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HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO DOGS OF 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 



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