Comments on: Pigs, Shit, and Chinese History, Or Happy Year of the Pig

By: Frog in a Well - The China History Group Blog

Frog in a Well - The China History Group Blog — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:45:55 +0000

[...] my posting last year of “Pigs. Shit, and Chinese History,” Sigrid Schmalzer was kind enough to share this map which she drew based on the works of the [...]

By: Anna

Anna — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 06:20:56 +0000

so funny to read ur words!i like pig so much they r so cute thought sometimes seems stupid~~~i’ve never known much
about the importance of pig in chinese life until now~~

By: karyl

karyl — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 01:37:19 +0000

Quite interesting, and revealing, about how insulated one’s ideas and suppositions can be when it comes to culture. And I thought pigs are pigs are pigs!

By: Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » China: The west is red

Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » China: The west is red — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 21:29:57 +0000

[...] you’re still up in the air over what to do over the Chinese New Year holiday, or if you just happen to have a couple weeks off, you could always go to China’s [...]

By: Archive » This Little Pig Went On Holiday for a Week| China Business Blog

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 08:48:16 +0000

[...] The coming year, in case anyone missed it, will be the Year of the Pig. Follow the link for more than anyone needs to know about Chinese pigs from Frog In A Well. [...]

By: juhuacha

juhuacha — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 08:04:05 +0000

in the context of this article proving unique and important Chinese cultural ties to pigs, it seems even more interesting that they are banning any pig imagery in correlation with the spring festival so as to “not offend their muslim friends.”

(mind you, thats not a real quote, merely a summary of various reports)

By: Frog in a Well - The Japan History Group Blog

Frog in a Well - The Japan History Group Blog — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 07:34:07 +0000

[...] Year of the Pig has gotten some attention at our China blog (I draw your attention to the comments [...]

By: lirelou

lirelou — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 06:21:25 +0000

Reminds me of my own attempts to breed a superior pig in Dien Khanh district of Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam, in early 1968. THe local farmers had these small pot-bellied pigs whose spines were often severely deformed. Somebody decided that if we could import some Yorkshire boars, be could cross-breed them with the local pigs and produce a larger, meatier pig. So we brought in 16 fine boars and passed them around to local farmers. Within months, they had all died of Hog cholera due to their being penned in with the pot-bellied pigs.

SO we brought in more, and on the advice of specialists, tried to limit passing these on to any but those farmers who would agree to keep the boar in a separate enclosure. We kept a few in reserve, but the ones we gave to selected farmers also soon died. THe problem appeared to be that the sows, enjoying a high immunity from Hoc cholera, remained in the pen for some time with the Yorkshires, and succeeded in passing on the disease. So, with four board left, we called for a meeting with several of the farmers to explain the situation. Unfortunately the interpreter, a Saigon college kid, was not up to the task. To translate “hog cholera”, he told the farmers that the Vietnamese pigs had bad spirits, and that the “American pigs” didn’t have this bad spirit, so that when the Vietnamese pig was left with the American pig, the bad spirits came out and entered the American pig, threby killing him.

We had been hoping to convince a few farmers to build an entirely new pen for the Yorkshires into which he would bring the sow when she was in heat, removing her after copulation so whe would have less chance to soil the pen as pass on the disease. What we got was an agitated group of farmers, one of whom had learned enough English to stand up and sputter: “Vietnamese pig not have bad spirit. Vietnamese pig have strong spirit. Problem is American pig have weak spirit. No can boom boom without getting sick and die. American pig look good, but weak.” They viewed our pigs as racist. As wanting to enjoy superior quarters into which the sows would only be brought for pleasure, and then booted out.

Unstated was that perhaps they viewed our pigs as they viewed ourselves. In any event, we ended up donating the remaining boars to a school in an adjacent district which had two experienced agricultural arts teachers who wanted the pigs for a project. The irony is that the Vietnamese pig later arrived in the U.S. to become an exotic pet. While back in Vietnam, the Yorkshire, or an off-breed, has taken over much of the countryside, displacing the black, potbellied pigs of yore. I assume that a vaccine has been developed to prevent hog cholera. (We did see some of the pot-bellied pigs up in Sapa last month, so some survive.)