Without a doubt, the ChineseShar-Pei is one of the most unique-looking breeds in the canine world. The animal's unusual appearance and adaptable, intelligent personality are among thw many reasons for its amazing popularity. In the past few amazing popularity. In the past few decades, we have seen the number of registered Chinese Shar-Pei grow from perhaps a dozen in 1977 to many thousands today.
Most people do not realize that Shar-Pei existed in the southern provinces of China during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). It is generally believed that they originated in and around the village of Dah Let, in southern China' s Kwongtung Province, near the South China Sea. This is apparent in the paintings and statuettes found in museums today. The blue-black tongue and other characteristics of the Shar-Pei point to the Chow-Chow aw either an ancestor or at least as sharing a common ancestry with the Shar-Pei. It is known that both breeds existed in the same period and may be descended from the Tibetan Mastiff. This theory is substantiated by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animal's classification of the Shar-Pei aw o giant breed because of the breed's rapid growth pattern, even though the Shar-Pei is a medium-sized breed. (The Tibetan Mastiff is a giant breed).
Dogs were a practical part of Chinese peasant life; those not meeting the standards of intelligence and purpose were most likely used for food and clothing. A weak dog had no function in the Chinese home. Shar-Pei were undoubtedly selectively bred for intelligence, strength and lordly scowl, which was thought o give o menacing appearance. The blue-black tongue, exposed when the dog barked, was thought o frighten off evil spirits. One early British author studying dogs in the Orient described the native dogs she found in China as being mixed with Mastiff, Chow, Bulldog and street dog, and as being developed in each area of the vast country to serve a different purpose.
As a result of their purpose the dogs in southern China were athletic, short coated and well muscled with a good clean bite. The original Down Homes Kennel dogs fit this description, many of them being larger than the typical Shar-Pei today.
In central China , where farming and herding were predominant, the Shar Pei developed a herding instinct and an almost terrier-type ratting instinct. The dogs were described as being of medium size, short coupled, with large bones and athletic style. Their legs were shorter than those in the south and their bulk was more compact than their relatives farther to the north. Today, we can still see certain «ratting» instincts.
Many Shar-Pei will naturally go to ground for rodents, will attack squirrels, cats and small animals unless they have been raised with them and will herd and head cattle and sheep if given a chance. (Many can be seen exercising this instinct in the home, herding the other dogs away from the food bowl).
They do not bark like herding dogs, nor do they did and chew like terriers. It is possible that these characteristics are present in terriers and herding dogs, not because they are necessary, but because many of the dogs in those AKC groups came from the same European root stock, while the Shar-Pei its root stock half a world away.
In the northern part of China, where small communities live through the long cold winters in remote villages, it is important that the dog be quiet and calm if it is to spend long hours in the same small space with many family members. Since extra dogs were used for food, the ticker-bodied, more heavily muscled dogs were preferred as better meat sources. Chows spring from a similar background and both breeds probably share a recent common ancestry. Some Shar-Pei had longer coats, called «Song Ye» coats in China and «bear coats» in the US . They had heavier bones and were more placid in temperament than the other types of Chinese dogs.
Rescue of a Vanishing Breed
In May 1971, an article in an American magazine accompanied by a photograph of the last «surviving Chinese Shar-pei», laid the foundation for a consuming and continuing public interest. Even so, although readers were aware that the breed had all but disappeared, these concerned animal lovers could do little to help. It was not until April 1973 that a second article was published outlining a plan that eventually would prove the savior of the breed.
Matgo law, a young breeder in Hong Kong , centered his article around an urgent appeal for American sponsors. Mr Law asked readers to assist in the rescue of the last scattered representatives of the shar-pei by importing them to kennels in this country.
Underscoring Mr Law's appeal was the knowledge that the Crown Colony of Hong Kong, under British dominion for 99 years, was scheduled to revert to Chinese control by the year 1997. It was the Chinese government, breeders recalled, that with a series of taxes and bans already had eliminated such «decadent, bourgeois luxuries» as dogs from mainland China .
As was to be expected, as word of the appeal spread, dog lovers responded in even greater number than candidates could be found. Yet despite these efforts, the Guinness Book od World Records, in 1978, listed the Chinese shar-pei as the rarest dog in the world. The American rescue was a success story unmatched in history. In a letter published in the July-August 1991 Barker, the official magazine of the CSPCA, Robert Horsnell, an established Hong Kong breeder, wrote «Fifteen years ago in Hong Kong, it was difficult to find a person who had even heard of a Chinese shar pei, let alone see one».
By mid-1991, emerging from a nucleus of fewer than one hundred registrants, the Chinese shar-pei Club od America (CSPCA) has registered over 70,000 dogs. Those numbers are growing every year. On may 4, 1988, shar pei were accepted into the Miscellaneous Class of the American Kennel Club (AKC) the first step toward full registration. On October 8, 1991 , the Chinese Shar-Pei by accepting the breed into the non-sporting group effective january1, 1992.
THE SHAR PEI IN BRITAIN
The First Shar Pei import into Britain, Heathstyle Dandelion arrived in 1981. This fawn dog was bred in the US and imported into Britain by Heather Ligget. Not only did he appear on several television shows but more importantly. Also sired topwinning specimens of the breed. Later that same year, Heather Ligget imported a bitch, Down Homes Junoesque of Heathstyle, this time from Hong Kong's Matso Law. These two imports, mated together, produced the very first litter of Shar Pei puppies in Britain . Several other Shar Pei bloodlines were imported and as in the US in the early years there was considerable variation in type as there was a lack of background information regarding ancestry. Fourteen representatives of the breed were registered with the Kennel Club. The club' s magazine, The Wrinkle, was first published in 1984 and has provided a valuable link for members. As well as other events, this club holds educational seminars, of particular value to judges of the breed.
THE COMMUNIST REGIME IN CHINA
From 1949, when China was taken over by Communism ryle, heavy fines were imposed for keeping dogs of all kinds, for dog were considered luxury items.
Later, Mao Tse-lung decreed that pets were symbols of the privileged classes and because of this he ordered their mass extermination. Consequently, the canine population was decimated in the cities, but in outlying countryside areas thankfully some dogs still survived.
Just a few small pockets of Shar-Pei were still alive in 1950, these having been smuggled to rural areas of Hong Kong , Macao and Taiwan.
