The Noble Dog
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Shenzhen,
China
Monday, February 5, 2007
Sat staring from behind the glass panes the bus as we waited to cross the bridge, I watched as she confidently moved through the chaotic flow of traffic. Everything about her was graceful, and there was a certainty to every step of her smooth, slender legs and in her total mastery of the situation around her that gave the impression she might have been floating.
From the heaving swing of hear teats, it was obvious that the sandy bitch had given birth to a litter very recently. The oily black streaks on her flank bore testament to the fact that her yelping offspring had not been born in the most salubrious of environments. She might well have been a stray living a life of raiding rubbish bins and avoiding vindictive human kicks. Indeed, given the stereotypes of cruelty credited to the southern Chinese in their attitude to dogs - in my experience the stereotype is largely merited - one wondered whether the pups were still alive.
Other than to serve as a sharp reminder that dogs are not generally loved or respected here, this negative reality did nothing to detract from the qualities of the sandy bitch carefully picking her way through the traffic. Beyond the obvious aesthetic elegance, the animal projected a deeper characteristic. The absence of panic or concern was almost regal and in this most un-regal of settings the calm nobility was striking. I wonder how many, if any, of the people there would have seen the same thing.
