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Travel

The Most Expensive Dog in the World

In China, Tibetan Mastiffs have become a status symbol for a growing class of new­-money entrepreneurs.

​This year, a Tibetan Mastiff puppy reportedly sold for almost $2 million in China, making it the priciest dog ever purchased.

Originally domesticated as sheepherding guard dogs in the Tibetan Plateau, these large, puffy­-haired, and extremely uncooperative canines are prized by wealthy Chinese for their alleged ferociousness (one zoo even tried to pass a Tibetan Mastiff off as a lion, ​according to some reports). Over the past decade, Tibetan Mastiffs have become a status symbol for a growing class of new­ moneyed entrepreneurs. VICE China went to the the 2014 Yidu Tibetan Mastiff Fair in Tianjin to learn more.