Life in China The Year of the Pigs | The Year of the Pigs |
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| China | |
| Thursday, 07 February 2008 | |
Liu Meihua’s house is a normal hutong residency in Beijing’s
central Xuanwu district. The only difference is that this 52-year old
lady cohabits with a family of four pigs. 'I’ve been raising pigs
for one year' Liu explains. 'I got my first one on the second day
of the last Chinese New Year. I didn’t get them because it was the
Year of the Pig, that’s just a coincidence,' she laughs. However the pigs, two of which are enormous, have not only taken over her house but also her life. Liu has decided that early this new year, they are going to have to be relocated to a farm in Huairou, countryside near to where her sister lives on the outskirts of Beijing. She is in a conundrum about whether come spring, she too will move out there to be with her pigs. Husbandless, Liu explains she
has relied on pets to keep her company since her son left home. “When
you live alone and you don’t keep little animals, when you come home,
who are you meant to talk to?” She asks. She had a little dog for
years, but when he died just over a year ago, she was seriously aggrieved.
'My son suggested buying me another dog, but I said to him ‘Please
don’t, no dog can ever replace Xiao Huang.' Instead her son turned up at her house a couple of days later and presented her with her own baby pig. Peng Peng, a Japanese Xiang pig (a breed of miniature pig), was less than a month old when she got him, and about the size of a shoe. Liu was so happy with Peng Peng, she decided to buy him a companion, Xiang Xiang, fearing he might be lonely. 'Whenever I come home I'll say, 'Peng Peng, Xiang Xiang, Mama's home!' And they’ll reply by saying: 'Eng Eng'. It makes me so happy,” she says cheerily. Another teething-problem to
urban pig-keeping is the lack of vets who know how to spay them, and
the resulting tendency for over-reproduction. In hindsight Liu considers:
“It would have been much better to have got another male pig, but
I had Peng Peng, and then Xiang Xiang, a girl pig and
in no time at all, a litter of baby pigs.” The pigs need to be walked
three times a day. This involves help from a friendly neighbour, Mr
Yu. They shepherd the pigs to an area of turf by the road, where they
can run about, go to the toilet and attract a crowd of astounded passers-by.
She tells the story of a man who was cycling past the verge as Peng
Peng was peeing, which he does standing stock-still. 'Peng
Peng finished and then started to move, which caused the man to
nearly fall off his bike in shock,' Liu recalls with a laugh. 'He
said to me 'Ayo! I thought it was a statue of a pig!'' While there are strict rules
against keeping dogs over a certain height in inner-city areas, there
are not yet applicable regulations concerning city pigs. Nevertheless
Liu’s pigs are starting to get her into a bit of trouble with the
authorities. The City Appearance Management and Department of Health
have both advised her that to find an alternative abode for her surrogate
family. “They tell me its not appropriate keeping such big pigs in
the city, but I say to them: ‘You’re telling someone who already
knows! Do you think I would have got them in the first place if I’d
known they would grow this big?’ Recently Peng Peng has
become a bit of a troublemaker. He escaped from the house and crossed
the road by himself to go to the park, and three police officers had
to be called out. “Peng Peng is very playful, and has started
accosting people, especially young women!’ Liu says, exasperated.
“I’m worried that at some stage he will break out and knock an old
man or woman down - that would be really bad.” When Liu was out one day recently
Peng Peng got through into her room. She came back to find him standing
on her bed, having ripped her sheets and pillows to bits and chewed
chunks off her headboard. For the last few years Liu and neighbours have been living under the threat of their houses being demolished, and so mentally she has been preparing herself to relocate anyway. 'I will wait until the weather is better and then move to Huairou, I think. My little sister has bought a really nice house out there, the air is good, and the pigs will be there,' she justifies. 'If someone else is looking after them, I will just be pining for them too much.'
Poppy Toland |
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