicates
* " Toy Dogs and their Ancestors," pp. 31, 32.
146

PEKINGESE DOG.
From an Imperial Dog Book. Painter unknown.

WHITE PEKINGESE.
From an Imperiaf Dog Book. Painter unknown .

EVOLUTION OF THE PEKINGESE TYPE
the nature of the " Pekingese " breed of that period. This
argument, however, must not be given undue weight, for
there has been much communication between the Chinese
and Japanese courts at subsequent periods. It is quite pos
sible that the modern Japanese spaniel has varied from the
black-and-white Pekingese, common in Peking, only within
recent years. In 1867 Dr. W. Lockhart wrote that " a small
black-and-white, long-legged, pug-nosed, prominent-eyed
dog " was one of the two kinds of Pug in China * It has been
remarked that the Japanese is more apt than the Pekingese to
breed true.
The Lo-chiang dog was a "pai" dog and consequently
small, "short-headed," and "short-legged" before a.d. iooo.
It was very possibly the Chinese pug and appears to have
been fashionable at the Chinese court from the beginning of
the eighth century to the middle of the eleventh century —
possibly even to the removal of the capital from Hsianfu to
Peking, about a.d. 1153.
During the Yuan Dynasty, 1206-1333, there are two refer
ences to the " golden-coated dogs," which, on one occasion,
are called " nimble " dogs, " commonly bred by people them
selves in their own homes." During the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1628) lap-dogs appear to have been out of fashion.
For the first two hundred years China was practically closed
to Europeans. Cats appear to have taken the place of dogs
in Palace popularity. That the dogs were still bred appears
certain, however. " The lion is tawny like the golden-
coated ' nao ' dog," remarks a book of the period.f
The Manchus captured Peking in 1644. They favoured
the Jesuit priests and allowed a limited amount of trade with
* " On the Skull ofthe Chinese Pug-nosed Spaniel or Lap-dog," by Dr. J. E. Gray,
F.R.S., Proc. Zool. Soc, 1867, p. 40.
f " Pen Tsao Kang No."
H7

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
foreigners . Jesuit priests were resident at the Court in Peking,
and Kircher, writing in the first days of the Dynasty, remarks
that the noble ladies " to pass away their time sport with little
dogs, birds, and such delights."
The Manchus, being of Mongolian origin, naturally en
couraged the Lamaist form of Buddhism. Thibet had been
conquered in 1645, and in 1653 the Dalai Lama paid a visit
to the Emperor in Peking. The popularity of small lion
like dogs at their court appears to have been stimulated by
reasons of state in addition to that affection for animal
curiosities which has been common to the courts of both
East and West from the earliest times. The Manchu Em
perors, surrounded by a horde of sycophants and flatterers,
and known as the personifications of the Sun and Sons of
Heaven, were the last to diminish the importance of any
practice which would bring them into association with the
Buddhist deities.
The Tibetan grand lamas encouraged this similitude.
According to Chinese authorities they originated the Manchu
dynastic name, basing it upon the name of Manjusri Buddha,
the Chinese Wen Shu, who is always represented in Chinese
sacred literature as riding upon a lion. " According to report
handed down by the ancients, the Manchu power was
strengthened from the time that in sending state dispatches
the Tibetans honoured the Manchu Emperors by calling
them the Man Chu Hsi Li (Manjusri) Emperors, which name
in the Buddhist Gospels denotes Wen Shu Buddha."* A
Chinese scholar suggests that the sending of lion-dogs to
Chinese Emperors by the Tibetans symbolized presentation
of lions to Wen Shu Buddha.
The early Manchu Emperors were extremely fond of sport,
and spent much of their time in hunting and shooting. They
* " Complete Chinese Geography " (" Ch'ung Hua Tihi Ch'uan Chih ").
148

NINE BUDDHIST LIONS.
May nme generations live together in peace." Lions and
embroidered balls

mam wsm wmgm
mT ra M

PORCELAIN BOWLS WITH EIGHT DOGS, TAO KUANG PERIOD (PA-ERH KOU)

PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLES, PEKING

To face p. 148

EVOLUTION OF THE PEKINGESE TYPE
kept numerous dogs for the pursuit of deer, tiger, and bear
in their parks, and even used hunting-lions. It is, therefore,
not surprising that the court ladies took special interest in
pet-dogs— a race which is considered by the Chinese of Peking
to be specially associated with the Manchus. In the north
Manchurian home of the dynasty breeds of toy-dog still
exist. Association of the Manchu Emperors with Lamaism, with
Manjusri, whose " hah-pah " dog was transformed into the
mighty lion upon which the Buddha was accustomed to ride,
and with the numerous Lamaist monuments of spirit-lions
cast or chiselled during the days of Ch'ien Lung and K'ang
Hsi, suggests that it was during early Manchu days that the
" golden-coated nimble-dog " of Peking became modified by
a combination of the characteristics of the breeds existing in
Peking and in Manchuria, to something of its present form.
The cult of the lap-dog in China appears to have reached
its chief development during the Tao Kuang (1821-1851)
period. The Chinese will explain that the Manchu nobles and
ladies never had greater surplus of rents and " face-powder "
money to send to the " Old Home " in Manchuria than during
the Tao Kuang period, and it was possibly then that the
" sleeve-dogs," stunted dwarfs of any breed — known to exist
to this day at Aigun * and Hsia-kwei in Northern Manchuria
* The following is from a reliable Chinese correspondent : "A breed recognized as
sleeve-dogs exists at Aigun in Hai-Lung-Kiang, and in all the vicinity. I have a friend
who is a native of I-Lan, where, he says, sleeve-dogs are very plentiful. They are
very small and extremely intelligent. They can take things with their mouths as
men do with their hands. They know how to sit, beg, roll and to do other tricks.
Owing to their small size and weakness, they are always defeated by cats, when caused
to fight with them.
" Most of the rich persons, managers of shops, or those of such inclination keep
these dogs. During the period when big sleeves were fashionable, these dogs were
kept in the sleeves and were called ' sleeve-dogs.' At the present time, however,
they are called " Pen-Lo " (lump forehead) * Pa-Erh,' or the ' Shih-tsu Pa-Erh ' (lion
Paerh). The name ' sleeve-dogs ' has disappeared.
149

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
— were imported into Peking. After nearly a century of
peace and prosperity, the inhabitants ofthe capital had become
rich, food stood at less than a quarter of its present prices, and
the cost of living was extraordinarily low. It was possibly
at this period, if not at the time of Lord Macartney's visit to
Ch'ien Lung in 1795, that England first heard of Chinese
" sleeve-dogs," and of the curious custom connected with
their name — a name, by the way, which is now unknown to
dog-fanciers in Peking. Dogs do not appear to have been
carried in the sleeves in Peking within the last seventy years,
for the late Empress Dowager objected to the artificial
dwarfing of such small dogs, which are always in the nature
of freaks. Broad sleeves have been out of fashion in Peking
since 1900.
It does not, however, appear at all certain that the custom of
carrying dogs in their sleeves originated among the Chinese. *
Of the shock or comforter (now called Maltese) dogs Dauben-
ton, a commentator on Buffon's " Histoire Naturelle,"
remarks : " These dogs were very fashionable a few years ago,
" The following are average measurements of this kind of dog :
Length of body  7-8 in.
Height of body . 3.5 or 1.8 in.
Length of leg ........ 1.6 or 1.8 in.
(Measurements converted from the Chinese.)
Tail, together with fringe ..... about 3 in.
Coat : Same as the Pekingese (* Pa-Erh Kou ').
Long-coated and short-coated.
Head : Upper part rectangular and under part round.
The forehead is high ; mouth very short ; bridge of the nose pressed
inward ; tip of the nose tilted upwards ; panther eye ; ear like the
leaf of the apricot. The head may be generally described as a
' lion head.'
" From the above it appears that there is practically no difference between these
dogs and the Peking ' Pa-Erh ' dog.
" This kind of dog produces only one or two in each litter. In the city of Kirin
itself there are many long-mouthed large ' Pa-Erh ' dogs. It is unknown whether small
specimens of this breed of dog exist there."
* James Watson's " The Dog Book."
150

EVOLUTION OF THE PEKINGESE TYPE
but at present are hardly seen. They were so small that the
ladies carried them in their sleeves."
The long coat, including the flowing sleeve, was for many
centuries the Chinese hallmark of gentility. During the K'ang
Hsi period spectacles and thumb-ring gave added importance
to the wearer, and a little later it became the fashion to greet a
friend by producing a costly snuff-bottle for his admiration
and refreshment. This custom became universal under Tao
Kuang, a stout supporter of snuff. His conjugal devotion
and the passion of his wife for dog-breeding were therefore
fittingly pictured upon the snuff-bottle. So carefully was the
breeding of the Palace dogs attended to during this period,
that eight distinct varieties are said to have been evolved,
giving a fresh meaning ("pah'rh " — in colloquial " eight ") to
their race-name. Their differences appear in some cases to
have been largely a matter of colour and length of coat. The
Yellow City must have been the home of many thousands
of dogs, and the eunuchs, up to four thousand in number,
living in the " Forty-eight Places " of the palace, vied with
one another in producing remarkable specimens. It was not
the custom of that period to dock the tails of the palace dogs.
This custom does not appear to have been introduced previous
to the Hsien Feng (1851) period. This Emperor shared the
enthusiasm of his predecessor for the Imperial breed. Short
" docking " appears to have been introduced, and to persist,
under the impression that more compact growth of the body is
thereby induced.
The late Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi's fondness for the
" Pekingese " breed is well known. She and the Eastern
Empress had nearly a hundred dogs under their personal
supervision about thirty-five years ago. She seems to have
encouraged the comparison of her lion-dogs to the spirit-lions
of Buddha, with a view to attracting to herself — universally 151

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
known in China as the " Old Buddha " — more of the prestige
rendered to the Lamaist Buddha by the might of his super
natural leonine supporters.
Miss Carl, who spent ten months at the Chinese Court, says
that the Empress, being an artist, was chiefly interested in
breeding to colour and in developing symmetrical markings on
her dogs. She was most desirous of securing a white forehead-
spot and symmetry of saddle-mark upon the back of her
specimens. She strongly deprecated the development of any
abnormality of form, such as very bowed legs, short nose, or
protruding tongue. One of the favourite dogs of the Empress
was of the long-coated variety, which she called Tibetan.
The Empress Dowager was not successful in breeding this
somewhat delicate race.
Miss Carl saw some of the Imperial dog-books. The only
dog described as a " sleeve-dog " was a short-coated variety
of very small size. The Empress Dowager objected strongly
to stunting in Pekingese or any other breed.
Europeans appear to have first remarked the " Pekingese "
breed of dogs on the occupation of the Chinese capital in
i860. The finding of a small " Pekingese " dog (afterwards
christened " Looty ") by Capt. Dunne at the destruction of
the Yuen Ming Yuan Palace by the Allied troops, and its
subsequent presentation to Queen Victoria, are matters of
history. At least six specimens appear to have reached
England during this period, but the only offspring of the dogs
then imported appears to have been that of the pair secured by
Lord John Hay.
Dr. Rennie remarks in 1861 that the breed of Peking dogs
was a very peculiar one — " something between the King
Charles and the Pug." He states that many of the dogs
were forcibly taken from their owners during the occupation
of the city. He also describes a visit to the Lung Fu Ssu,
152

EVOLUTION OF THE PEKINGESE TYPE
where he purchased " one of the little dogs peculiar to Pe
king," and paid about two-and-a-half dollars (then about ten
shillings) for it, another being bought for twenty dollars.*
The difficulty of obtaining dogs from the palace prior to the
Boxer troubles in 1900, together with the long voyage to
Western Europe, accounts for the fact that few palace speci
mens were imported prior to the death of the late Empress
Dowager in 191 1.
After the Boxer trouble, on returning to Peking from
Shansi, the Empress Tzu Hsi presented Mrs. Conger, wife
of the American Minister, with a pair of the palace dogs. She
also gave one to Miss Carl, who painted her portraits, one of
which includes the Empress's favourite dog Shadza (lit.
"fool"). At the funeral of the Empress Dowager in 191 1, Moo-Tan
(Peony), a yellow-and- white dog with a white spot on its
forehead, was led before her coffin by the chief eunuch, Pi
Hsiao Li, in obedience to the precedent which had been set
nine hundred years before, when the favourite dog of the
Emperor T'ai Tsung of the Sung Dynasty was led in state to
his master's tomb. In due accord with precedent, too, the
late Empress's dog was supposed to have died at the time ;
others state that it was sold by one of the eunuchs.
The Lung Fu Ssu Temple, mentioned by Dr. Rennie, is
now the scene of a fair held for six days in every month.
It shares with the Hu Kuo Ssu, another old Lamaist temple,
the distinction of being the only Chinese market for " Pek
ingese " dogs, and is regularly attended by eunuchs from the
palace, who often sell inferior dogs at prices varying from a
few to about thirty dollars. The story is current in Peking
of the much-prized European pet of the Imperial breed which
was stolen and ultimately redeemed from a Chinese owner.
* D. F. Rennie, " Peking and the Pekingese," John Murray, 1865. 153

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
It was proved on investigation that the cherished treasure
had changed hands at the Lung Fu Ssu dog-cheap indeed
at about sevenpence (thirty cents).
Dogs of good breed still exist in Peking ; but native interest
in them has dwindled with the diminishing power of their
Imperial protectors, and with the increasing poverty of the
Manchu nobles. It appears likely that unless a powerful
reaction sets in within the next few years, the present dearth of
good specimens will reduce the race in Peking to a dodo-like
extinction.

154

CHAPTER IX
POINTS OF THE CHINESE PEKINGESE TYPE
THE present-day Chinese attach chief importance to
head development in their specimens. This is
possibly due to the fact that strong and well-developed
body-points are the rule rather than the exception in Peking,
where the chief weaknesses are degeneracy of the head,
possibly due to exportation of many of the best specimens,
and shortness of coat, owing to the heat of the summers.
The Chinese distinguish between two distinct types of head
— the abacus-ball-shaped ("suanp 'an tze-erh") and the apple
(" p'ing kuo") or dome-shaped. First-rate specimens of either
type are held in equal estimation. The abacus is the Chinese
counting-board, and the shape of the abacus ball may be
reproduced by cutting off about one-fourth of its width from
opposite sides of a wooden sphere. The characteristics of
this type are shortness between the face and back of the head,
together with broad dome giving, with the setting-on of the
ears, a rectangular look to the head.
It is in this type of head that an endeavour is made to reach
the ideal of having the eyes so far apart and the tip of nose
and forehead so much in the same plane that a silver dollar
(about the size of a half-crown) will, if lying flat on the
plane of the dog's nostrils, touch the forehead, and at the
same time lie at its broadest between, and not covering, any
part of the eyes. The Chinese description of this type of face
is " knife-cut mouth " (" tao ch'ieh tsui-rh "), the idea being iS5

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
that the appearance of the nose is as if cut with a knife slicing
downwards on the front plane of the forehead. In this type,
the face should be as rectangular as possible (" Ssu fang
li-erh "), and not long and oval-shaped (" ch'ang hua li-erh ").
The apple-headed (" p'ing-kuo nao-tai ") type of dog is broad
from the face to the back of the head, has a domed forehead,
the front of the skull protuberant, and the eyes less far apart.
This shape is reminiscent of the King Charles and Blenheim
spaniel type rather than that of the English " Pekingese."
It seems likely that these points are characteristic of two
distinct varieties which have, in modern times, been crossed
through paucity of really good specimens of either breed.
Among the colours best liked are :
(i) The tortoise-shell face (" T ai ming li-erh "), considered
attractive on account of simulation of laughter ;
(2) The three-flower face (" san hua li-erh "), which is black
round the eyes, yellow on forehead, and white round
the mouth ; and
(3) The head black (" wu t'ou ") with the remainder of
the body another colour.
The shape and insetting of the nose, the most distinctive
feature of the race, are perhaps of relatively less importance
in China, where the objective of the breeder is not necessarily
altogether snub-nosed, than in the West. Chinese breeders
insist that the best shape for the tip of the nose is that of
the " Ru-yi," a Buddhist emblem in the nature of a sceptre,
whose shape and significance are equally difficult of definition.
The name refers to the boss at the end of the " Ru-yi," which
is very similar to another and rather more fixed standard of
shape, that of the Chinese conventional cloud. This latter
is the nose outline found in most of the bronze Chinese
lions. When the nose is somewhat depressed at the tip,
156

PEKINGESE DOG B^ TSOU Yl-K\VEi— 1686-1766.
Vice-Minister of Board of Rites. From an Imperial Dog Book.

CHINESE PUG.
Prom an Imperial Dog Book. Tsou Yi-Kwei, K'ang Hsi period.

POINTS OF THE CHINESE PEKINGESE TYPE
giving a rounded or somewhat hooked expression, the name
" sheep-nose " is applied. If very pointed at the tip, with the
side lobes somewhat depressed, the dog is said to be tortoise-
nosed. The nose must, of course, be black-tipped. There is
doubt as to whether this is the case with the tongue, for though
the tongue of the Chinese chow-dog must be " like as if he
had been drinking ink," this does not appear to be essential in
the " Pekingese." The encouragement which this point does
obtain is said to be due to the opinion held by Chinese
breeders in Peking that dogs with spotted or black tongues
are more easily saleable to Europeans. The tongue of a
well-bred dog should, from birth, have a tendency to project
a little to the right or left of the mouth. This point is fre
quently illustrated in the " Dog Books," and though dis
couraged by the late Empress Dowager, is much valued by the
majority of Chinese. It may be mentioned that the Lamaist
" hou " — a mythical animal very similar to the lion — is
represented with an inordinately long tongue, the possession
of a similar characteristic being also one of the thirty-two
Superior Marks of Buddha. The tongues of Chinese dogs
are often rendered permanently long by forcible stretching
during puppyhood. In this case, the tongue projects in the
middle of the mouth. This is considered a bad point. A
very long tongue is sometimes the result of pneumonia, and
the Chinese refer to it as a " strangled ghost " (" Tiao Sze
Kwei"), on account of the fact that in Chinese plays the
masks used to represent the ghosts of the garotted or hanged
are made with protruding tongues of extraordinary length.
An interesting phenomenon is the fairly frequent appearance
of very large-sized dogs, nearly always with fine head-de
velopment. This is said to be encouraged by over-feeding ;
but the occurrences appear to be throw-backs to large-sized
ancestral stock. If of male sex, these are never used for
157

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
breeding, but become guard-dogs for the owner's kennel,
which often among the breeders of the palace contains as
many as twenty dogs. The eunuchs also use them to a certain
extent for dog-fighting.
The ears should be placed well behind the middle axis of
the forehead, not too high on the skull, and should be well
feathered (not turned outwards in front), giving the appearance
of a rake (" pah-tzu "), nor yet projecting at the side (" chaio-
tzu," or horn-ear). Other bad points occasionally found in
China are sesamum-seed ear (" chih-ma-erh-t'ou," or prick-
ear), or the ear sharp-pointed and pushed forward.
The mouth and cheeks may be somewhat round and dump
ling-like, not under-shot as to the lower-jaw (" Ti kai tien,"
" earth covers the heaven "). The lower jaw and chin should
be well developed, not frog-like (" ha-mah tsui "). There
should not be projection of the upper and lower lips and gums
(" to cherh "). The best mouths, of course, are those in which
the lower part of the face is in the same plane as the front
of the ear (" tao ch'ieh tsui ").
The Chinese liken the eyes of their best specimens to the
" Loong Ching Yii " (" dragon-eye fish "), or gold-fish. They
should be very large, lustrous, and prominent, with the iris
broad and of old-gold colour (" bi chi yen-erh," water-chestnut
eyes). If showing rather more white they are called " leopard
eyes." Ideal body development — next in importance to that of the
head — requires a well-defined waist, slightly concave (sycee-
like) back, a short, compact and sturdy body, front legs shorter
than the hind legs, with the object of producing a rolling
gait, which should, however, be steady and free. This gait
is compared to the movement of the plentifully finned gold
fish. The fore-legs should be short, not straight and stick
like (" chih pang t'ui ") ; the hind legs should not be bent and
158

" HO YUN. l830 CHIU CHING." CHIN SHIH, TOONG CHU

M^BOM^HHH

Li's.

CHINESE PICTURE (RECENT) USED IN BREEDING

To face p. 158

POINTS OF THE CHINESE PEKINGESE TYPE
hoop-like. The fore-legs should be turned slightly outwards
at the shoulder, and there must be a slight curvature thence
down to the toes, wlich should turn somewhat outwards,
but not enough to produce the serious defect called " crab-
toes." The curvature of the fore-legs must not be ex
aggerated, for in such cases there is usually a deficiency of
bone. This fault is sometimes so pronounced as to produce
the state of " sitting tiger " (" pah-hu'erh "), in which the dog
tends to remain continually seated. Weakness of bone is
one of the worst faults. Closeness of the legs is a similar
fault, often produced through malnutrition during puppy-
hood. A certain straightness of leg is admissible in China
among the best specimens of " Pekingese " dogs. Ex
aggerated massiveness and curvature of leg-bone are not
considered absolutely essential there. Some of the best
" Pekingese " in China resemble the Japanese rather than the
English variety in straightness of leg.
Breeders in the Celestial capital associate the special
" Pekingese " type with the Manchus. Some of them say
that the name " ha-pa " is a Manchu word meaning " to
roll in the walk," referring to the distinctive walk and gambols
of the " Pekingese " breed.
We might fairly conclude that at certain periods in Chinese
history careful breeding was pursued, and that a tolerably
fixed type was evolved. Some Chinese breeders state that
early in the nineteenth century specialization had taken
place to such a degree that eight distinct breeds, instead of the
three now remaining, had been evolved. The occurrence,
during the Tao Kuang period, of porcelains illustrating eight
dogs — possibly a play on the name — is a confirmation of this
theory. Much of the distinction between some of these
breeds was in length and coloration of the coat and in mark
ings. In Peking, the dogs of this breed carry a coat com- 159

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
pletely changed twice yearly. This change begins in March
with the shedding of the long winter coat. The short summer
coat is changed towards August. The shedding of the winter
coat is more sudden and complete than in Europe on account
of the more abrupt change from extreme cold to the hot
summer. Consequently, the Chinese dog is apt to shed its
coat in patches, like the camel, and the coat never attains the
luxuriance found in Europe. Some fanciers used to send
their dogs to the hills during the hot weather in order to
avoid this abrupt shedding of some of the coat, for heavy
feathering of the tail, a good ruff, " shirt-front," and fringe
behind the legs and on the feet are fully appreciated. Some
fanciers give their dogs linseed oil in small doses with a view
to securing brilliancy of coat.
Of self colours, the Chinese consider three to be important :
the apricotv the liver, and the black. The Chinese apricot
fruit varies from a golden-yellow on the sunless side to a
rich orange red shading into yellow on the sunny side. It is
possible that this colour came into fashion on account of the
famous specimen owned by the Tao Kuang Empress. Among
self-colours this is undoubtedly the most highly prized : and
if it is accompanied by a golden silky gloss, the Chinese will
make far greater allowance than the European for weakness in
other points. So great has been the appreciation of this
combination, that it has been embodied in a numerical couplet,
" Chin Ssu Ha-pah," * which is proverbial and commonly
used in Peking in the drinking game of Noria, which con
sists in guessing-the number of fingers extended by the two
opponents. This couplet stands for the number eight, and
the golden-coated " hah-pah " dog is caused to compare in
rarity with the rank " t'ou ping t'ing t'ai," the cliief button of
* This name dates from the Yuen or Sung Dynasty. Dogs of this colour are
believed to have been extinct in China for the last sixty years.
1 60

CLOTH LANTERN COVER. SHEN CHEN-LIN

SILK FAN SIGNED " SHEN LIN," igoi. AFTER THE
STYLE OF THE YUAN DYNASTY (1260 A.D.)

CHINESE FAN

CHIU SHIH TOONG CHU FAN. TAO KUANG PERIOD

To face p. 160

POINTS OF THE CHINESE PEKINGESE TYPE
mandarin rank, a couplet which stands for the number one
in the same game.
At one period the Chinese made successful efforts to pro
duce white " Pekingese " dogs, free from the white noses
and pink eyes due to albinism. These may date back to the
Mongol Dynasty, for the Yuen Emperors appear not to have
shared the Chinese objection to white in animals through its
association with mourning. Marco Polo records that 100,000
white horses were presented to Kublai Khan on New Year's
Day, and this custom continued at least to the time of K'ang
Hsi. Among the parti-colours, pride of place is given to tortoise-
shell specimens : these are followed in importance by yellow
and white, liver and white, and black and white. The
Chinese have a picturesque way of describing dogs with special
markings as " flowered " dogs. The admiration in which an
imported dog, such as the pointer, is held on account of its
markings, is very striking to the newcomer in China. It is
natural in a city of clans that there should be a tendency to
specialize in particular colours among certain of the clans and
families. This would render certain colours and markings
more stable in China than elsewhere. Similar circumstances
may account for the persistence of the white spot commonly
found on the forehead of " Pekingese " dogs, and may throw
light upon the origin of the Blenheim spaniels whose " spot "
is known to have been characteristic in the original breed,
though the point now rarely occurs. A white blaze upon the
forehead of a horse is believed to be unlucky by the Chinese,
and they quote history to prove this. This point in small
dogs, however, is prized and encouraged by selective breeding.
It may be recalled that one of the thirty-two superior marks
of Buddha is " between the eyebrows a little ball shining like
snow." In this, we have, perhaps, the origin of the universal
l 161

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
Chinese custom of wearing a piece of jade or other precious
stone in the front of the hat. The wearing of pearls in this
way to mark official rank was a special prerogative of the
Manchu Emperors, and can be traced to the T'ang Dynasty
(a.d. 618). The Emperors of that and other periods gave
official rank to their most prized specimens, and perpetuation
of the " Ting-Tzu " (official button) thus becomes easy of
explanation. A variation of the white spot is the case " T'ung
T'ien Bai " (" White [spot] leading to heaven ") in which the
spot spreads to a broad blaze on the forehead, sometimes
continuing well over the back.
It has been suggested that, because Chinese officials and
literati were inordinately proud of their huge horn-bound
spectacles, the breeding of " spectacles " into the race of
" Pekingese " may have been favoured in China. It is pos
sible, however, that the recurrence of " spectacled " (" Sze
Yen ") dogs was not subject to as much encouragement as is
found among European breeders. The epithet " four eyes,"
applied to a man, carries more stigma in China than in
Europe. In addition to its connotation of all that is crooked,
it bears a special omen of bad luck, derived from Fengshui,
and an implied comparison to the canine race. Among
the common people the term is also applied to the prig who
wears spectacles to ape the wisdom of the short-sighted old
man or of the too studious professor. The wearing of spec
tacles is a comparatively modern custom, and has never been
an official sign of rank. It is, therefore, possible that, as in
the case of the white " shirt-front " — which is a point of
minor importance in Chinese specimens, having no imagina
tive meaning in China — this matter of the " spectacles " is
liable to greater encouragement in Europe than it ever had in
China. Chinese breeders distinguish between specimens
having the spectacle marks poorly developed (" an ") and those
162

POINTS OF THE CHINESE PEKINGESE TYPE
whose markings are clear (" ming sze yen"). To take rank
as being suitable for portraiture in the Imperial Dog Books, a
spectacled dog should have fire-coated cheeks, fore-legs and
rump, and, when in possession of these, is considered very
handsome. Other markings which are much appreciated are
the " five clear flowers "("wu ming hua "), five clear patches on
a ground of different colour, and " three divided flowers "
("san chieh hua"), consisting of three unbroken patches of
colour, such as a large spot on the back, another on the head,
and another on the hind-legs. A variety of this, which is
particularly admired, possibly on account of Buddhist as
sociation with the Manjusri's harnessed lion, is the case in
which the back-spot is centrally placed and takes the shape of
a saddle (" an-tzu hua|"). A similar variety is that in which
the saddle-mark spreads right round the body in the form
of a sash-marking (" t'ai-tzu hua "), sometimes with an ex
tension on one side like the overhanging flap of the Chinese
girdle. The sash is still worn in China, just as was pre
viously the case among the belted earls of Europe, as an
exclusive privilege to indicate rank. A yellow belt is worn
by certain members of the Imperial family only. Similarly,
a white sash-mark on a black dog is taken to simulate the
jade belt worn by the Grand Councillors of pre-republican
days. Small spots sometimes occur on the coat of the lips
and forefeet (" cho hua ti-erh "), and constitute a rather bad
point. Markings which are found on black dogs only are, first, the
"sable cloud over snow " (" wu yun kai hsueh "), white feet,
white stomach, black back and head ; and secondly, the
" standing in the snow " (" hsueh li chan "), black coat with four
white paws. But white feet in black dogs remind the Chinese
of the white shoes used only in mourning. A special name is
also given to the specimen having one paw of a colour differing 163

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
from that of the others (" ku ti'erh "). A hind-leg marking
which is appreciated, especially if paired, is that in which the
lower part of the leg is of a distinctive colour with a narrow
ridge of another colour above it, giving an impression of the
Chinese trouser (" t'ao k'u ").
Tiger-stripes on the coat after the manner of a tabby cat
are much appreciated. These, however, and the " prince "
character written in wrinkles upon the forehead, are attri
butes rather of the short-coated or Pug type than of the
" Pekingese." Similarly, an elastic skin enabling the dog
to be picked up by the scruff without pain, though existing
to a more pronounced extent in the short-coated type, is
looked upon with favour.
Within recent years, the Imperial breed of dogs has been
made the sport of Chinese fashion. The Chinese occasionally
cross the breeds of the three races of dogs — the lion, the pug,
and the Pekingese — and it seems likely that the stock has
from time to time been much varied by importation of new
blood from various parts of the vast Chinese Erhpire — a
fortunate circumstance, for the breed would, no doubt, be
wanting in gameness and fail to possess the spirited and fear
less carriage which are among the most important factors
in its strong individuality, had there been no cross-breeding
from a remote past, in the restricted environment of the
Peking palace. It is found that throw-backs to a long
haired type, or to a short-haired pug ancestor, occur occasion
ally even among " Pekingese " in Europe in the absence of
contamination for several generations. It appears not im
probable that many of the dogs presented to the Emperors
by officials and eunuchs in the Palace were obtained by cross
breeding. It must be explained that although at the end of
the Manchu regime there must have been many hundreds of
dogs in the Palace, only a few were under the eye of their
164

LACQUER PICTURE OF PEKINGESE DOGS, PAH-ERH KOU,
K'ANG HSI PERIOD, 1663-1733 (AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)

PANEL MARKED " THREE DIVIDED FLOWERS " DOG. TAO KUANG PERIOD, AFTER LU PAO
SHUN, PAINTER OF THE MING PERIOD. HSING KE T'U (HSING AND THE PIGEONS)

To face p. 164

POINTS OF THE CHINESE PEKINGESE TYPE
Imperial masters, the rest being bred by eunuchs, who
bought and sold among themselves and occasionally presented
or sold their best specimens to Chinese officials. As an
instance of modification through fashion, it may be mentioned
that during the Tao Kuang period the practice of docking the
dogs' tails, almost invariably carried out during recent years
in the palace, was not always customary. This practice
appears to have originated under the late Empress Dowager
in the reign of Hsien Feng, after 1815. The change was
probably made with the object of obtaining greater resem
blance to the Chinese idea of the lion, which is always a
" cur tail " beast. The custom of docking is useful as an
indicator of the period of Pekingese pictures.
Another change in fashion was due to the Empress's ob
jection to the so-called sleeve-dogs — freaks whose pro
duction must often have been the result of much pain.

165

CHAPTER X
THE CHINESE PUG
THE origin of the European as well as that of the
Chinese pug-dog is wrapped in obscurity. Modern
European trade with China by sea dates from about
1516, when the Portuguese started trading at Canton. The
Spanish traded in 1575 from Manila, and the Dutch in 1604
at Amoy and Formosa.
Jesse * suggests that pugs first came to England in the
early part of William Ill's reign (1688-1702), and were then
called Dutch pugs.f " At that time they were generally
decorated with orange ribbons, and were in great request
among the courtiers, from the King (a grandson of Charles I)
being very partial to them." During this period pug-dogs
may have been imported direct to Holland, and even to
England, from China and Japan, for in 1662 the Governor of
Formosa, after capture of Fort Zeelandia by the pirate
Coxinga, was released from imprisonment through measures
taken personally by the Prince of Orange, who subsequently
became William III of England. The King's partiality appears
to have been due to the fact that the King's grandfather,
William I of Orange, owed his life to the warning given, during
his campaign against the Spaniards, by one of these dogs.
Up to the introduction of the inquisition into the Nether
lands William of Orange held high rank as governor of
* " Anecdotes of Dogs," Jesse, 1858.
f The first recorded use ofthe name in connexion with dogs occurs in 1731. " Pug.
A nickname for a monkey or dog," Bailey, " Skeat's Dictionary."
166

THE CHINESE PUG
Holland, Zealand and Utrecht under the Spanish Govern
ment. In 1 57 1 he took up arms against King Philip of
Spain, and the incident recorded by Sir Roger Williams
must have taken place between this time and the recall of
Alva in 1573. The Portuguese may well have introduced
the Chinese pug into Europe, and the dog in question may
have been secured from Portugal.
" The Prince of Orange being retired into the camp,
Julian Romero, with earnest persuasions, procured licence of
the Duke d'Alva to hasard a camisado or night attack, upon
the Prince. At midnight Julian sallied out of the trenches
with a thousand armed men, mostly pikes, who forced all the
guards that they found in their way into the place of arms
before the Prince's tent, and killed two of his secretaries.
The Prince himself escaped very narrowly, for I have often
heard him say that he thought but for a dog he should have
been taken or slain. The attack was made with such resolu
tion that the guards took no alarm until their fellows were
running to the place of arms with their enemies at their
heels, when this dog, hearing a great noise, fell to scratching
and crying, and awakened him before any of his men ; and
though the Prince slept armed, with a lackey always holding
one of his horses ready bridled and saddled, yet at the going
out of his tent with much ado he recovered his horse before
the enemy arrived. Nevertheless one of his equerries was
slain, taking horse presently after him, as were divers of his
servants. The Prince, to show his gratitude, until his dying
day kept one of that dog's race, and so did many of his friends
and followers. These animals were not remarkable for their
beauty, being little white dogs, with crooked noses, called
camuses (flat-nosed)." *
* " Actions in the Low Countries," Sir Roger Williams, printed 1618.
Camuses. The French word camus means " a person having a short and flat
nose. Used of the dogs of Artois and Boulogne which were varieties of ' carlin '
167

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
The main points of difference between the European pug,
Blenheim Spaniel, and King Charles Spaniel are the result of
modern specialization, rather than of ancient individuality.
" It is impossible to distinguish the skull of a Terrier from
that of a Spaniel, or either of these from the Pariah Dog of
India, or the ' Mongrel Cur ' as it is called in England,"
wrote a Teamed zoological authority in 1868.* It would be
interesting to secure a scientific opinion on the skulls of these
breeds as developed at the present time. There appear to
have been very few references to European " short-mouthed "
dogs, exclusive of the bull-dog, previous to the nineteenth
century. The first mention of abnormally short noses occurs
in 1845. Youatt speaks of the new short-nosed type as an
innovation. " The King Charles Spaniel of the present day
is materially altered for the worse. The muzzle is almost as
short, and the forehead as ugly and prominent, as the veriest
bull-dog. . . . The Blenheim Spaniel has degenerated of
late. The species may be distinguished by the length and
silkiness of the coat, the deep fringe about the ear, the full
and moist eye and the blackness of the palate." f
Chinese records prove the existence of " short-mouthed "
dogs in the time of Confucius, 700 B.C., and similar dogs
were used for sporting purposes in Shansi, 500 B.C. But as
to shortness of coat there is no evidence indicating the period
it was developed in the Chinese pug. The Chinese name for
the pug breed is " Lo-sze," and it is interesting to note that
(little short-coated dogs with black and icrasi nose). Term probably derived from
Italian camoscio or Spanish camusa." " Dictionn. Littre."
"Murray's Dictionary" quotes: " 1601. Holland Pliny, 1336, 'The former
have flat noses, the other are flat and camoise nosed upward.' 1386. Chaucer,
Reeve's Tale, 'Round was his face and camuse was his nose.' 1751. Chambers's
Cycl. s.v., ' The Tartars are great admirers of camus beauties.' "
The Hon. Mrs. Neville Lytton says, " A white toy spaniel survived till the time
of Queen Charlotte." " Toy Dogs," p. 39.
* Proc Zool. Soc, 1868, p. 510.
f " Toy Dogs and their Ancestors," Lady Lytton, p. 89.
168

i

!
LO-SZE DOG. "SHEN CHEN-LIN. CAREFUL DRAWING"

CHINESE LO-SZE OR PUG DOG,
PEKING, 1914

To face p. 168

THE CHINESE PUG
the same characters are used to designate the old name of
Russia up to the Tao Kuang period. This suggests that the
breed came from Russia. It may be suggested that breeders
who have been able to secure such extraordinary special
characteristics as those of the " Pekingese " found small
difficulty, especially in a hot climate, in evolving a short-
coated race from the " short-legged " and " short-headed "
pet dog existing ioo years B.C. It seems likely, on the
opinion of authorities who have studied the question almost
entirely from the European standpoint, that European pugs
are the offspring of Chinese ancestors. Vero Shaw (1881)
says : " It is my firm opinion that the origin of the present
Pug Dog is nothing but the common English fawn-coloured,
smooth-coated terrier bitch crossed with a little jet-black
Chinese terrier, of which I also have seen some ; they have
the short nose and high head, and very curly tails." *
Mr. Watson states that, at the outset, the best English pugs
were of Dutch origin, and that the Willoughby strain came
from St. Petersburg^ He says in support of the theory that
the pug came originally from China, " We have in the pug a
dog which in his peculiarities has no counterpart in any
European dog. The bull-dog has a short face, and was
square-headed, with cropped ears and a straight tail, when the
pug was first known, and had an entirely different tempera
ment from the pug."
" All the English pugs of prominence from 1865 to 1895,
also all our best pugs from 1880 to 1900, trace to Click, a
dog of pure Chinese stock." f
The son of the owner of Click is quoted as stating : " Click's
parents— Lamb and Moss— were Chinese beyond dispute.
They were captured in the Emperor of China's palace during
* Vero Shaw, " The Book of the Dog."
f James Watson's " The Dog Book."
169

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the siege of Peking in 1867 or 1868, and were brought to
England by the then Marquis of Wellesley, I think. Anyhow,
they were given to a Mrs. St. John, who brought them
several times to our house. Alike as two peas, they were
solid apricot fawn, without a suspicion of white ; had lovely
heads and expressions ; but, unlike their son, they were
close to the ground, and a shade long in body."
A later importation which is well known, is that of black
pug-dogs brought in 1886 from the East by Lord and Lady
Brassey in the Sunbeam.
It is possible that the Chinese name for this breed is
connected with the city of Lokiang, or Lochiang, about
thirty miles north of Chengtu, the capital of Ssuchuan, which
was famous for its dogs from the eighth to the eleventh
centuries. Recent inquiries in Ssuchuan indicate that the
name of the breed has been forgotten in its birthplace, and
that even in this distant province the common name for the
small short-nosed dogs is now " Ching-kou " or " Pekingese."
One of the most important characteristics of the Chinese
Lo-sze dog, is, in addition to universal shortness of coat,
elasticity of skin existing in a far greater degree than with the
" Pekingese." The point most sought after by Chinese
breeders was the " Prince " mark, formed by three wrinkles
on the forehead with a vertical bar in imitation of the Chinese
character for " Prince." This same character is distinguished
by the Chinese in the stripes on the forehead of the tiger,
which, in consequence, is the object of superstitious venera
tion among the ignorant. The button, or white blaze, on
the forehead was also encouraged in the Lo-sze dog, but was
not of the same importance as the wrinkles. Other points —
such as compactness of body, flatness of face, squareness
of jaw and soundness of bone — are similar to those of
" Pekingese," except as regards the ears, which were small
170

THE CHINESE PUG
and likened to a dried half apricot, set with the outer face on
the side of the head and pointing slightly backwards. The
" Chiao-tzu," or horn-ear, is also admissible. The legs are
but slightly bent at the elbow. The tail is docked by the
Chinese, with a view to symmetrical form. The curly tail,
however, is known to have existed (" sze kuo chu-erh "), and
the double curl was also known.
The most admired and rarest of the breed was the " loong
chua lo-sze " (dragon-claw pug), which was short-coated
except for the ears, the toes, behind the legs, and the chry
santhemum-flower tail, all of which were very well feathered.
This appears to have been a distinct race which became
extinct about fifty years ago. The pug-dog occurred in any
colour, and was bred as small as possible

171

CHAPTER XI
THE "JAPANESE" DOGS
THERE appears no doubt that the " Japanese " race of
small dogs was introduced from China. Its name in
Japanese is " Chin," and the Japanese character
representing this name is composed of roots denoting
" China " and " dog."
Considerable intercourse had grown up between the
Eastern Chinese of Go and the early Japanese, at least as far
back as the fifth century. The Japanese started making a
serious study of Chinese institutions about a.d. 668.
During the periods of Tien Wu Ti (a.d. 673-686) and
Ch'ih T'ung Ti (a.d. 690-696) Korea and China constantly
presented small pet dogs to Japan.* These dogs appear to
have been sent as presents, first to Korea, and thence to
Japan. Eastern records also show that in the fifth month of the
year Tien Ping of Shen Wu Ti (a.d. 732), the Prince of Hsin
Lo State (Korea was then composed of three states, of which
this was the Eastern, adjacent to Japan) sent his envoy, Chin
Chang Hsun, with a suite of forty attendants, to Japan for
an audience. They took with them as tribute one parrot,
one thrush, one Ssuchuan " pai " dog, one hunting dog, an
ass, and two mules .f
* Jih-pen Chi. Jih-pen Hou Chi. Hsu Jih-pen Hou Chi. Wen Te Shih Lu.
San Tai Shih Lu. Liu Huo Shih. " The Dog," Tokyo 1915.
f Hsu Jih-pen Chi.
172

THE " JAPANESE " DOGS
It is said that about the year a.d. 794 " pai " dogs became
somewhat dear in price in Japan, because all ladies liked to
possess specimens of the breed.*
" In the fourth month of the first year T'ien Ch'ang of
Chun Ho Ti (Japanese Emperor a.d. 824), the state of Yueh
Ch'ien (a Japanese State), sent four dogs as tribute, two of
which were ' Tso Tan Ta Wo ' and two of the ' Wo Tzu '
breed.f Now the ' Wo Tzu ' is a Chinese ' pai ' dog."
A brief reference to the history of European intercourse
with Japan will be sufficient to indicate that in all probability
specimens of the " Japanese " race of dogs reached Europe
in the sixteenth century. The Portuguese captured Goa in
1 5 10, and thence spread their trade throughout the East.
Trade relations with Japan were started in 1549. The
traders were much favoured, especially by the princes of the
island of Kyushu, and, fortunate in the possession of Macao,
rich in stocks of European and Indian goods, quickly de
veloped a very considerable trade. Kaempfer, the historian,
who was physician to a Dutch embassy sent to the court of
the Emperor of Japan in 1691, says " The [Portuguese]
Merchants, in exchange for their European and Indian com
modities, as raw silk, fine stuffs, druggs, wines, artificial
curiosities, became possess'd of immense treasures, and the
golden marrow of the country." In 1559 St. Francis
Xavier, one of the original incorporators of the Society of
Jesus, landed in Japan as a missionary. He was well received.
A very large number of Japanese were converted, among
them were the princes of Bungo, Arima, and Omura. In
1582 these princes sent some of their nearest relations with
letters and presents to pay homage to Pope Gregory XIII.
Persecution began in 1586, but the Japanese, being anxious
for commerce, spared the merchants. Kaempfer says :
* " The Dog," Tokyo, April 1915. f Jih-pen Ji Shih. 173

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
" The merchants married the daughters of the richest in
habitants. The gold of the country was exchanged against
European and Indian curiosities, medicines, stuffs, and other
things of like nature. Upwards of 300 tuns of the precious
metal were exported every year."
The Dutch established a factory at Firando just previous
to 1600. In 1637, in consequence of a Portuguese plot
against the Emperor, the country was closed by Imperial
decree to all Portuguese intercourse. All Japanese returning
from abroad were put to death. No boat whatever, of any
nature, was to leave Japan, and all Portuguese were banished
to Macao. Meanwhile, the Dutch had been making every
effort to forward their trade. " No trouble," says Kaempfer,
" no expenses were spared to please the Emperor upon whom
alone all the good or bad success of their trade depended. The
most exquisite curiosities of nature and art were purchas'd
and brought over for the annual presents. The oddest and
scarcest animals in particular were brought up in the remotest
kingdoms of Europe, Persia, and the Indies, to have where
withal to satisfy their demands, ridiculous and fanciful as
they generally were, for animals so strange in their nature,
colours and shape, as perhaps never existed in nature."*
In 1641 the Dutch were ordered to remove from Firando
to Nagasaki, where their factory existed in Kaempfer 's
time. The period of British trade with Japan at the beginning of
the seventeenth century was brief. The East India Company,
successful in its competition with the Portuguese and Dutch
in India, was making plans to gain a footing in the trade of
the Far East. Its efforts to oust the Dutch from the Japanese
trade were not successful. Will Adams, who, arriving about
1600, was the first Englishman to reach Japan, rose to great
* " Kaempfer's History of Japan," by J. G. Scheuzer, J. MacLehose.
174

THE " JAPANESE " DOGS
honour with the Daimio of Hirado. Captain Saris visited the
court of the Daimio of Hirado in 1 6 14. He does not remark
upon the existence of a race of small dogs, though he does
recommend the sending of " a mastife, a watter spaniell, and
a fine grayhound " to the son of the Daimio. In the court
minutes of the Company for 161 5 there occurs a passage :
" Cloths to be provided for Surat, Persia, and Japan ; also
sword-blades, knives, and fowling-pieces. Things considered
fit to be sent as presents ; two mastiffs, little ' Island doggs,'
greyhounds, etc."
Richard Cocks, chief factor for Japan of the East India
Company, kept a careful diary of events in the English
factory at Firando from 161 5 down to the time of the ex
pulsion of the British in 1623. Some of his letters to his
patron, dealing with the wonders of Japan, were submitted
to King James I (1603-1625), who, incredulous of these
marvels, declared the letters to contain " the loudest lies that
he had ever heard." He gives detailed lists of the presents
exchanged on many occasions between the Company and the
Japanese rulers, as well as between the traders of the two
nations. He complains of the enormous number of presents
required to smooth the path of commerce. " I know not
what else to write, but that my greatest sorrow is I live in a
place which hitherto hath byn chargeable and not beneficiall
to your worships, by reasons of the precentes contynewally
given, it being the fation of the contrey, or else there is no
staying for us yf we doe not as other strangers doe." He
makes no mention, however, of the inclusion in such presents
of any Japanese dogs except " a great black dogg " given him
in exchange for goldfish, which were as yet a rarity in Japan.
He does, however, mention, with evident apprehension, the
accidental death of a dog which appears to have been pre
sented by the East India Company to Foyne Samme, late 175

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
king of Firando, and which was kept, apparently at the
king's request, in the English factory.
April 4, 1617. — " Thomas the cook, lefte to attend on Mr.
Totton, being a harebreand felloe, threw a kitchen knyfe at
Balle, the kynges dogg, which we kept in the English howse,
and stuck hym to the hart that he fell downe dead presently.
He hath beaten many of our Japon servantes, and had lyke to
have kild one of our neighbors servantes the other day. He
ys not the man I took hym for, and wrot the Worll. Company
in his behalf e more than he deserveth. Yf this had hapned
in the tyme of Foyne Samme, who esteemed this dogg much.
yt might have cost us all our lives. I sent our jurebasso to
exskewse the matter to the kyng, who sent me word he
esteemed that the English man did it not of purpose, and
therefore willed me not to punish hym, for the deede being
donne could not be undon, etc." *
Special efforts were made by the Company to open up trade
with China. Writing in 1627 from Batavia, the Company's
factors remark : " The third part of the East India's trade,
Japan and China, is more than all the rest, and seemeth
offered only to the English. These mighty monarchies
abound with riches, are civilized peaceably to respond with
all. Their clothing is silk, passable in summer, but in
winter they are forced to bombast or wear ten coats one over
the other." Considerations concerning the trade to China
were to be " our next step." The factors then recommended
the Court of Directors " to provide European toys for presents
to these princes to procure rarities that others have not, to
impress conceit of greatness in the vulgar ; a wild mastiff
dog, because not common, has his attendants and is fanned
from flies with as much observance as a principal personage."
The factors complain that many of the dogs shipped to the
* " Diary of Richard Cocks," vol. i, p. 247, Hakluyt Society.
176

THE " JAPANESE " DOGS
East by the Company " grow faint and die for want of fresh
water and too much salt meat aboard, fresh oaten meal or
ground barley is the only food for dogs, and a chain and
comely collar to grace them ought ever to be remembered.
A Turkey cock and hen given by Capt. Moreton were so
much admired that a ' sleight ' Chinaman to make a friend
by presenting them, would willingly buy the like at ioo ryalls
of eight." *
Sir Rutherford Alcock's opinion that the " Merry
Monarch " was indebted to his marriage with a Portuguese
princess (and thence possibly to Japan) for the race of
spaniels called after him would appear to have consider
able justification, for it appears not unlikely that even if the
Japanese races of small dogs were not introduced indirectly
through Portugal or Holland by the traders of those two
countries before the arrival of their British competitors, some
specimens may have been introduced during the brief period
in which British traders were in high favour with Japanese
rulers at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Fennel
in 1841 says of the King Charles spaniel, " This beautiful
breed received its name from having been the favourite
of that ill-fated monarch Charles I, who rarely walked out
without being attended by several of these spaniels. They
were black and white, with curly hair, small rounded heads,
short muzzles, long ears and webbed feet." t
The sending of dogs as Imperial presents persisted in
Japan up to at least the middle of the nineteenth century.
" The Commodore, upon subsequent inquiry, learned that
there are three articles which in Japan, as he understood,
always form part of an Imperial present. These are rice,
dried fish, and dogs. Some also said that charcoal was
* " Calendar of State Papers. East Indies " 1615, p. 429 •, 1617, p. 374.
•j- " Toy Dogs and their Ancestors," p. 37.
M 177

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
always included. Why these should have been selected, and
what they particularly symbolize, he did not learn. The
charcoal was not omitted in the gifts on this occasion, and
four small dogs of a rare breed were sent to the President as
part of the Emperor's gift. We have observed also in the
public prints that two were put on board Admiral Stirling's
ship for Her Majesty of England. The fact that dogs are
always part of a royal Japanese present suggested to the
Commodore the thought that one species of spaniel now in
England may be traced to a Japanese origin. In 1613, when
Captain Saris returned from Japan to England, he carried to
the King a letter from the Emperor, and presents in return
for those which had been sent to him by His Majesty of
England. Dogs probably formed part of the gifts, and thus
may have been introduced into the kingdom the Japanese
breed. At any rate there is a breed in England which is
hard to distinguish from the Japanese dog. The species sent
as a present by the Emperor is by no means common even in
Japan. It is never seen running about the streets or following
its master on his walks, and the Commodore understood that
they were costly." *
Records of the several Dutch embassies f to the Japanese
Emperors, which took place during the seventeenth century,
though enumerating the presents exchanged on each occasion,
do not mention the giving of dogs. A record of cargo
brought to England on certain of the ships of the East India
Company during this period does not mention dogs, but
includes merchandise to the value of some thousands of
pounds under the general heading of " toys."
The Bishop of Victoria, writing in 1861, remarks that like
* " United States Japan Expedition (1852-3-4)," Captain J. C. Perry, vol. i,
p. 369, published 1856.
f " Ambassade vers 1'Empereur du Japon," Henry Drummond, 1686.
178

THE " JAPANESE " DOGS
everything rare and fetching a large sum of money, the
Japanese lap-dog was said to come from Miaco. Full-grown
specimens might sometimes be seen scarcely exceeding seven
or eight inches in length. The diminutive size was secured
by cross-breeding, and, according to some, by draughts
of saki.*
In recent times, arrival of the Japanese breed of dog, so far
as is borne out by authentic records, antedates the Pekingese
race as to importation into England by at least a decade.
The record of shows demonstrates that nine " Japanese "
were classed in a show held in the Holborn Horse Repository
in i862.f
Kaempfer fails to mention the existence of the breed in
Japan, but remarks, " greyhounds and spaniels are wanting."
It is interesting to note that although at a later period dogs
were stated always to form part of an Imperial present, the
Emperor Iyeyasu's present to King James in 1613 is recorded
as having consisted of five pairs of folding-screens.
Huish remarks J that the dogs usually seen in Japanese art
are the Chin or lap-dog, which were introduced from Macao
in the seventeenth century by the Portuguese. The authority
for this statement is not given, and it would appear far more
probable that the Japanese dog was introduced into Macao
by the Portuguese, or perhaps from China, and thence found
their way to Portugal and to the European Courts. Robert
Fortune wrote in i860 : " The lap-dogs of the country are
highly prized both by natives and foreigners. They are
small — some of them not more than nine or ten inches in
length. They are remarkable for snub-noses and sunken
eyes, and are certainly more curious than beautiful. They
are carefully bred ; they command high prices even amongst
* " Ten Weeks in Japan," by the Bishop of Victoria.
¦j- " Modern Dogs," by Lee. J " Japan and its Art," Huish, p. 136.
179

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the Japanese, and are dwarfed, it is said, by the use of saki —
a spirit to which their owners are particularly partial." *
Idstone, writing in 1872, states that ." Originally the
King Charles was a liver-and-white dog." He thought the
breed originated in Japan, and said that the first imported
Japanese were pale yellow and white. He also thinks that
the Blenheim comes from Japan through Spain.
Mrs. Hugh Fraser states that there are two kinds of lap-
dog in Japan : one, the Chin dog above mentioned, which
she refers to as a degenerate King Charles, and " a smooth,
rather bald beast with spots, both kinds having prominent
eyes." f
* " Visits to Japan and China," by Robert Fortune, pp. 96-98.
t " A Diplomatist's Wife in Japan," by Mrs. Hugh Fraser, p. 119.

180

CHAPTER XII
THE CHINESE LION DOG
IN studying the origin of the Chinese lion-dog or shock-
dog, an origin which appears to be closely connected
with that of the Lhasa terrier, one or two points in the
history of Tibet may be borne in mind. There is no
recorded history of the country previous to the seventh
century A.D., the people having been steeped in barbarism
and devoid of any written language. The foundation of
civilized monarchy was laid on the conversion, in a.d. 652, of
Srong-tsan-gampo, who introduced Buddhism and the art of
writing from India. He had founded Lhasa in a.d. 639.
One of his wives was an Imperial daughter of China.
In 663 the Chinese took Lhasa and burnt the royal palace.
Another of the Tibetan kings, Khri-srong-Ide-tsan, born
a.d. 730, is famous on account of his strenuous support of
Buddhism. His mother was daughter of one of the Chinese
Emperors. In 1253 Kublai Khan conquered all the east of Tibet. In
1645 the Chinese again invaded Tibet and conquered the
whole of the country, making the fifth of the Dalai Lamas, a
title which first came into existence in 1576, supreme monarch
of all Tibet. In 1653 he was confirmed in his authority by
the Chinese, and paid a visit to the Emperor in Peking. The
Chinese army again conquered the country in 1720, and
established the present system of government.
The Chinese lion-dog (" Shih-tzu kou ") is so called chiefly 181

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
on account of the length and shagginess of its coat. The
Chinese readily apply the name to any long-coated dog,
whether native or foreign, large or small. Ramsay says that
in Tibet these dogs are called " lags k'yi " (hand dogs),
" because it is believed that, if a human being lays hands
upon a young eagle when freshly hatched, the bird is trans
formed into a dog of the Chinese pug breed." *
That the Tibetans should have selected their small lion
dogs, and in accordance with the universal custom should have
sent them as curiosities and presents to the Manchu scholar
Emperors Ch'ien Lung, K'ang Hsi, and other sovereigns,
as a flattering reminder of the Lamaist association of the
Dynastic name with Manjusri, the god of learning, habitually
accompanied by a small pet dog capable of being transformed
into a mighty lion as his steed, seems perfectly natural. There
is evidence that the compliment was acted on in the spirit in
which it was given, for the palace eunuchs state that the
Emperors were continually followed by their small dogs, and
that their entrance to audiences was often announced by the
barking of the accompanying dogs — a signal for all servants
to hide themselves, or at least to avert their faces.
It is not known when the Tibetan Lamas began to send
to the Manchus small Tibetan " shock " or lion-dogs, the
earliest English representation of which appears in Mr.
Bryan Hodgson's " Drawings of Nepalese Animals." The
custom possibly existed in the early period of the Manchu
Dynasty, founded in 1583. It ceased in 1908, when the
Dalai Lama visited the Empress Dowager and presented her
with several specimens, which were seen by foreigners who
describe them as having been very similar to the breed of
lion-dogs then existing in Peking, and known by living
testimony to have existed there for at least forty years
* " Western Tibet," Lahore, 1890, pp. 33, 35.
l82

CHINESE LION DOG, PEKING

CHINESE LION DOG
THE PROPERTY OF MISS BIRCHAL
PEKING

LION DOG FROM THE PORTRAIT OF
DOROTHY BRERETON, SECOND WIFE
OF SIR PETER LEIGH OF LYME, 1615
FROM "THE HOUSE OF LYME," BY
LADY NEWTON

LION DOG FROM AN IMPERIAL
DOG BOOK

THE LION DOG
REES'S CYCLOPEDIA, 1830
To face p. 182

THE CHINESE LION DOG
previously. A similar breed exists in Shantung, but there
are two varieties of the Shantung lion-dog, one of lap-dog
size, evidently referred to by Dr. Lockhart in 1867 when he
wrote, " From Shantung is brought a beautiful black, long
haired, long-backed, long-legged terrier, very much like a
black Skye," * and the other shock-greyhound similar in all
respects to the European greyhound, except for its shaggy
coat. Laufer t quotes from the " Annals of Shantung
Province," " There are various kinds of dogs. There are the
barking dogs with short muzzle and thin legs, excellent
hunters. There are the edible dogs with fat body, which are
served as food and reared in large numbers. There is a kind
from the Western Foreign [country], low, small, clean and
cunning, with which you can play ; it is called ' ha-pa
dog.' " X How the breed came to be produced or originated
in Thibet it is impossible even to conjecture. As the
Tibetans resembled the Chinese in counteracting the cold
by increase in the amount of clothing worn and not by
heating the living-rooms, the production of long-coated dogs
was natural to the climate. Short-coated dogs would have
had but small chance of survival. The association of Man
jusri Buddha with a small pet dog, which on occasions was
apt to be changed into a lion, may have suggested to the
devotees of Lamaism the idea of breeding miniature lions as
something of a pious duty, a means of acquiring merit, as
well as an indirect strengthening of their creed. The
Lamaists themselves say that their Tibetan lion-dogs are
bred to resemble lions, and they, like the Chinese, appear to
be willing to call any shaggy coated dog a lion-dog.
The first known use of the term " lion-dog " appears to
* Proc Zool. Soc, 1867.
f " Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty," p. 267.
X Book XXIV, section on Products, p. 6b. I83

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
refer to a specimen which was probably considerably larger
than the Tibetan breed, but which, from the proximity of
Northern Kiangsu to Shantung, may. have belonged to the
race of " lion-dogs " of both large and small species, now
found in the latter province.
In the year a.d. 1131, under the rule of the Emperor Kan
Tsung of the Southern Sung Dynasty, there lived near
Hsuchow, in Kiangsu, a magistrate, Dei Yen Cheng, to
whose judgment was submitted the following case, having
points in common with that in which Richard Macaire was
brought to justice by the dog of Aubry of Montdidier, and
with Plutarch's story of Capparus, watchdog of the temple
of ZEsculapius at Athens.
"In a lonely temple twenty li from the city dwelt a priest
and his one servant. He had two pets : a cat, upon which
he lavished much care, and a dog which was well-known on
account of its being a " lion-dog." It happened one day
that, during the absence of the servant, who had been sent
to buy salt, the temple was entered by a robber, who
murdered the priest and got away. He was silently followed
by the dog to his retreat whence, after two days, he made
for the city, still followed by the dog. Upon reaching a
frequented place the dog attacked him and would not be
beaten off. When at last he gained the city, the dog again
attacked him, barking furiously. The dog was recognized as
belonging to the priest, and the vehemence of its attacks was
such that the murderer was questioned on the point, and
failing to give a satisfactory explanation, was apprehended
and, by the dog's guidance, taken to the temple. There the
priest's body was found, guarded by the cat. The murderer
was taken to the city, tried by the magistrate and executed
on full confession of his guilt.* "
* Yuan Chien Lei Han (quoting from the " Yi Chien Chih " ).
184

THE CHINESE LION DOG
It is interesting to note that the West too had its " lion-
dog." This breed of small pet dogs was mentioned by
Buffon, and Linnaeus, writing about 1792, enumerates in his
list of breeds of dogs the Canis Leoninus or " Lion Dog," said
to have a long ruffle on the forepart of his body like a [male]
lion, the hinder part growing short hair only. The breed
existed in England as early as 16 15,* but certain characteristics
were artificially imparted to it, for we read in the Proceedings
of the Zoological Society, " Some of the figured and named
varieties, as the Lion-Dog (" Chien-lion," Buffon) ; " Canis
familiaris leoninus," Gmelin), are described from dogs that
had been artificially prepared." f
The Tibetan lion-dogs as existing at present in Peking
are in some specimens as diminutive as the common
" Pekingese," but are normally somewhat larger. Chinese
breeders distinguish two varieties, the ordinary or " Nao-t'ou "
(shock-headed), whose face is remarkable for the sticking out
of its long coat from the lips and the bridge of the nose,
giving an appearance similar to that of the griffon Bruxellois,
and the " Tou-t'ou," very rare, whose forehead only is shaggy,
the lower part of face being short-haired. The character
" Nao " is translated " a large monkey, very nimble in climb
ing." X Laufer quotes from the description of the metropo
litan prefecture of Shunt'ien, " A small and alert class are the
* " The House of Lyme," by the Lady Newton. There is, however, no known
relation between the two breeds.
t Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., Proc Zool. Soc, 1868.
X The term applied to a dog is considered by the Chinese to be inapplicable to
either a very small or a very large dog. The character consists of radicals, one of
which means " dog " and the other " soft " or " fluffy," with obvious reference to
the coat. Two characters occur in the " Chou Keng Lu " (Yuan Dynasty), and
also in the " Pen Tsao Kang No " (Ming Dynasty). " The lion is tawny (lit.
yellow-coloured), like the gold-coloured " nao dog.' " The same authority says
(vol. Ii, part ii, p. 23), " there is an animal called the 'nao' ; one half of the
character means ' dog ' and the other half ' soft-coated.' . . . Long-coated dogs are
called ' nao dogs.' "
l85

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
'Hu' (trans. Turkish) dogs which nowadays are called 'ha
pa' dogs. There is also the name 'pa'rh' dogs. The long
haired among them are designated ' monkey-lion dogs '
(' nao,' a long-haired yellow monkey). The people of the
locality call it ' shih nung kou.' " *
It is to be noted that none but a literary or artistic Chinese
would call the ordinary " Pekingese " or the short-coated
pug by the name " lion-dog." This confusion of names is
similar to that which exists in England in relation to the
" Happa " dog — a name which to a Chinese is generic and
simply indicates a lap-dog, which may be of pug, lion-dog, or
" Pekingese " variety. Chinese breeders of these small dogs
would no more confuse the names than a European breeder
would confuse the English greyhound, the Italian variety, and
the Borzoi.
The Chinese lion (" Shih-tzu ") dogs are longer-nosed than
the flat-faced " Pekingese." Perceval Landon remarks that
in Tibet itself the Tibetan " terrier " is " a long-coated
little fellow with a sharp nose, prick ears, and, as a rule, black
from muzzle to tail, found but seldom in a pure state." f
They may be of any colour, but must be strong in bone,
short-legged and large-eyed. Like the Chinese Chow-dog,
they are affectionate to their own masters, but shy and
distrustful of strangers. In China, the breed is nowadays
sometimes crossed with " Pekingese " with a view to intro
ducing length of coat into that breed.
The Empress Dowager found great difficulty in rearing the
Tibetan dogs, which are somewhat delicate, being very
susceptible to pneumonia, and require more care than the
race usually known as " Pekingese."
Lion-dogs are figured in old Chinese pictures in con-
* " Book L, p. 28a.
f " Lhasa," Perceval Landon, p. 387.
186

THE CHINESE LION DOG
ventional style. Chinese painters no doubt found it rather
beyond their powers to reproduce the shaggy face and to
give expression to a specimen which, in the best of the breed,
is so compact and long-coated that it is sometimes difficult
to distinguish head from tail.

187

CHAPTER XIII
TOY DOGS IN CHINESE ART
NO Chinese writer appears to have thought it worth
while to record the precise points of the pet dog of
his day. The most important evidence obtainable on
the exact characteristics of the ancestors of the " Pekingese "
breed has to be gleaned from such illustrations on paper, silk,
porcelain, or lacquer as are obtainable, and from the very
rare modelled or sculptured reproductions of true dogs. It
is, however, easy to over-estimate the importance of these
illustrations. As regards paintings on porcelain it must be
remembered that the pictorial work was carried out near the
potteries at Chin Te Chen in Kiangsi Province, 700 miles
south of Peking. It is unlikely that the pottery artists them
selves ever saw the dogs they portrayed. They were working
from either verbal descriptions or pictures. In addition to
this there were difficulties of reproduction of colour and
form on porcelains usually made and painted by hand for
cheap wholesale consumption.
Pictures upon silk or paper are commonly imitations of the
work of old masters, sometimes honest, but very frequently
made with fraudulent intentions. They have the charac
teristic, remarkable to the European mind, of portraying in
a conventionally fixed manner. Modern Chinese painters are
so much slaves to style that a picture of some particular tree
or rock will often be nine-tenths the tree or rock of an old
188

CHIU SHIH TOONG CHU. PROBABLY TAO KUANG PERIOD

FAN (HSING KE T'u)

PORCELAIN
SNUFF BOTTLE

1
AMBER SNUFF BOTTLES WITH INTERIOR
PAINTING

PORCELAIN
SNUFF BOTTLE
TAO KUANG PERIOD
To face p. 188

TOY DOGS IN CHINESE ART
master, and will be allowed only one-tenth of the charac
teristics of the actual subject.
It must be mentioned that modern Chinese artists and
picture dealers are the most inveterate imitators, counter
feiters and forgers in the world. The western collector
usually falls an easy prey to their deceptions, which can only
be guarded against by the closest of specialized study, Some
years ago Frau Olga Wegener collected several pictures of
the famous local breed of dogs in Peking. The Wegener
collection was exhibited in Germany, and a small, but very
inaccurate catalogue issued. The collection was acquired in
part by the British Museum, and, in consequence of this, too
much reliance has been placed upon the statements of the
collector regarding the authorship and dates of the pictures.
As regards other collections, it appears more than possible
that the Sung Dynasty (thirteenth century) " Pomeranian
Type of Dog," * by Mao I in the Fukuota Collection at
Tokyo, is genuine. No authentic painting of Pekingese dogs
older than the eighteenth century is known to exist outside
the palace in Peking. The Wegener pictures, ascribed to
Shen Chen Lin and said to date from 1700, are obvious
counterfeits of recent date, for there has been only one well-
known Chinese painter of this name, and his pupils now
living in Peking testify to the fact that he died only thirteen
years ago. Chinese pictorial art has been almost dead for
two hundred years, and to this fact must be ascribed the
paucity of Chinese animal paintings showing individuality
and artistic merit. The Chinese pictures are, for the most
part, not portraits of individuals, but they more nearly
represent the artist's idea of type.
The eunuchs of the palace endeavoured to obtain type
pictures to which they might refer in the effort to improve
* " Toy Dogs and their Ancestors," p. 284.
189

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
their breeds, and consequently they caused scrolls portraying
large numbers of dogs to be painted. Unfortunately, the
painting talent upon which they could draw was limited, so
that the results cannot compare with those which would be
obtained if, for instance, British painters were commissioned
to portray a similar number of specimens to be found in
England at the present time.
A well-known Chinese painter of dogs in Peking — he had
been for years a pupil of Shen Chen Lin — was asked to make
a likeness of water-colours of one of the local Pekingese
specimens. The result was recognizable as referring to this
dog on account of facial resemblance which, apart from
somewhat conventional treatment as regards the cheeks, went
far to constitute something of a portrait. The treatment of
the body, however, was altogether conventional. The fringes
of the dog's front, ears, legs, and tail, were almost entirely
omitted, and the painter had obviously substituted the
crystallized Chinese artistic convention, as it had been trans
mitted to him, in place of a true likeness of the general form.
Miss Carl, who painted the late Empress Dowager with her
two Pekingese dogs, remarks that the " Old Buddha " con
sidered it more remarkable that these animals had been
painted so that they were recognizable than that a good
likeness of herself had been made. It is probable, therefore,
that only a small proportion of the reproductions of these
dogs in Chinese art can be taken to be portraits or to have
more than an approximate resemblance to definite originals.
All Chinese are fond of sending small presents to their
friends on auspicious occasions. The literary man loves to
send a luck verse or picture having some happy allusion,
usually more or less veiled in classical lore, as a charm or
omen, to herald good fortune on a friend's birthday or on the
New Year. Buddhism and superstition provide him with an
190

CHINESE BOWL, PEKING

CHINESE TEACUP AND COVER, TAO KUANG PERIOD

PORCELAIN FACE-POWDER BOX
FROM PEKING

To face p. 190

TOY DOGS IN CHINESE ART
ample fund of allegories and similes upon which he freely
draws, and it is to this custom that we owe most reproductions
of Pekingese dogs. When the Chinese scholar wished to fit
some particular word into a well-turned pictorial phrase, he
found keen delight in perversely substituting an object which,
by the sound of its name, or by the Chinese character, would
delicately suggest the wish of the sender without reducing it
to the bluntness of bald prose. If his wish referred to a
word sounding like " lion," the cultured men of Peking
would be apt, especially if he were favouring one of the
" fancy," to picture a member of the small breed of lion-like
dogs which give his native city a certain degree of fame.
The commonest form of token-presents in connexion with
Pekingese porcelains was, at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, that of the snuff-bottle. The illustrations always
have a distinct meaning, and are usually the pictorial repre
sentation of some timely couplet or well-turned lucky phrase.
The picture-phrases must be apt allusions and also have
literary merit. Some of them can be construed as standing
for two or three separate good wishes. They often introduce
lucky numbers. A common snuff-bottle illustration, which
has an European parallel, is a picture of three magpies — the
Chinese name for magpie signifies joy-bird — on a tree with
the sun shining overhead. The wish is " One day three joys "
(" Yi Tien San Hsi "), such as official rank and a first-born
son to a proud father on his own birthday. Unfortunately
these snuff-bottles were carried in the pockets of their owners,
so that authentic specimens have often lost the freshness of
their illustrations through wear of the enamel. The phrases
most frequently found illustrated are as follows :
" Huan Tien Hsi Ti."
(" Love Heaven Joy Earth.") 191

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
This antithetical couplet is figured by butterflies flitting
above children playing with cicadas or dogs.
A picture of children flying a butterfly-kite is also used to
symbolize joy below united with the much-loved " wind-
harp " above. The wish of the sender is, " May the happiness
of heaven and the joy of earth give you their united blessings."
Another illustration is that of a " Pekingese " dog looking
up at butterflies floating above him. The dog is here
symbolical of joyful affection, and the butterfly of heavenly
bliss. Another illustration commonly found is that of an old man
with a dog pictured on one side of a snuff-bottle and a child
playing with two Pekingese dogs and a butterfly on the
other. The wish is, " May old and young live together in
happiness." It will be recalled that, according to Chinese custom,
probably a survival from tribal days, all the male line of a
family inhabits one house or collection of houses so long as a
parent or grand-parent of the family remains to link them
with the past. On account of the survival of polygamy in
China, and the slender years of the average Chinese bride
groom, this custom is productive of frequent trouble in even
the best regulated of households, so that in the East a deli
cately expressed hope that old and young may live together
in peace and happiness is even more often appropriately
auspicious and more intensely a heartfelt wish than in the
West, accustomed to the doctrines of monogamy and the
unit-home. Two other lucky couplets found on " Pekingese " snuff-
bottles throw a sidelight on this Chinese family custom.
Chiu Shih Toong Chu.
Nine generations together live.
(" May nine generations live together in peace.")
192

TOY DOGS IN CHINESE ART
History stated that the Sung Dynasty was able to boast the
remarkable circumstance of nine generations in one family of
the name of Chang living under the same roof in peace and
quietness. This wish is often imparted to the recipient by
means of a picture of chrysanthemums and " Pekingese "
dogs or lions. There may be simply lions or dogs, nine in
number, representing a pun on the word " generations,"
which in the vernacular has approximately the same tone.
The Chinese for chrysanthemums in Peking vernacular is
" Chiu-hua," literally " nine flowers," on account of their
flowering in the ninth moon.
Wu Shih Toong T'ang.
(" May five generations live together in the same home.")
The feat performed by the Chang family is considered,
even among the peace-loving Chinese, to have been so
extraordinary that in the present age of drooping filial piety
a minor wish is sufficient to express the utmost good augury
conveyable in a polite hope. The wish is usually pictured by
means of one big and four small lions. Snuff-bottles pictur
ing five " Pekingese " dogs and expressing the same wish
are also found.
In the Chow period, which dates from about iooo B.C.,
the highest literary degrees (" Imperial Instructor ") were six
in number and were divided into two classes, the chief of the
first being the " T'ai Shih," and of the second the " Shao
Shih." The meaning is " may you attain the higher grade
of Imperial Instructor, or at least the lower." This picture
is very frequently found on Chinese porcelain dating to the
beginning of the nineteenth century, in which the phrase has
become a little less apposite on account of a slight change in
the chief literary titles.
Other pictures allude simply to some historical incident or
n 193

DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
to a trite saying. That most frequently found is perhaps the
following :
This motif symbolizes the superiority of man's wit over
brute force, and conveys an antithesis such as that found in
the English proverb, " The pen is mightier than the sword."
This is usually represented by a pair of " Pekingese " dogs
playing together, and forms an appropriate present from a
husband to a wife naturally fond of dogs. The idea expressed
is " May we live together in united joy."
The chief hobby of the Emperor Tao Kuang (1821-1850)
was the breeding of pigeons. The Empress had a favourite
and very celebrated " Pekingese " dog which on account of
its colour was named Hsing-erh (apricot) and had a white
button upon its forehead. This picture is by far the most
frequent in connexion with illustrations of " Pekingese "
dogs, whether on paper, silk or porcelain. It was favoured
by loyal Chinese of the Tao Kuang period as flattering the
exemplary devotion shown by the Emperor to his wife. The
breeding of pigeons is universal in China. The flying of
them with whistles attached is almost as much a national
pastime in China as the flying of kites. The picture has
special appropriateness on account of its being an expression
of the other lucky phrase : " Love in heaven : joy on earth."
A wish for united blessedness also exists, for the first half
of the Chinese character for the word " pigeon " introduces
the connotation " fit " or " appropriate " in the sense of
" well-matched." Shortly before 1891 the Empress Dowager's chief eunuch,
Yin Liu by name, lost his three favourite " Pekingese " dogs
by a fire which destroyed the house in which they were kept.
These dogs were named, Sung To (" pine cone "), a black
and white dog ; Chu Yeh (" bamboo leaf "), a red and white
or yellow and white dog; and Mei Hua ("plum flower").
194

PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE
FROM PEKING
SHIH-TZU KUN HSIU CHIU.
LION ROLLS EMBROIDERED BALL

CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLE
(TAI SHIH, SHAO SHIH).
TAO KUANG PERIOD

CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLE (TAI
SHIH, SHAO SHIH). TAO KUANG
PERIOD

CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES (RECENT)
SAN YU T'U (THREE FRIENDS PICTURE)

To face p. 194

TOY DOGS IN CHINESE ART
In memory of these dogs he caused to be made circular
porcelain snuff bottles of large size. Upon them is pictured
in five-coloured enamel a representation of these three dogs,
each with its name, together with a pine-tree, a plum-tree,
and bamboo branches. These three trees are found on other
snuff-bottles without dogs.
Now Confucius said, " In winter the pine-tree does not
shed its leaves." To Confucians the pine-tree is therefore
symbolical of stability under adverse conditions.
The plum-tree and the bamboo are considered symbolical
of the same idea of fidelity under adversity to the Chinese,
because it is in winter that the plum-tree flowers, while the
leaves of the bamboo remain green throughout the cold
season. This picture presented to two friends would bear
the sender's wish :
" Through fire, or the winter of adversity, may our friend
ship remain as full of life as the pine, the bamboo, and the
plum-tree."

195

INDEX

A-CHEE, ceremony of, 27
Acheen, king of, 74, 75
Adams, Will, 174, 175
Aigun, dogs of, 149 and note
Ainu, the, 24, 25, 71
Ajmere, king of, dogs sent to, 81, 82
Albrecht, Oscar, 10 note
Alcock, Sir Rutherford, 177
Alexandra Palace Dog Show, 1875, 85
Algonquins, dog superstitions, 78
Alpinus, C, varieties, 5, 6
Alva, Duke d', 167
Ama Inu, the, 117
Amacia, Acterius, Bishop of, 144, 145
Amoy, trade of, 139
Anahita, 95
An-hsi, lions from, 91
An-hui, dogs of, 71
Anne, Queen, presents of dogs, 47
Anon, book of, representations of fal
conry, 64
Anubis, 11, 102
Ao, dog of Leu, 8, 9, 15, 76
Aristotle cited, 144
Arkwright, W., " The Pointer," 65
Aryans, dog-veneration by the, 12, 13,
31.36
Asoka, lion- worship under, 95, 96
Assur-bani-pal, bas-reliefs of, 12
Assyria, the lion in, 94
Assyrian dogs, 12 ; dogs of Asshur-
bani-pal, 77 note
Assyrian lions, 122
Astronomy, Japanese, symbol of the
lion, 117
Atargatis, goddess, 113
Athenodorus, cited, 144
Avignon, dogs of, 49
Bai dog, the, 130 note
Barking deer, 80
Bas-reliefs, rubbings taken from, 61,
62 ; of the Han period, 72

Batavia, 176
Bell, " Travels in Asia," 141 note
Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint, 38 ,
Beyamini, 79 . .
Bicknell, Ethel E., 69 note
Birch, Dr. S., quoted, 9 note
Black dogs, markings, 163, 164
Blenheim Spaniel, the, 156 ; the " spot,"
161, 162 ; points of distinction, 168
Boar-hunting, 56, 57
Bogaz-Keui, sculptures, 113
Bologna, 146
Bonvalot, G., " Across Tibet," 84
" Book of Rites," reference to, 23,
29, 30, 44, 51
" Book of the Five Elements," 48
Borzoi dog, the, 75
Bours, Madame du, request for poodles,
45
Bower, " Across Tibet," 84
Boxer rebellion of 1900, 153
Boyle and Manning, " Tibet," 83
Brassey, Lord and Lady, 170
Breeding. See Dog-breeding
Brinkley, Capt. F., " Japan and China,"
1,2, 17, 115
Britain, dogs of, sent to Rome, 16 ;
dog's flesh used by cave dwellers, 24
British dogs, renown of, during the
Stuart period, 44
British Museum, MSS. representations
of falconry, 64 ; the Wegener
collection, 189
Buddha, distinguished from the human
race, 121 ; his thirty-two superior
marks, 161, 162
Buddhism, laws of, 27-29, 116, 117 ;
animal superstitions, 38-40 ; intro
duced into China from India, 91,
92, 95-97 ; introduced into Tibet,
181
Buddhist lion, the, 92, 95, 96, 98 ;
depicted, 104, 107-111, 114
197

INDEX

Budge, Wallis, "The Gods of the
Egyptians," 94, 113
Buffalo stories, 105-107
Buffon, " Histoire Naturelle," 71, 150,
185
Bull, the Assyrian, 107
Bull-baiting in England, 45, 46
Burgess, " Buddhist Art in India,"
98, 121
Burgundy, Duke of, 73
Burial ceremonies, the dog in, 78, 79
Bushell, " Chinese Art," 90, 128
Byzantine Empire, China and the, 128,
146
CffiSAR, Augustus, and the ram, 31
Caesar, Julius, on dogs, quoted, 15
Caius, Dr., quoted, 69 note, 84, 145
Camuses, 167 and note
Canton, sale of dog flesh in, 26, 27 ;
trade of, 139
Carl, Miss, in Peking, 53, 152, 153, 190
Cat-rearing in China, 135-137
Cats, arrival in England, 2 ; legends
concerning, 40, 41 ; of the Ming
period, 51, 52 ; Persian, 141 ;
imperial popularity, 147
Cave-dwellers, 24, 25
Ceylon, the lion in, 96
Chang Ch'ien, 91, 96
Chang family of nine generations, 193
Ch'ang Hsien, the God, 35
Chavannes, 10 ; " La Sculpture en
Pierre en Chine," 72
Chen, City of, 14
Ch'en, " Kwong Yun " cited, 17
Chen Tsung, Emperor, 132
Chengtu, 134, 170
Chia Hsiang, 68
Chiao Ch'eng Chi, bas-reliefs, 68
Chiao dog, 8
Chiao-tzu, horn-ear, 171
Ch'ien Hsi-lin, General, vii
" Ch'ien Lei Han," quoted, 17
Ch'ien Lung, Emperor, 58, 140, 149,
15°
Ch'ih Hu, dog, 126
Chili, cats of, 141
Chilin, 47
Chin Chang Hsun, 172
Chin dog, 24, 179, 180
Chin Shih, Emperor, 15, 16
I98

" Chin Ssu Ha-pah," 160, 161
Chin Te Chen potteries, 188
China, domestication of the dog in,
4-7 ; foreign policy influenced by
regard for dogs, 9, 10, 15 ; dog-
flesh as food, 20-28 ; the dog in
religious ceremonial, 32 ; dog
superstitions, 32-36, 40, 41 ; dog-
breeding in mediaeval times, 47-50 ;
use of the dog in the chase, 51 ;
Buddhism established in, 96, 97 ;
lion-masques, 115, 116 ; division
and reunion of the dynasties,
124, 125 ; silk trade of, 128 ;
East India Company's trade with,
176
Chinese Art, toy dogs in, 188-195
Chinese dogs, possible wolf-origin, 6-8 ;
the Heavenly dog, 32-36 ; the
Imperial breed, 144
Chinese lion, artistic conception, 107-1 1 1
Chinese lion-dog, name applied to any
long-haired dog, 181, 182 ; com
pared with the " Pekingese," 186
" Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty,"
Laufer, 4-6, 56-58, 61-66, 76, 77,
. 79.92. 95. 98, 117 note, 183
Chinese sacrificial animals, 29
" Ching-kou," 170
Chou Hsin, Emperor, 10
Chou Po-ch'i, " Diary," 76
Chow, the, flesh used for food 26 ;
origin of the name, 58 ; use in
fowling, 69, 70; tongue, 157
Christianity, belief regarding the dog,
38
Ch'ung Hua Tihi Ch'uan Chih, quoted,
148
Cibot, Pere, researches, 22, 23
Clans, Chinese, particular colours in
dogs for, 161
Clay figures, use of, 78, 79
Cleves Anne of, dogs, 45
Click, Chinese origin, 169, 170
Cocks, Richard, in Japan, 175, 176
Colouring, the white spot, 161, 162 ;
tiger-stripes, 164
Colours, the Pekingese, 160, 161
Condor, C. R., " The Rise of Man,"
87 note
Confucius, sayings of, 14, 16, 168, 195
a cat story, 136-137

INDEX

Conger, Mrs., dogs presented to, 153
Constantinople, 128 ; capture by the
Turks, 146
Cooper, Mr., cited, 80
Copper period, dog superstitions, 78
Corea, hawking introduced from, 2 ;
use of dog's flesh, 24 ; the tiger
in, 90 ; the dog of, 117 ; home of
the ethereal lion, 119; dogs sent
to Japan from, 172
" Corean dogs," 118
" Corean purify heart pill," 119
Corpse-eating dogs, 87
Coxinga, pirate, 166
Crested Chinese dogs, 71
Cross-breeding, 164, 165
Cunningham, A., " Ladak," 77 note
Cybele, 113
Daimio of Hirado, 74, 175
Dalziel, " British Dogs," 85
Das, Sarat Chandra, dogs mentioned
by, 85-89
Daubenton, quoted, 150, 151
Davies, " Guide to Heraldry," 108 note
Dawkins, Prof. Boyd, " Cave Hunt
ing," 1, 24
Deccan, red dog of the, 6
Deggi district, 81
Dei Yen Cheng, 184
Dingo, the Australian, 3
" Docking " of dogs' tails, 151, 165
Dog Shows, 51, 52, 179
Dog, the, evolution from the wolf, 2, 5 ;
wolf -origin of certain Chinese dogs,
6, 7 ; use of flesh in China, 20-28 ;
rules for presentation of, from
" Book of Rites," 29, 30 ; a
sacrificial animal, 29, 32 note ;
the Heavenly dogs, 33-35 ; the
hedge-dog, 36 ; miniatures in
temples, 37 ; superstitions regard
ing, 42, 43 ; punishment for killing,
86 ; included in imperial presents,
177-179
Dog-books, imperial, 52, 152, 163
Dog-breeding, political importance of,
in mediaeval times, 47-49 ; methods
of development, 53, 54 ; com
mercial, 54, 55 ; forbidden in pre
cincts of Imperial ancestral temple,
138, 139

Dog-markets in Peking, 153, 154
Dog-markings, Chinese superstitions
regarding, 47-49
Dog-sacrifices, 29, 32 note, 78
" Dog-whipper," office of, 49
Dog-worship in Egypt, 11, 12, 117
Dogs, Isle of, 45, 49
Doolittle, Rev. Justus, " Social Life
of the Chinese," 35
" Dragon-Tiger Soup," 28
Drummond, Henry, 178
Dudley, Robert, Duke of Northumber
land, dogs of, 65
Dunne, Capt., 152
Dutch East India Company, 30, 139, 174
Duzaka, the, 36
Ears of the " Pekingese," 158
East India Company, trade with Japan,
46, 174-176, 178 ; export of dogs
through, 74, 81-83
Eckl, Herr B., " Sacristy," 112
Eclipse, Chinese superstitions regard
ing, 32-34
Egypt, dog-worship in, 11, 12 ; hair
less dogs of, 71 ; lion-worship in,
94; mythology of, 112-117, 120;
sun-worship, 120
Elastic skin, 164
Elgin, Lord, 30
Elizabeth, Queen, presents of dogs by,
45.125
Elliott, G. F. Scott, " Prehistoric Man
and his Story," 3, 4, 78
Embassies, Sham, 139, 140
Empress Dowager, dog-breeding by,
I5°-I53. ^7. lg6 ; tail-docking,
165 ; visit of the Dalai Lama,
182, 183 ; dogs, 190 ; pigeons,
„ J94, 195
" Encyclopaedia Britannica," the, cited,
12, 103
England, breeds in, 51, 52 ; trade with
China, 139
Erh Lang, the God, legends of, 32 ;
dog-worship in temple of, 35-37
" Erh Ya " quoted, 7, 16, 64, 76
Esquimaux, sledge dogs of the, 71
Ethiopia, dog- worship in, 12
Eunuchs, dog-breeding by, 164, 165
Europe, dog-breeding in mediaeval times,
46, 47 ; lion-dog of, 185, 186
199

INDEX

Falconry, in Europe, 62 ; in China,
62, 64, 68 ; in Japan, 64
Faust, 40
Fei Ti, 18, 19
Feng Shui, practice of, 40, 47, 90, 162
Fennel, on the King Charles Spaniel,
cited, 177
Fenollosa, " Epochs in Chinese and
Japanese Art," 125
Fernam Mendez Pinto, 20
Fleming, Abraham, 69 note, 145
Firando, English factory at, 174-176
Fire-worship, the lion associated with,
120, 121
Five elements, superstition of the, 42,
43
Fo, lion of, 115
Foism, the lion in, 96, 100
Folin. See Fu-lin
Foochow, 35
Foot-binding among Chinese women,
ir>7. 138
Formosa, trade of, 139
Fortune, Robert, " Kaempfer," 25, 26,
3°. 3i. 37. 38, 64, 118, 173, 174 ;
on lap-dogs, 179 ; " Visits to
Japan and China," 180
" Four eyes," epithet, 162, 163
Fowling piece, use of the, 62, 68, 69
Francis of France, 44
Franciscans, the, 134
Francolin, the, 68, 69
Fraser, Mrs. Hugh, " A Diplomatist's
Wife in Japan," 180
Frederick II., 62
Fu Lin or Fo Lin, dogs of, 117, 127-129,
141, 143, 146
Fukuota College Tokyo, 189
Funeral ceremonies, Tibetan dogs in,
87, 88
Fung Shen Bang, " Popular Book of
Superstitions," 114 note
G. palustris, 3
Gabriel Hounds, the, 40
Game Laws, modern, unknown in
China, 59
Gaudhara, Court of, 92
Geikie, Prof., " Geology," 2
Genghis Khan, 97
George III., 58
200

Goa, capture of, 173
Goldfish, Chinese breeding, 52
Goshawk, use of the, 66, 68
Gray, Dr. J. E., cited, 54, 185
Gray, J. H., " China," 26, 27, 33, 34, 42
Great Britain, trade with Japan, 174-
176
Greece, the lion in, 95
Greek art in China, 97, 98, 112
Greeks, dog-worship by the, 11
Greenwich Palace, 45, 49
Gregory XIII., Pope, 173
Greyhound, the, in China, 72-75 ;
in Europe, 72 ; the small, 75 ;
measurements of specimens, 75
Greyhounds, depicted on the Han
pottery, 56-58 ; export of English,
73, 74 ; Irish, 82
Griffis, " Corea : The Hermit Nation,"
24, 118
Griffis, W. E., "The Jap Nation in
Evolution," 71 note
Groot, " Religious Systems in China,"
42
" Grosier de la Chine," quoted, 23, 24,
141
Griinwedel, A., " Buddhistische Stu-
dien," 108 note
Gryphon, the Egyptian, no
Guns used in hawking, 68
Gwalior State, last lion killed in,
91 note
Hackney horses, 73
" Hah-pah " dog, the, 149, 160, 161,
183, 185, 186
Hai-Bah (or Ai Bah) dog, meaning of
the term, 138 note
Hairless dogs, 71
Hakluyt Society, " Travels of Peter
Mundy," 46 note
Han potteries, relief bands, from Laufer,
4-6, 56-58, 61-66, 76, 77, 79, 92-
95,98, 117 note, 183
Handcock, Percy S. P., cited, 12, 48
note
Hangchow, 132, 134
Hares, taken with hawks, 66, 67
Harrison, cited, 146
Hastings, Warren, 98
Hawking, introduced into Japan, 2 ;
in China, 65-68

INDEX

Hawk-training, Chinese and Japanese
methods, 62
Hay, Lord John, 152
Head, the, importance in breeding,
155, 156 ; the term " apple-
headed," 156
Hearn, Lafcadio, 25
Heavenly dog, the 33-37, 72, 117
Heber, Bishop, 91 note
Hedge-dog, the, 36
Henrietta-Maria, dogs of, 47
Henry VIII, presents of dogs, 44, 45 ;
" Calendar of State Papers," 60
Heraldry, the lion in, 103, 1 07-1 n
Herodotus, cited, n, 12
Hertford, Lord, 65
Hewitt, J. F., journal, 32 note
Hinduism, legend of Manu, 28, 29 ;
legend of the Heavenly dog, 36, 37
Hippocrates, cited, 23
Ho Hsi Min, " Kuang Shih Lai Fu,"
130
Hodgson, Mr. Bryan, " Drawings of
Nepalese Animals," 83, 182
Holborn Horse Repository, dog show
1862, 179
Holditch, Sir Thomas, " Tibet, the
Mysterious," 39, 40, 81 note, 87,
118
Hozan, lion-worship at, 106
Horse-sacrifice, 29
Hosie, Sir Alex., cited, 55
" Hou," mythical animal, 157
" Hou Han Shu," quoted, 17
How Tien Ch'uan, the, 34, 35
" Hsi ch'ing ku chien," the, 4
Hsi Tsoong, Emperor, 131
Hsi Yang Mintzu, greyhound, 75
Hsia-kwei, dogs of, 149
Hsianfu, 128, 132, 147
Hsiao T'ang Shan, bas-reliefs, 61, 62, 64
Hsien Feng period, 151, 165
Hsien, the, definition of term, 7
Hsi -kou, the, 72
Hsin Lo, dogs from, 131
Hsiung nu, dogs of, 8
Hsu Shen, " Shuo wen," 17
Hu, dogs, 186
Hu Kuo Ssu temple, 153
Huang Ti, 4
Huish, " Japan and its Art," 179
Hung Wu, Emperor, 146

Hunting, Chinese, with dogs, 8, 9, 15,
50 ; description of an imperial hunt,
93 ; under the Manchus, 148, 149
Huo Bin, 96
Hydrophobia, 88, 89
Ibn Batuta, cited, 20
Idstone, quoted, 180
Iennet, the Spanish, 64
Imperial instructors, 193
Incense-burners, lion-shaped, 121
India, decline of Buddhism, 97
India art, the lion of, 108 note
Indo-Persians, 119
Islam, exclusion of dogs, n, 12, 125,
128, 129
Ismayloff, Embassy of, 141 note
lyeyasu, Emperor, 179
Japan, non-use of dog's flesh, 24, 25 ;
street dogs of, 25, 26, 30, 31 ;
British trade with, 46, 74, 174,
175; lion masques, 115, 116;
symbol of the lion in astronomy of,
117 ; lion supports for imperial
throne, 118 ; presents of dogs from
China, 172 ; trade relations with
Portugal, 173, 174
Japanese dogs imported into England,
179, 180
Japanese toy dog, the, 146, 147
Jalandhara, Council of, 96
James I., ban on tobacco, 16 ; dogs of,
46, 47 ; dogs sent to the East by,
74, 75, 81, 82 ; on Japan, 175
Jaschke, quoted, 7
Java, dogs of, 3
Jesse, " Anecdotes of Dogs," 166
Jesuits, the, 1 39-141, 147
Jew, the, prejudice against dogs, n, 12
" Jih Hsia Chiu Wen K'ao," 134 note,
141 note
Jingu, Empress, 118
John, Mrs. St., 170
Johnson, R. Campbell, " Semitic
Magic," 95
Johnston, the " iElian," 129
Johnston, on the Maltese dog, 145
Joyce [Peru] " South American
Archaeology," 9 note
Judah, lion of, 120
" Jui ying t'u," quoted, 8
201

INDEX

Jung, the, 6
Juvenal, 34
Kaempfer, cited, 30, 31, 37, 38, 64, 118,
173, 174, 179
K'ai Fu, title, 18
Kamakura, court, 17
Kan Tsung, Emperor, 184
Kang Hsi, Emperor, hunts of, 92-94 ;
dictionary of, 130 ; pictures of,
133, 134 ; embassies to, 140, 141 ;
dogs of, 149, 151
Kansu, the small greyhound, 75
Kao Wei, Emperor, story of, 126, 127
Kathiawar, lions of, 91
Katmir the watchdog, 125
Keller, C, 10 note
" Keng-hsien," meaning of term, 23
Khri-Srong-Ide-tsan of Tibet, 181
" Kin Shih So," 68
King Charles Spaniel, the, points, 156,
168 ; possible Eastern origin, 177
Kinsen, Emperor, veneration for the
dog, 30, 31
Kircher, Athanasius, cited, 140, 148 ;
on Chinese foot-binding, 137, 138
Klementz, 62, 63
Knife-cut mouth, the, 155, 156
Ko chih ching yuan, 14 note
Koma Inu, 117
Kou Tzu, Emperor, 127
Kublai Khan, dogs of, 50, 51, 80, 93,
144 ; lions of, 92 ; Lamaism
adopted by, 97 ; fall of, 135 ; con
quests, 181
Kungpah T. King, Mr., vii.
Kupang, chiefs of, 25
Kyushu, island of, 173
Lama, the Dalai, 118, 148
Lama, the Grand, 97 ; the Teshoo, 83,
99 note
Lamaism, the lion in, 96, 97, 100, 103,
106, 118, 119, 121, 122 ; teachings
regarding the symbolism of the
lion, 112, 113 ; under the Manchus,
148, 149
Landon, Perceval, Lhasa, 71, 186
Lap-dog, cult of the, 52, 149
Laufer, Bertold, " Chinese Pottery of
the Han Dynasty," 4-6, 56-58,
61-66, 76, 77, 79, 92-95, 98, 117
202

note, 183 ; on wolf-origin of some
Chinese dogs, 6-8 ; on the ha-pa
dog, 185, 186
Lauriya pillar, the, 95, 96
Layard, cited, 77 note
Lee, " Modern Dogs," 179
Legge, " Chinese Classics," 9, 10, 34
Leo, Constellation of, not known to
China, 90, 120
Leo, the Isaurian, 128
Leopard, the Chinese, 85
Leu, tribe of, 8-10 ; dogs of, 15
Lhasa, ceremony of the scapegoat, 39,
40 ; founded, 181
Lhasa terrier, the, 181
Li Chih, poet, 133
Lien, the, definition, 7
Linchinchow, cats of, 137
Lin-ching, 137
Ling Ti, Emperor, 18, 124, 126
Linnaeus, list of dogs, 185
Lion, the, dog-lions, 97, 98, 101, 146 ;
guardians of tombs, 118 ; Chinese
superstitions, n 8-120 ; charac
teristics of Buddha possessed by
121, 122
Lion, the Buddhist, 92, 95, 101 ; sym
bolism of, 1 1 2-1 15
Lion, the Chinese, not indigenous,
90, 91 ; the Chinese artistic idea,
91, 92, 97, 98
Lion, the Heraldic, 103, 107-111,
116, 117
Lion, the Lamaist, description, 96, 97 ;
characteristics, 121, 122
Lion, the Spirit, 97, 98, 101
Lion, the Tibetan, 99 ; Buddhist
representations, 100, 101
Lion-dog, breeding of the Tibetan, 53 ;
first Chinese mention of, 144 ;
first known use of term, 183, 184 ;
the two varieties, 183-185
Lion-masques, 115, 116
Lion-pillars, 95
Lions' milk, legend, 118, 119
Lion-stories, Buddhist, 101
Lion-worship, origin, 91, 94-96 ;
stories, 106
Li-poo Board, Pekin, 33
Lisle, Lady, poodles, 45
Liu Jou Yii, 135
Lo Yang (Honanfu), 18

INDEX

Lo-chiang dog, the, 131-134, 146, 147
168-171
Lockhart, Dr. W., cited, 84, 147, 183
Logon Gyalpo, the, 39
Long-dog, the, 72
Loong chua lo-sze dog, 171
" Lo-sze," the term, 168, 169
Lung Fu Ssu Temple, dog-market in,
152-154
Lyons, dog sale at, 146
Lytton, Hon. Mrs. Neville, "Toy
Dogs," 15, 129, 144-146, 168
note, 177, 189
Macao, 92, 173, 174, 179
Macartney, Lord, in Peking, 142, 150
Macgowan, Dr., on the Chinese cat,
136, 137
Mahomedanism prejudice against the
dog, n, 12, 125, 128, 129
Malta, 144
Maltese type of dog, 125, 129, 143-146 ;
Daubenton on, 150
Man Chu Hsi Li, name applied to the
Manchu emperors, 148
Manchu emperors, love of the hunt,
148, 149 ; wearing of pearls by,
162 ; Tibetan presents of dogs to,
182
Manchuria, commercial dog-breeding,
54, 55
Mang, the, 7
Manila, 139
Manjusri Buddha, the, 148, 149, 182,
183 ; the harnessed lion of, 163
Manning, 87, 88
Mantua, Marquis of, 44, 46
Manu, legend of, 28, 29
Mao I., 189
" Mao Shih Ming wu t'n Shuo," quoted,
6, 7
Maori, mythology of, 120
Marignolli, cited, 102
Mark, St., lion of, 116, 117
Marsden, " Travels of Marco Polo,"
41 note
Marten, the, 144
Massey, G., " Book of the Beginnings,"
117 note, 120 note
Mastiffs, British, breeding of, 44-46 ;
presents of, to the East, 81-83 ;
compared with Mongolian, 85

Mastiffs, Tibetan, 60, 61, 76, 77, 79-81,
83
Maunserore, Lake, 99
Melita, dogs of, 144, 145
Meng hai, 14
Miaco, 179
Mikii, C, 2, 3
Milan, Duke of, 73, 74
Ming Kung Shih, 136
Ming period, cats of the, 51 ; dogs of
the, 129, 135, 147 ; foreign trade
during, 139
Ming Ti, Emperor, 96
Minns, " Scythians and Greeks," 120
note
Min-tzu, 72
Mithras, worship of, 102, 103
Mongolia, eating of dogs' flesh in, 21,
22 ; commercial dog breeding, 54,
55 ; sledge dogs of, 70 ; wolf
hounds of, 75, 76 ; mastiffs, 81, 85
" Mongrel cur," the, 168
Montmorency, 45
Moo-Tan, dog, 153
Moreton, Capt., 177
Mtesa, King of Uganda, 103
Miiller, Max, " Laws of Manu," 28,
29. 36, 37
Musk deer, 80
Mythology, Egyptian, connection of the
Buddhist lion with, 112-117, 120
Nagasaki, 174
Nain Singh, cited, 39
Nao dog, 185 note, 186
Navarette, " An Account ofthe Emperor
of China," 21
Nepal dogs, 83
Nestorians, the, 97, 134
Newcastle dog show 1859, 51, 52
Newton, Lady, " The House of Lyme,"
185 t
Nieuhoff, John, 137
" Nihonji," the, cited, 79
" Nine Generations," the wish regard
ing, 192, 193
Nose of the " Pekingese," 156, 157, 168
Noses, artificial production, 53, 54
Odoric, Friar, quoted, 50, 92
Ogilby, John, " Embassy from the East
India Company," 21, 137, 140
203

INDEX

" Old Buddha," 53, 152
Oppian, " Cynegetica," 51
Ordeal, trial by, Chinese customs, 21, 22
Pa-Erh dogs, 149 note, 150
" Pai " dog, the, 17, 123, 130, 131, 143,
147 ; popularity in A.D. 794, 173
Pai Kuong-fa, Abbot, vii.
Palestine, superstition in, 40, 41
Pao Ch'eng, stories by, 104
Parsee rites, the dog in, 12, 49
Parti-colours, points of appreciation,
161-164
Partridges, netting of, 68
Pearls, Chinese custom of wearing, 162
Pease, Sir A., " The Book of the Lion,"
95. 122
Pechili, cats of, 141
" Peiching Kou," term, 142
"Pei Wai Chai Shu Hua P'u," 134
note
Pei Wen Yun Fu, 17
Peking, sale of dog-flesh in, 27 ; the
Hatamen, 32 ; the temple of Erh
Lang, 35-37 ; national museum,
58 ; Lama temple, 100 ; the
Kung Fu, 106 ; cats of, 141 ;
capture by the Manchus, 147, 148 ;
siege of, 170 ; visits of the Dalai
Lama, 181, 182
Peking Chien Men, the, 106
Pekingese dog, the, breeding, 52 ; leg
fringes, 122 ; historical references,
123 ; evolution of the type, 142,
143, 146 ; the black and white,
147 ; introduction into England,
r52, 153 5 points of the, 155-158 ;
body development, 158, 159 ;
shedding of the coat, 160 ; colours,
160-164 '. " spectacled," 162, 163
" Pen Tsao Kang No," 147 note
" Pen-Lo " dogs, 149 note
Pepys on bull-baiting 46
Perry, " Megalithic Culture of In
donesia," 24, 25
Perry, Capt. J. C, " United States
Japan Expedition," 178
Persia, demand for British dogs, 82 ;
lion worship in, 94, 95 ; dogs of,
126 ; cats of, 141
Peter the Great, embassy to China,
140, 141
204

Pheasants, taking of, with the hawk,
66, 68 ; Mongolian, 69
Phoenix, 47
Pi Hsiao Li, eunuch, 153
P'i ngan, the, 7
Pigeon breeding, 47, 52, 194
Pinkerton, " Voyages," 71 note, 141
note
Ping Yang, 126, 127
Pobrang, 83
Pointer, the British, 51
Polo, Marco, cited, 41 note, 50, 51, 59,
60, 63, 79, 80, 92, 134 ; description
of an Imperial hunt, 93
Polygamy, 192
Pomeranian type, 144
Pope, Alexander, " The Indian and his
Dog," 38
Porcelain, Tao Kung period, 1 59 ;
paintings on, 188, 191
Portugal, trade with China, 139 ; pugs
from, 166, 167 ; trade with Japan,
173, 174
Portuguese, lions possessed by the, 92
Poutiatini, C, 3, 4
Poutiatini, Prince, 3
Pratt on the Tibetan mastiff, cited, 81
" Prince " mark, 170
Pug, the Chinese, 147 ; early intro
duction into Europe, 166, 167;
possible origin in Szechuan, 170
Pug, the English, Chinese origin, 133 ;
or probable Dutch origin, 166, 169
Pug type, the, 52 ; colouring, 164, 170
Pug-nosed spaniel, the, 54
Pugs, black, 170
" Purchas his Pilgrimes," quoted, 20
Pyn Cushos, the, 83
Pythagoras, teachings, 12
Quail, netting of, 66, 68
Quangsi, dogs of, 26
Quangtung, dogs of, 26 ; eating of
dog-flesh in, 27, 28
Ramsay, " Western Tibet," 81, 182
Rameses IL, 94
Rees, " Cyclopaedia," 24
Ren Tsung, Emperor, 133
Rennie, Dr., "Peking and the Pekingese,"
152, 153
Rinjaitzay, 83

INDEX

Roch, St., dog of, 38
Rockhill, " Life of Buddha," 81 and
note
Roe, Sir John, 82
RoUeston, Prof., " Scientific Papers," 1
Romans, the, dog-worship, n ; dog-
flesh eaten by, 23, 24 ; use of the
dog in the chase, 51
Romero, Julian, 167
Russia, pugs from, 169
Saddar, cited, 6
Saki, use of, 179, 180
Salmon-fishing, use of the dog, 71
Salvatico, Francisco, 73, 74
Samye monastery, Tibet, 40
San Kuo Tien Lueh, 126
Saris, Captain, cited, 46, 47, 64, 74,
175. 178
Sash, the, customs regarding, 163
Scent in dogs, development, 51, 58, 65
Schrader, cited, 62
Scott, Sir Walter, 40
Scripture, references to the lion, in
Scythians, 119
Shadza, dog, 153
Shakespeare, non-mention of tobacco,
16 ; quoted, 41
" Shan hai king," quoted, 8
Shang, Books of, cited, 9
Shansi, province of, 16 ; dogs of, 123,
168
Shantung, dogs of, 14 ; dog-flesh from,
27 ; lion figures, 104 ; lion-dog of,
183, 184
Shaw, V., " The Book of the Dog," 169
Shen Chen Lin, paintings of, 189, 190
Shen Heng Chi, dog of, 135
Shensi, greyhound of, 75 ; lion-pillars
of, 95
Shi Chi, 14 note
" Shih King," the, quoted, 7, 63
" Shih," meaning of term, 103
Shih-tsu-Pa-Erh dogs, 52, 149 note
Shinra, king of, 118
Shintoism, 117; the lion in, 118;
sun-worship, 120 note
Shock dogs, 145, 150, 181, 182
" Short " dogs, 143
" Short-mouthed " dogs, 168
Shot-gun, use, 58, 59
" Shuah Shih-tzu," 116

Shuowen, dogs of, 8
" Shuo wen," the, quoted, 7
Sieber, Max, 10 note
Silk pictures, 188
Silk trade, Chinese 124, 128
Sinkiang trade route, 91
"Siring," 85
Sirius, n, 12
Sledge dogs, Chinese, 70, 71
" Sleeve-dogs," 149 and note-i$z, 165
Sluys, 73
Smith, Vincent A., " Asoka," 95, 96
Snuff-bottle, vogue ofthe, 151, 191-193,
„ *95
Soopoon Choomboo, 99
Sorreze, J., " Roman de Leonardo da
Vinci," 137
Southwark beer garden, 46
Sowerby, " Journal," 6
Spain, dogs from, 65 ; trade with
China, 139
Spaniel, development of the, 65 ; the
modern Japanese, 147. See also
King Charles Spaniel
Sparrowhawks, 66, 67
" Spectacles," breeding of, 162, 163
Speke, " Travels to the Sources of the
Nile," 103
Spirit-lion, the, 97, 98 ; monuments,
149
Spiti, wolves of, 7
Sporting dogs, ancient Chinese, 56-58
" Square " dogs, 9, 143
Srong-tsan-gampo of Tibet, 181
Ssuchuan, dogs of, 130, 131, 133, 134,
170
" Ssu-ma-Ch'ien," 8, 10
Stambul, 128
Stirling, Admiral, 178
" Stop," the, first European reference
to, 146
Strabo, cited, 87 note
Street-dogs of japan, 25, 26, 30, 31
Strutt, Joseph, " Sports and Pastimes
of the People of England," 64
Stunting of dogs, discouraged, 152
Suinin, Emperor, 79
Sunbeam, the, 170
Sun-dog, the term, 120 note
Sun-myths, 116, 117, 120
Sun-worship, the lion associated with,
119-121
205

INDEX

Sung dynasty, dogs of the, 49, 132
Sung Yun, pilgrim, 92
Sweden, heraldic lions of, n6
Sybarites, 144
Tables, Chinese, height of, 130
T'ai Tsung, Emperor, dog of, 128,
132, 133, 153
Takatoki, Emperor, 17
Tang dynasty, imperial dogs, 49 ; toy
dogs, 125, 1 29-1 3 1 ; historical
references to pet dogs, 127, 128
T'ang, Emperor, decrees of, 8, 9
Tao Kuang, Emperor, pigeons of, 194
Tao Kuang period, dogs of the, vii.,
52, 149 ; porcelains, 159 ; docking
of tails, 165
Tartar dogs, 70, 71
Tartar invasion of China, 124, 125
Tatsienlu, mastiffs of, 81
Tengeranus, C, 3
Teshu Lama, the, 83, 99 note
Thomas, St., Story of, 102
Thunberg, " Japon," 31 note
Ti barbarians, dogs of the, 6, 8
Tibet, wolves of, 7 ; founding of, 10 ;
lama beliefs concerning dogs, 39,
40, 53 ; sledge dogs, 71 ; lore of,
98, 99; lion masques, 115, 116;
conquest in 1645, x48 '. early
history, 181 ; the lion-dog pre
sented to the Manchu Emperors,
182 ; the modern lion-dog, 185
Tibetan lion, the, monuments, 112, 113
Tibetan mastiff, the, 60, 61, 76, 77,
79-83
Tien-Kow, the heavenly dog, 33, 34
Tientsin, hawking in, 66
Tientsin Treaty, 30
Tiger, kingship of the, 90
Tiglath-Pileser, 94 ; menageries of, 9
" Ting-Tzu," 162
Ti-Yang, 28
Tokugawa Iyesasu, tomb of, 118
Tomb-dogs, 76-79
Tongue ofthe " Pekingese," 157
Tower of London, seraglio in, 46
Toy dogs in Chinese art, 188-195
" Toys," Eastern trade in, 178
Trees, symbolism in, 195
Tremayne, " Ban of the Bori," 78
Tribute, dogs as, 8, 9
206

Tsai-kou, the, 5
" Tso Chuan," the, quoted, 6
T'u Shu Chi Ch'eng, 14 note
" Tung K'ao," quoted, 18
T'ung T'ien Bai, 162
Tungus, the, use of dogs' flesh, 22
Turfan, 63
Turkestan, falconry in, 62,
Turks, dogs of the, 7, 8 ; presents of
dogs accepted by the, 125, 126
Turner, Capt. Sam, on Tibetan lore,
98,99
Tzu Hsi, See Empress Dowager
Ucheng, lion-worship at, 106
Unicorn, the, in
Urbino, Duke of, 44
Ussuri, 70
Vambery, quoted, 7
Venice, presents of dogs from, 125
Victoria, Bishop of, " Ten Weeks in
Japan," 178, 179
Victoria, Queen, " Pekingese " pre
sented to, 152
Vinci, Leonardo da, the Monna Lisa,
137
Waddell, L. A., " Lamaism," 97
Wan Li, Emperor, 49, 138
Wang Houchun, vii.
Wang To, dog of, 131
Water-dogs, penalties for killing, 13, 14
Watson, James, " The Dog Book," 150,
169
Watts, Isaac, 45 note
Wegener, Frau Olga, collection, 189
Wellington, Duke of, 170
Wen Shu, the Chinese, 148
White, on the Chow, cited, 69, 70, 77
note
Wieger, Dr. L., " Buddhism," 39, 106
William of Orange, the pug popular
with, 166, 167
Williams, Dr. Wells, cited, 27, 71
Williams, Sir Roger, 167
Willoughby pug, the, 169
Wilson, " Antiquities of Afghanistan,"
88
" Wo," dog, 130
Wo Tzu breed, 173

INDEX

Wolf, the, the domestic dog evolved
from, 2, 5 ; the Chinese grey, 6 ;
origin of certain Chinese dogs, 6, 7
Wolf-hound, the Chinese, 75, 76
Woo King, 9
Wu Ch'i-ts'un, Mr., vii.
Wu Liang, bas reliefs, 72, 73
Wu Yeh, Prince, vii.
Wynne, M. B., " History of the Mastiff,"
9 note, 61
Xavier, St. Francis, 173
Yak, 80
Yang, 28
Yang Ti, Emperor, 125, 127
Yi Chou Shu, 11
Yin Liu, eunuch, 194, 195
Youatt, on noses, quoted, 168
Ysbrants, Ides, " Three Years' Travel,"
21, 22
Yii lin dogs, 79

Yu Pi T'ung Ch'ien, cited, 19, 127
" Yuan Chuan Lei Han," quoted, 8, 9,
131 note, 132, 133 note
Yuan dynasty, menageries of the, 134 ;
dogs, 147
Yuan Shih k'ai, President, vii.
Yuan Wei Ch'ih, 130
Yuen Ming Yuan palace, 152
Yuen-chuang, 136
Yule, " Cathay and the Way Thither,"
50, 92, 93, 128, 134, 140
Yung Ho Kung Temple, 94
Yung Kwei Fei, beauty of, 129, 130
Yunnan Province, dogs of, 6, 77, 80,
84
Zapuntello, 129, 144 and note
Zend Avesta, reference to the, 6, 12-14,
31, 32, 36, 49, 86
Zoological Society, hairless dogs 71
Zosoastrians, punishments for dog-
killing, 13, 14

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