In 2013, with the collapse of the Tibetan mastiff economy, the Tibetan mastiff, which was touted by thousands of people on weekdays, became a hot potato almost overnight. In Tibetan areas, tens of thousands of Tibetan mastiffs have fallen into the streets. The data shows that there are more than 8,000 stray dogs in Nangqian County, Yushu Prefecture alone. There are 14,000 stray dogs in Goluo, the vast majority of whom are Tibetan mastiffs.
Wandering Tibetan Mastiff
You know, the Tibetan mastiff is once blown to the "single-handed battle three tigers" of the sacred dog, and even the price was once speculated to a maximum of 40 million. Why is it now a joke in the eyes of many people, even the livestock to be slaughtered in the dog meat shop? What harm does abandoned Tibetan mastiff bring to society? And who's wiping the ass of the hype?
The source of The Tibetan Mastiff hype
Where there is capital, there is hype. Tracing back to the source, 40 million Tibetan mastiffs are inseparable from the United States. Since the late 1960s, when an American expedition took a Tibetan mastiff from the Himalayas, the Tibetan mastiff has gradually become a popular target for Americans.
"As big as a donkey, as galloping as a tiger, roaring like a lion, and looking like a lion" (red), this is the description of the Tibetan mastiff in the 13th century AD Marco Polo's Travels. The Tibetan mastiff's distinctive temperament immediately fascinated a group of Americans, who expressed their desire to have their own Tibetan mastiff.
However, the United States does not produce Tibetan mastiffs, but americans want to, then they must bear the high freight from Tibet to the United States, coupled with the mysterious origin of Tibetan mastiffs, the price of Tibetan mastiffs was quickly speculated.
In 1983, Taiwanese star Zhang Peihua spent 1.2 million Taiwan dollars to buy back a Tibetan mastiff from the Americans, which caused a sensation throughout Taiwan.
Zhang Peihua and his Tibetan mastiff
You know, at that time, 1.2 million Taiwan dollars was enough to buy a building in Taiwan. Driven by the star effect, the price of Tibetan mastiffs alone as cubs has reached 200,000 to 300,000 Taiwan dollars. Some people with poisonous eyes see the business opportunities of Tibetan mastiffs at a glance. In 1985, a Fujian businessman took several photos of Tibetan mastiffs to Wang Zhankui, a dog connoisseur.
Although he is a dog connoisseur, Wang Zhankui was confused when he first saw the photo. Because he had never heard of Tibetan mastiffs before, let alone seen them. Fujian businessmen said that they hoped that Wang Zhankui could get more of these dogs back, and then sell them to Taiwan, which would definitely sell for a good price.
Wang Zhankui
Driven by interests, Wang Zhankui inquired around and eventually learned that this was actually a breed from Tibet. In the spring of 1986, Wang Zhankui entered Tibet for the first time. With items such as radios and light bulbs that cost a few thousand yuan in total, 23 Tibetan mastiffs were exchanged. As soon as it was sold, it earned 100,000 yuan and became a well-known local household of 100,000 yuan.
Wang Zhankui, who has become famous, hit the iron while it is hot and borrows the hands of the media to build the Tibetan mastiff into a rare species comparable to the giant panda. In 1999, a 2-month-old Tibetan mastiff could sell for 50,000 in China, and an adult Tibetan mastiff could sell for up to 200,000, which was enough to buy a 200-square-meter house in the second ring road of Beijing.
The media pen is comparable to the Tibetan mastiff of the panda
Of course, speculators are naturally not satisfied with this benefit, they also want more, but they lack a suitable reason to make more people believe that Tibetan mastiffs are valuable.
The man who fried tibetan mastiffs to 40 million
In 2003, a glittering "gold coach" Ma Junren walked into the eyes of speculators. Why is he sparkling? Because he once relied on "drugs", he has cultivated three world championships long-distance running champions.
The second person on the right is Ma Junren
However, people at that time did not believe that Ma Junren led the team members to "take drugs". Even Huang Hong has supported Ma Junren in sketches. It can be seen that Ma Junren has a strong celebrity effect.
It has to be said that Ma Junren is indeed a marketing talent, he cleverly uses national sentiment to render the Tibetan mastiff as a symbol of Chinese culture; the only Chinese dog breed that can win gold medals in international competitions; and the only dog breed that can help the country earn foreign exchange.
In addition, he stressed that there are less than 100 purebred Tibetan mastiffs left in the country, and he has half of them in his hands. I have to say that Ma Junren's marketing is very successful. In 2005, he had a Tibetan mastiff named "Little Prince" in his hand and transformed it into a supreme Tibetan mastiff that did not sell for 40 million.
40 million Tibetan mastiffs
At the same time, the Chinese Tibetan mastiff made its official debut in the American Kennel Club competition. Immediately after a large amount of capital began to blindly follow the market, the value of Tibetan mastiffs generally soared. An ordinary adult Tibetan mastiff was sold for 100,000 yuan; in 2009, at the Hangzhou New Boutique Chinese Tibetan Mastiff Exhibition, the most expensive Tibetan Mastiff was priced at 30 million yuan; in February 2012, at the Shijiazhuang Tibetan Mastiff Exhibition, the breeding fee of a certain species of Tibetan Mastiff alone was as high as 1.2 million. At other Tibetan mastiff exhibitions, the Tibetan mastiffs used for trading are also millions of "purebred" Tibetan mastiffs.
Tibetan Mastiff Exhibition
The most outrageous thing is that the illusory ability of human beings to turn stones into gold has become a reality here in Ma Junren.
Suppose someone holds a mastiff exhibition and invites Ma Junren. So as long as Ma Junren points to your Tibetan mastiff and says, "This is less than 2 million cannot be sold" then congratulations, your Tibetan mastiff is already worth 2 million.
In fact, for a long time, the people who supported the Tibetan mastiff market were rich people, who were either entrepreneurs or local tycoons. It really responds to the saying that "when people have money, they don't know how to spend it" The Tibetan mastiff obviously has no practical value, but has become a tool to support the rich.
The Tibetan mastiff used to hold the deck
Some people may retort how the Tibetan mastiff is worthless, such a fierce dog, of course, is used to see the home nursing home. But do the rich really need a dog to see a nursing home? Of course not.
Then ordinary people do not need it, a Tibetan mastiff that costs millions of dollars, ordinary people can not afford to buy. What's more, many Tibetan mastiffs are still ugly. Due to market deformities, people's aesthetics have also begun to deform. For example, if someone wants a Tibetan mastiff with a longer mane, the dog dealer will cross the Tibetan mastiff with the pine lion; if he wants to hang his mouth, he will take the Tibetan mastiff and cross it with Newburyton.
This is not the most excessive, many owners in order to make the Tibetan mastiff look more fierce, directly on the face of silicone, water injection, and even surgery to pull the skin on the forehead to the nose. The finally transformed Tibetan mastiff looks aggrieved, and his personality is still unstable, even the owner bites. In contrast, the true purebred Tibetan mastiff is not only of good character, but also very loyal.
Once 30 million Tibetan mastiffs, they ended up being ingredients
All of the above hints that the Tibetan mastiff market will eventually decline, but the market collapse also needs an opportunity. In 2012, with the introduction of eight regulations, the central government's anti-corruption efforts increased, and the Tibetan mastiff market was seriously impacted.
In 2013, the Tibetan mastiff, which was once worth a million, fell directly to the price of one or two thousand, or even thousands of pieces. Do you think this is the end? According to a domesticated Tibetan mastiff, a 70-kilogram Tibetan mastiff can eat 300 to 400 yuan of food a day. In shorter than three months, the cost can exceed 20,000.
It can be seen that at this time, the Tibetan mastiff has become a complete loss of money. In 2015, 3/3 of Tibet's 3,000 Tibetan Mastiff Breeding Centers closed; Chengdu's Tibetan Mastiff Market suddenly became an aquarium; and many people smashed into it for tens of millions, only to recover a few hundred pieces. This is still a good Tibetan mastiff, a little worse directly free, worse directly pulled to the hot pot restaurant.
In 2015, the New York Times reported that 20 Tibetan mastiffs were stuffed in trucks and transported to slaughterhouses in the northeast. The price of each Tibetan mastiff in the truck is only 35 yuan. Slaughtered Tibetan mastiffs are made into hot pot ingredients or lined with gloves.
When the Tibetan mastiff became a wanderer
However, these needs do not solve all Tibetan mastiffs. So dog dealers can only abandon more Tibetan mastiffs. Tibet, in particular, has become the hardest hit area for stray dogs.
According to the Beijing Youth Daily, There are more than 14,000 stray dogs in Qinghai's Guoluo Prefecture, which has a population of only 170,000, most of which are Tibetan mastiffs. This has caused great trouble to the local government and residents. Because they are hungry all day long, they often clash with the local people.
Frequent incidents of Tibetan mastiff attacks on humans
Tibetan student Jiang Yangcaijia still remembers that he was chased by 3 stray dogs, and if it were not for a nearby house that allowed him to hide in, he would definitely be bitten very badly. According to the Tibetan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an average of 180 people were injured by stray dogs every month during that time.
In addition to actively injuring people, the feces of Tibetan mastiffs can also pollute water sources and transmit echinococcosis to humans. It should be known that echinococcosis is the most harmful chronic parasitic disease. Their larvae hatch in the small intestine and penetrate the small intestine, following the blood into our lungs and liver, eventually growing into lumps. Some lumps can grow to dozens of pounds, seriously threatening people's lives.
Echinococcosis
The data show that the 10-year case fatality rate of untreated echinococcosis is as high as 94%. In addition, the stray Tibetan mastiff also seriously threatens the ecological balance. They often flock to besiege snow leopards or juvenile bears. A video of a young snow leopard being besieged by three stray Tibetan mastiffs was forced to abandon the rock sheep it had just captured.
Who's wiping the ass of the hype?
According to our past logic, since the Tibetan mastiff is so harmful, why not simply kill them? But according to Tibetan tradition, dogs cannot be killed. Therefore, in order to solve the scourge caused by stray dogs, the local people and the government have established stray dog shelters.
Tibetan mastiff in a shelter
However, stray dogs are extremely capable of cooking. For example, if a shelter houses 1,200 stray dogs, they can eat 17 bags of 50 pounds of flour per meal. As a result, local governments often feel overwhelmed.
In this crazy hype game, some entrants make a lot of money, such as Ma Junren; some people lose money. But are those who have lost their homes really pitiful? Don't forget, they are also the makers of this huge bubble. The real pity is the helpless Tibetan mastiffs, and the innocent Tibetans who help the hypeists wipe their butts.