Turbulent Times in Shar Pei History
Times of Ming Dynasty (approx
14th - 17th centuries). History shows dogs in China
never enjoyed excessive love or worship. So when total
disorderliness and unrest caused by wars and famines hit the
country, pitiful fate overtook Chinese dogs as well. This fate
turned the dogs from food hunters into food.
20th century. Shar Pei
managed to survive those turbulent times until the next wave of
crisis hit the breed. In the 1940’s when Communists took over
China, Mao Tse-Tung (Mao Zedong ~ 1893-1976) proclaimed pets to be
useless symbol of privileged classes and charged enormous tax for
their possession. Moreover dogs were seen as the largest people’s
rivals for food which meant their quantity was to be reduced to
the minimum. This led to a great massacre and mass abandoning of
pets. Some Shar Peis were smuggled off the mainland to islands,
where they were often used for dog fights.
This catastrophic situation almost resulted into an extinction of
the breed.
By 60's of the 20th century few Shar Pei were counted all over the
world and the appearance of the dogs left was far from the
original.
In 1978 the Shar Pei was
included into the Guinness Book
of World Records as
the rarest dog breed. Of course, thins have changed from that
time...
