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(Above) "An Itinerant Barber" Drawn by Thomas Allom, 1804-1872
A Tang dog sniffing in the middle of the street.
(Left photo below) Enlarged close-up of the Tang dog, and a similar contemporary dog circa 2006 (Right photo below).
Understanding Tang dog
Many people are aware of the similarity between Shar-Pei and Chow Chow but what are their connection?
With an understanding of Tang dog, then the similarity begin to make sense because both Chow Chow and Shar-Pei belong to the same Tang dog family. One can have a better understanding of Chow Chow and Shar-Pei if one knows more about the Tang dog.
The word Tang came from the word "Tang dynasty" (618 – 907 A.D.) in China. Tang dynasty was the golden age in Chinese history when China was once at its peak of civilization in the world. China traded with Europe through the silk road exchanging goods and ideas with the Western world. Chinese are very proud of this dynasty even today and they like to use this dynasty prefix to refer to things Chinese. For example, when they say Chinatown in Chinese, they say “Tang Ren Jie” (Putonghua, "Tong Yan Gai" in Cantonese), it literally translate into Tang People Street. In southern China, “Tong-gau” (Cantonese) is a common expression used in referring to all Chinese local dogs in general. “Tong” means Tang dynasty and “gau” means dog in Cantonese. Northern China, however, use "Togou" to mean local dog in Mandarin dialect.
Tang dogs in old days in Hong Kong were not kept as pets but more for their functional home watching quality. Warning and chasing off intruders, including human, dogs, cats, rats etc. from a territory. Tang dogs were very cheap compared with expensive imported pedigree dogs which were often kept as pets, and affordable by most Chinese family if they have a yard, a house, a property to watch. In Wong King Kwok’s account, pet shops in Hong Kong appeared only in late 60’s to early 70’s when Hong Kong people more and more see dogs as companion animals rather than a territorial guardian.
Tang dogs are basically a spitz like dog with pointed muzzle and straight coat. Usually long coat but sometimes short. Color range from solid (white, fawn, brown, chestnut red, black) to flowered (piebald, parti-colored). If we look at a Chow Chow shown in Hong Kong in 1948 , we see a small size Akita.
The original Chow Chow in Hong Kong and China are basically a spitz like dog.
The photos of two Chow Chow on upper row were take in Hong Kong at NASA Evergreen Kennel.
The photos on lower row were taken in Tianjin, northern China, circa 2006.
In order to better understand the Chamfa ears, the brush coat, bear coat, etc. found in Shar-Pei, and its relationship with the flowered dog, the Chow Chow, etc., we need to understand first what is inside the Tang dog phenotype.
The word Tang dog was used interchangeably with Shar-Pei when the Shar-Pei breed concept was still weak in the good old days. This is the reason why in the 70's, kennel clubs in Hong Kong were still registering it under the name of Chinese fighting dog instead of using its proper name Shar-Pei. According to Li Fook Wah's testimony, more than 50% of the gladiator dogs seen in the fighting ring in those days were basically Tang dogs instead of Shar-Pei. Wong King Kwok estimated even to reach 70%. This means that during the period of the Grand Mixing , Shar-Pei was looked upon as simply a part of Tang dog and bred for its gladiator quality. No special care had been taken to preserve the Shar-Pei phenotype because it was meaningless at that time.
Tang dog helps us explain the flower Shar-Pei which we see in the United State today are probably descendent of Shar-Pei from Hong Kong with Tang dog color genes mixed inside. It is equally possible that color genes from bulldog, boxer, mastiff and terrier etc. are inside the Shar-Pei heredity and the meat mouth type in particular. The parti-colored Tang dog genes are quite expressive so they continues to show up in later generations.
History of Tang dog
The Tang dog probably evolved through two historical path. One ancient path, as old as human being (homo sapiens) who moved out of Africa 50,000 years ago, and one very recent mainly from the 7th Century. The name "Tang" itself from its etymological origin says that people became conscious of this creature and gave it a name from or around this period.
Trading between the Eastern and Western world over the terrestrial Silk Road can date back to the Han dynasty (200 BC to 220 AD) based on written record, and can go back even earlier by archaeological findings. This trade increased further with the advent of the maritime Silk Road during the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD). Tonnage carried by ships was of exponential increase over transportation on camel back, horse back and carts. It is safe to postulate that when money, goods and people migrate, dogs follow. It is regrettable but understandable that written historical records seldom mention about dogs so we can only guess from activity of human being.
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One very good book to understand this historical human maritime activity is the book written by Gavin Menzies, "1421: The Year China discovered the World". (Bantam Book, Great Britain, 2002), translated into many languages including Chinese (Yuanliu Publishing, Taiwan, 2003) (Left cover). Although written only on human activity, through maritime trading, we can imagine the movement of dogs. |
| Harvard scientist Spencer Wells used state of the art DNA technology to explain how human being moved out of Africa 50,000 years ago and populated this earth like what we see today. Wells' book "The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey" (Princeton University Press, N.J., U.S.A., 2002) (Right cover) traced migration pattern of human by comparing DNA of people in different geographical area using a DNA evolutionary comparison technique. This book was also translated into Chinese in China by Oriental Press, Beijing, China, 2004 (Left cover). |
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Therefore, it is not surprising to see that a pattern of similar phenotype of dogs, namely a spitz like dog, developed in different parts of the world, at various maritime seaports, coinciding with the pattern of movement of ocean vessels between East and West in maritime trading over the years. In bigger picture, it took human being 15,000 years to reach Asia from Africa. Then about 15,000 years ago, some group in northeastern Asia crossed the Bering Strait and the Aleutian Islands into Alaska. They eventually settled down as North and South American Indians. Not unusual, man usually brings along their dogs in migration.
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These two photos of American Indian Dog provided by courtesy of Kim La Flamme, founder/trustee of the American Indian Dog Breed at Song Dog Kennels, Selma, Oregon, U.S.A.. More photos in the following website: http://www.americanindiandogs.com/ and http://www.indiandogs.com/
As one group migrate on land into Asia, another group moved on boat along the coast to Australia. While this group of people migrate to Australia, somewhere along the way they picked-up a dog and traveled along. Dingo is a canine went wild. We can compare Basenji with Dingo and again we see a similarity. Both are basically a spitz like short hair dogs. Basenji is also called "barkless dog" and Dingo also do not bark in its wild form.
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Photos of two Dingos.
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Photo of Dingo (Left) and Basenji (Right).
A report on Tang dogs titled
" The Tang dog and their relation with Shar-Pei "
was presented to Midland Shar-Pei Club and published in the
Winter 2006 issue of their official journal
" Simply Shar Pei".
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" The Tang dog and their relation with Shar-Pei "
Full text in English
Plate 1: Different types of spitz-like dogs around the world. p7~8
Plate 2.1: American Indian dogs
Plate 2.2: Taiwanese dogs
Plate 2.3: Original Chow Chow in Hong Kong and China. p.9
Plate 3.1 Samples of Tang dogs
Plate 3.2: Flower Tang dogs
Plate 3.3: Tang dogs with very close Shar-Pei Festures: Shar-Tang
Plate 3.4: Chamfa ear Shar-Pei
Plate 3.5: Very bone-mouth Shar-Pei, p.10-12
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Samples of Tang dogs
Tang dogs with very close Shar-Pei features:
This type of borderline cases between Tang dog and Shar-Pei is sometimes called Shar-Tang. The bottom two photos, a fawn puppy and black Tang dog look extremely similar to Shar-Pei. For both dogs, the coat is too soft and not standing, and tail hair too long and not tapering to a point.
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Introduction
Tang dog
