Summer dog-meat festival goes on despite controversy
Print Edition
FOR many residents of Yulin, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the peak of summer is the perfect time to get together with family and friends — and consume copious amounts of dog meat.
Thousands of dogs are expected to end up on the chopping block during the city’s annual dog meat festival, which has become increasingly controversial in China.
China’s well-off citizens have started to fight what it sees as barbarous abuse of man’s best friend.
Yesterday, a group of about 25 animal rights activists briefly unfurled banners in front of the city government office, demanding an end to the festival, but they were quickly hustled away by unidentified men.
The city’s dog market has become a site for clashes of supporters and opponents of the trade. In the sweltering heat, tempers can often flare.
“There are all sorts of cultural norms about what you can eat,” shouted one dog meat supporter.
“You eat turkey, so why are you trying to force us to not eat dog meat?”
Eating dog is good for your health at the hottest time of the year, say supporters, and it is just like any other meat.
“It’s healthy,” said Teng Jianyi, as he tucked into a dog dish with some friends.
While many Chinese have signed online petitions seeking a ban on the festival, others take a more direct approach.
Last year, Yang Xiaoyun made the headlines after spending 150,000 yuan (US$24,000) to rescue about 350 dogs.
Yang, who comes from northern China, has returned this year with funds raised from around the country, but she would not say exactly how much.
She said she hoped to set up a home for the rescued dogs near Yulin, undeterred by the prospect of any hostility there.
“At the moment we don’t have the ability to change people’s habits, this is the government’s responsibility, isn’t it?” Yang said.
Despite the complaints, many Yulin residents vowed to continue eating dogs.
“This is one of our traditions,” said Liang Xiaoli, who had returned home especially for the festival.
“They criticize us, saying we don’t have compassion or humanity, but every person has different circumstances,” she said.
“You can’t just lump all people together. If I think eating pork is brutal, then no one can eat pork. That’s not on,” she said.
The city’s government has tried to distance itself from the event.
“Some residents of Yulin have the habit of coming together to eat lychees and dog meat during the Summer Solstice,” its news office wrote on Sina Weibo.
“The ‘Summer Solstice lychee and dog meat festival’ is a commercial term, the city has never (officially) organized a ‘dog meat festival,’” it said.
About 30 million households in China keep dogs as pets, which is helping to fuel the growing animal rights movement in the country.
A petition on change.org calling for the end to the festival — illustrated with a photo of a dog weeping tears of blood in front of a flag — had garnered more than 3.8 million signatures as of yesterday afternoon.
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