Chinese Clash Over Controversial Dog-Meat Festival. Should They Eat Dogs?
Dog meat is a traditional dish in parts of far northern and southern China, and in Yulin, residents eat dog meat and lychees to mark the summer solstice. They say the practice is both traditional and legal and resent outsiders trying to shut down the festival.
By Sadho Ram — 24 Jun 2014, 06:06 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
Before we begin, here's a brief history on China's dog meat festival:
According to it's Wikipedia entry: "Dog meat has been a source of food in some areas of China from around 500 BC, and possibly even earlier. Researchers in the Royal University of Technology theorized that wolves in southern China may have been domesticated as a source of meat.
The eating of dog meat in China dates back thousands of years. It is thought to have medicinal properties, and is especially popular in winter months, as it is believed to generate heat and promote bodily warmth. The meat is popular in Guangdong and Guangxi whence it went on the menu for Chinese astronauts to consume in outer space. Historical records have moreover shown how in times of food scarcities (as in war-time situations), dogs could also be eaten as an emergency food source.
Over the weekend, a dog meat festival in southern China went ahead even as the local government tried to lower the profile of the controversial event
Traders meet on the outskirts of the city to sell live dogs for slaughter. Each dog is sold for roughly $60-$80.
Image via turner.comResidents of a Chinese city where thousands of dogs are slaughtered for Summer Solstice events have failed to avoid the criticism of animal rights activists by holding feasts early. As part of annual celebrations usually held on 21 June, some people in Yulin, in southern China's autonomous Guangxi Zhuang region, eat dog meat served with lychees and drink liquor.
But in light of negative attention from activists in recent years, the events have already taken place, with photos on state media appearing to show groups of Yulin city residents tucking into plates of dog meat and vegetables. Other photos, which circulated widely on Chinese microblogs, depict skinned, cooked dogs hanging from hooks at street stalls or piled on tables.
Animal rights advocates protested dog meat vendors, including one who demanded that protesters meet his price for a live dog or he would strangle it
Animal activists attempt to buy dogs from a trader, who says he wants triple the market price.
Image via turner.comSales of dog meat in Yulin, a city near Vietnam in the southern Chinese region of Guangxi, did climb during the festival period, but they were about a third of what was seen a year ago, the state news agency Xinhua reported.
The Yulin government, which had previously promoted the event, announced this year that it was not involved and said there was no official holiday to celebrate the eating of dogs.
xinhuanet.comArguments ensued among those living in the city and the people who condemn the tradition
"Don't you eat beef? If you stop eating beef, then we'll stop eating dog meat," yells one man frustrated with the intense media scrutiny in the Dong Kou open market, where an array of birds, snakes, cats and livestock are sold as daily fresh fare.
cnn.comWhile media reports counted only a few dozen activists at the festival, their presence precipitated a handful of dramatic scenes. One vendor held a live dog from a noose, threatening to kill it unless activists paid him an exorbitant ransom. A diner sustained injuries in a fight with an activist along a restaurant-lined road.
theguardian.com
PHOTO: A dog waits to be sold for meat in a market in Yulin, in southern China
Devout Buddhists from across China strolled through the city's Dongkou wet market performing a religious rite to "console the souls of the slaughtered dogs"
Many locals resent the backlash as an unwarranted moral stand against a deep-rooted – and technically legal – tradition. They claim that eating dog meat on the summer solstice confers health benefits that last through the winter. Some held the event a week early to avoid the expected animal rights protests.
theguardian.com
Some local restaurants removed the word “dog” from their signs, and some local residents held dog meat banquets a week early to avoid the attention of animal rights activists. Seventeen restaurants stopped selling dog meat dishes on their own, and four were barred from doing so by the authorities, while 48 other restaurants continued serving dog, Xinhua reported.
China has no animal cruelty laws, and the consumption of dogs and cats is legal but poorly regulated
Dog meat vendors and local residents stood on cages of dogs as animal rights advocates protested nearby on Saturday during the annual dog meat festival in Yulin.
Image via nytimes.comDog meat is a traditional dish in parts of far northern and southern China, and in Yulin, residents eat dog meat and lychees to mark the summer solstice. They say the practice is both traditional and legal and resent outsiders trying to shut down the festival.
Yulin's annual dog meat festival is controversial, with more people in China objecting to the practice.
cnn.com
Several celebrities, including the actress and director Zhao Wei, have condemned the event, and other similar festivals have stopped because of public pressure. On the Sina Weibo microblog forum, the topic came close to the World Cup in the number of people following over the weekend, The Beijing News reported. At least one confrontation turned violent on Saturday, and one customer at a dog meat restaurant was injured in a clash with protesters, the state-run China News Service reported.
sina.com.cnPHOTO: Dog meat has long been a familiar ingredient in meals in countries like China and South Korea
On Friday, activists purchased at least 200 live dogs from vendors to prevent them from being butchered
In one case, which was widely covered in the Chinese news media, a small yellow dog with a noose around its neck was held aloft by a vendor who asked activists how much they would pay to spare its life. Eventually a woman from Chongqing paid 350 renminbi, or about $55, to free it, Xinhua reported.
“The threat of the dog trader — ‘If you don’t buy this dog, I’m going to strangle him’ — that galvanized support of activists, but that’s just one factor,” said Peter Li, a China policy adviser for the Humane Society International. “The major factor is that more and more people in China believe dogs should not be food.”
xinhuanet.comWhile dogs are still considered a delicacy in parts of southern and north-east China, they have also become popular pets among the country's burgeoning middle class
Animal activists try to snatch puppies from a dog trader. The activists had already spent all their money buying 70 other dogs, and were unsuccessful in retrieving this puppy.
Image via turner.comProtesting against the festival has become a cause celebre online. "Dogs are more loyal to people than I'd imagined – I think of dogs as friends, not meat," the actor Yang Mi wrote to her 35 million followers. The message attracted more than 75,000 comments, most commending her for taking a stand.
theguardian.com
For now it is a topic on which the Chinese authorities are allowing the country's netizens to vent. But the issue of animal rights is one thing.
Animal protection activists descended on the southern city of Yulin to try to rescue dogs being sold there
Image via bbcimg.co.ukThere can be no social media campaign for, say, the half a million people in China that Amnesty International estimates are currently enduring punitive detention without charge or trial. Yulin's dogs may be a reminder of the extraordinary speed with which moral and social concerns can rise to nationwide prominence.
But as China's middle classes grow ever larger so the Communist Party employs an ever-growing army of censors to ensure they know well the limits of their newfound voice.