The Dowager Empress Cixi wrote a standard for the breed.
The Chinese wanted to turn their dogs into lions.
Westerners then turned them into animate cushions.
This piece tells us the conditions that allowed the modern fancy to develop.
The Industrial Revolution and the subsequent democratization made it possible for people to have both wealth and leisure time to spend money on breeding dogs with very little real economic utility.
The Pekingese was the dog of the Chinese nobility. It was bred to look like a lion and to be so short-legged that it would never run off.
Sound similar to the old Chinese tradition of foot-binding?
Women had their feet bound so that they would never be able to work.
It was a perverse way for wealthy men to show their love for their daughters.
I’ll make sure you’re deformed, so you’ll never have to work. And that will show the world that I have enough money to keep a wife who can sit around the house all day and be pretty.
In a sexist culture that viewed women as baby-makers and as workhorses, causing deformity was seen as both a term of endearment and a symbol of one’s economic success and power.
Of course, we in the West are no different when it comes to these customs.
Why else do we breed dogs that are so horribly deformed that they cannot breathe, run, mate, or whelp properly?
They are symbols of our own wealth and power. They are also symbols of our technological advancement, for they show our prowess in things like AI and C-section techniques.
We are advanced enough and wealthy enough that we don’t have to have all of our dogs working. In fact, very few of our dogs actually work at anything.
So we can breed all sorts of dogs for symbolic purposes.
Why do we do this?
There was a time when Pekingese were capable of breeding and whelping unaided– and it was within the past century. I’ve known Pekes that were active, playful characters; one used to come run with my Golden. Not as fast as the big dog, but certainly he covered just as much territory!
And even a dog that may appear to have no economic “use”, may well be highly valued for their companionship and loyalty and affection.
Shoot, I want to sit around the house all day and be pretty.
“Westerners then turned them into animate cushions.”
Roombas with wigs.
I always get a kick out of seeing a modern Peke and comparing it to the breed standard:
Coat – It is a long, coarse-textured, straight, stand-off outer coat, with thick, soft undercoat. The coat forms a noticeable mane on the neck and shoulder area with the coat on the remainder of the body somewhat shorter in length. A long and profuse coat is desirable providing it does not obscure the shape of the body. Long feathering is found on toes, backs of the thighs and forelegs, with longer fringing on the ears and tail.
Presentation – Presentation should accentuate the natural outline of the Pekingese.
What ‘natural outline’ is there in those pillow-shaped fluffballs? There is no ‘mane’ or ‘feathering’, either, since the entire body is one big ball of hair.
I like the Pekes from the actual old photographs in that clip, they look much prettier — more like dogs and less like Angora rabbits. If I ever wanted to own a Peke-like dog, I’d get a Tibetan Spaniel.
The pekingese in the video from Queen Victorias day look so different from the modern ones shown… interesting post.