Talk:Pekingese

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): MirandaLynn7481.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 06:20, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Extended version

I wrote the extended version... Don't know what mistakes are in it since I did it on a lark - though I know more about pekes than most people do! --152.163.252.228 05:40, 30 Apr 2004 (UTC) User:Mlo

Good job! That's the sort of person who *should* be adding tons of stuff to articles. I'm making an editing pass but i'm delighted to see info here. I'll remove the msg:stub, too. Elf | Talk 16:05, 30 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Now I have some questions. I remember that there were 4 dogs given as a gift to someone by the imperial court but I don't remember what the occasion was or to whom to gift was given. Do you know? Also, your text said that "some affection must be withheld" to avoid jealousy over a child--I assume that meant withholding affection from the Peke, not the child!? so I clarified that. Elf | Talk 16:46, 30 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I am unaware of any gift of 4 dogs, usually it was a pair. I added some history of gifts and the 1860 pillage, which should not be described as a gift. --ClemMcGann 11:47, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Interesting. In a quick peek (peke? ;-) ) in two books, they're quite circumspect about the origins; one says simply "the first 4 pekes arrived in the west in 1860" and the other says "the peke first cam to britain in 1860 following the overthowing by the british of China's summer palace." Which your new addition says with much more interesting details. So I removed the gift line. Elf | Talk 20:55, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I’m not enough into Wiki to write this up properly: --ClemMcGann 01:03, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Origins

There are a few other things that could be said about Pekingese. Their origin, as already noted they are wolf descendants. They hunted in large packs, attacking prey much larger than themselves. Which is why their noses are recessed. They can bite into the flanks of their victim and hang on without being suffocated. They have a fold over their noses to protect it from any blood.

An expansion on the legends would be nice. As would the Empress’s description of them.

In the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in the Bishop collection, there is a carved crystal of a Pekingese with two pups. It dates from the Ming Dynasty.

Is this a metaphorical thing? I can't find any records of this in actual Chinese writings. Pekingese had a role in ceremonials and in diplomacy. Here reference could be made to ‘sleeve’ pekes. They occur rarely and randomly. They cannot be used for breeding. A mandarin would have one of these in his sleeve, as he negotiated. If there was a problem, he would be all nods and smiles, however the dog would growl or bark.

I used the term ‘opium war’ since wiki uses it. At the time it was called a ‘trade war’.

Officially the Emperor didn’t flee the Forbidden City. He merely went on a summer vacation. There wasn’t enough room for the Pekingese on the wagons. So some serving girls had to get off to make room for them. These unfortunates then had their throats silt and were cast into wells. This poisoned the wells, denying them to the ‘foreign devils’.

No Pekingese were seen outside of the Chinese Palaces prior to 1860. For the next thirty years, they were often stolen. The Chinese used to crop their tails to make them less valuable. From 1890 there are instances of Pekes being presented as gifts.

I am not sure if this is actual Chinese history. I understand that there a many embellished and sometimes falsified accounts of the so-called practices of the Chinese during the Qing dynasty, especially concerning the political events of the Imperial Throne. Killing the children of concubines (aside from the occasional lady plotting) goes against the culture surrounding the emperor. Once again, I cannot find any record of this practice. I would warn against using the records of Western travelers. For one thing, why would a Western stranger even be allowed into the inner chambers? It might be inappropriate to add: The Imperial Chinese Court had many concubines. Their children were usually killed at birth. They were then given a Pekingese puppy to wet nurse. The results are, that modern ladies find Pekingese extremely affectionate and faithful and that Pekingese have poor maternal instincts. --ClemMcGann 01:03, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

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Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 16:15, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

Pekingese citations

I reverted your edit there. The article has a more citations tag since 2011 and thus the individual tags aren't necessary. Feel free to remove the text, it has been tagged for long enough. Traumnovelle (talk) 05:08, 11 March 2025 (UTC)

These comments above were placed today on my talk page. I have moved the comments here for relevance regarding unsourced content and citations on the Pekingese article. I have today removed some of the unsourced content as per WP:VERIFY. Regards, Kind Tennis Fan (talk) 16:56, 11 March 2025 (UTC)