Confucius and His Dog: Perspectives on Animal Ownership in Early Chinese Ritual and Philosophical Texts

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of dogs in early Chinese society, as a source of food, in sacrifice, as tribute, for racing and hunting, and as companion animals for members of the ruling elite. As food items or sacrificial victims, dogs were the objects of the most elemental expression of power. As tribute, they were highly valuable property, representing the ruler’s authority over distant regions. As companion animals, they occupied a liminal zone between objectification and individualized identity. These competing roles are reflected in the complex analysis of the role of dogs found within early Chinese ritual and philosophical texts. In addition to this, dogs were animals at all times closely associated with aristocratic privilege in early China. This ensured that the moral implications of ownership would be discussed at some length in philosophical and ritual texts. From at least the Warring States period onwards, the ownership of dogs came under sustained attack as part of a general growing assault on the wasteful and extravagant lifestyle of the ruling elite. Those philosophical schools noted for their advocacy of simplicity and frugality, such as the Mohists, did not approve of the ownership of dogs. Other philosophical schools, particularly those focusing on issues of statecraft and policy, did not approve of dog ownership either, but on practical grounds, since such animals distracted the ruler from his proper duties. However, the position adopted in this debate by the Ru 儒 is perhaps the most interesting. Confucian texts argue that there is nothing intrinsically unethical about keeping a dog and treating it well, even in so unequal a society as that of the Central States during the late Zhou dynasty, providing that the dog is still clearly considered differently from honored human beings, and that the expenditure served to demonstrate the owner’s ritual mastery.