HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE 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 



