Female Celebrity

 

 

 

BAODING, China — Drooping eyes barely visible behind a mountain of glossy black fur, an enormous dog snoozes on stage in an industrial Chinese city. Its asking price: close to a million US dollars. "This is the greatest dog in China," breeder Yao Yi said, as he stroked a year-old Tibetan Mastiff, up for sale on Saturday for five million Chinese yuan ($800,000), at a dog show in Baoding, a few hours drive from Beijing. Massive and sometimes ferocious, with round manes lending them a passing resemblance to lions, Tibetan Mastiffs have become a prized status-symbol among China's wealthy, with rich buyers across the country sending prices skyrocketing. One red Mastiff named "Big Splash", reportedly sold for 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) in 2011, in the most expensive dog-sale then recorded. "Check out her paws, they're enormous," Yao said, as his dog salivated onto a wooden stage in a dilapidated sports stadium where breeders gathered from across northern China to show off their purebred canines.