As the Year of the Dog begins, why are Pekingese so rare in Beijing?
The breed was once common in the Chinese capital, but has fallen out of favour in recent decades
For centuries, owning the flat-faced Pekingese dog was a luxury to be enjoyed only by China’s royal family.
After years of turmoil and the 1911 revolution that established China as a republic, however, the dog named after the Chinese capital became available to the masses and by the 1990s, they were so common that the streets of Beijing, formerly Romanised as Peking, were teaming with strays.
But as the Lunar Year of the Dog begins this month, the most distinctive Chinese canine is almost nowhere to be found. Local pet owners today prefer foreign breeds such as poodles and Chihuahuas.
“Now there really are too few local Pekingese,” Zhang Lei, a breeder in Beijing, said. “If you want a local Pekingese then the only option is to crossbreed them with a foreign Pekingese. A lot of people don’t have them. I think the local Pekingese are now facing a crisis.”
Zhang adopted a few stray Pekingese in 2003 and since then has bred them, mostly as a hobby.
