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 



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