HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE 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." 



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