Then you would love this Chinese restaurant.
Posted on 09/21/2011 10:19:28 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A dog-eating carnival that derived from a 600-year-old tradition in an east China township has been banned following a wave of public fury, said an official Wednesday.
The government stopped the dog-eating carnival held in every October in Qianxi Township, Jinhua City in Zhejiang Province due to resentment voiced on the Internet as well as increasing discontent among villagers, said Zhang Jianhong, a township official.
Dogs are slaughtered and skinned in the streets in recent years in Qianxi when an annual commodity fair is held in October, which sparked fierce condemnation after the cruelty was exposed online prior to this year's event.
The tradition of eating dog meat among local people traced to more than 600 years ago.
A folklore goes that dogs in Qianxi were secretly killed by the troops of Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), before they seized the town as the barks would expose their every attempt of maneuver.
After the conquest, dog meat was served at the feast of victory celebration, and thereafter local people began to eat dog meat as a special snack during a temple fair held at a shrine for the emperor and his empress.
The ancient fair was replaced by a modern commodity fair in the 1980s, but dog-eating has been kept as a tradition.
However, vendors began to butcher dogs in public a few years ago to show their dog meat is fresh and safe, as a way to ease buyers' worry that the meat may be refrigerator-preserved or even contaminated.
Hundreds of thousands of netizens posted criticisms of the carnival on forums and social networking sites, slamming the tradition and calling on the local government to intervene.
Ninety one percent of over 12,000 users said "No" to the carnival in a vote on Weibo.com, a popular microblogging site in China.
Later, netizens cheered on the government's subsequent ban on the carnival.
"The government's quick response should be encouraged. I hope eating dogs will not be a custom there anymore. It's not a carnival, but a massacre," wrote Junchangzai, a Weibo user who launched an online campaign denouncing the dog-eating carnival. His posts were retweeted over 100,000 times.
The Qianjiang Evening News, an influential newspaper in Zhejiang, reported that most local villagers also opposed the carnival, citing a survey administered by the local government.
However, some villagers questioned the legitimacy of the ban on a folk custom.
"It's our tradition, which the government has no right to ban. The dog-eating carnival is like the Spring Festival to me," a villager told the newspaper.
The government respected people's customs, but it should also guide their conducts, Zhang said.
Several high-profile dog protection events have made headlines in China this year. Animal protection volunteers intercepted a truck with 520 dogs on an expressway in April, and public backlash forced a city in southern China to abolish a ban on dogs as pets in August.
I am glad to see that Dog eating in Asia is becoming taboo.
Something tells me cat is still on the menu.
Where the corn dogs are REALLY corn DOGS!
Dogs, cows, whats the difference. Its meat.
Hot dogs may be even more popular in the Orient than they are here.
Then you would love this Chinese restaurant.
“Dogs, cows, whats the difference.”
Yeah, but when is the last time you heard about a cow taking a bullet for a human? If something is loyal enough to die for us, maybe the least we can do is not eat them.
No, i have never eaten cats and i never would.
No, i have never eaten cats and i never would.
I hear they taste like Chinese food.
Don’t worry. These were grain-fed free-range dogs.
Very funny....I just had a corn dog the other day! (But not in China!)
Bob Levi reminds me that the recent story about the three-legged chicken naturally provides a segue into the three-legged pig story.
So the man notices a three-legged pig in the farmyard and mentions to the farmer, "I see you also raise three-legged pigs.""Nope," replies the farmer, "That there pig is a family pet and he's really smart. We've taught him all kinds of tricks, like `Roll Over,' `Sit' and `Fetch.' As to that last trick, ah kin be sittin' on our front pouch and when the weekly newspaper comes, ah jest tells the pig to `Fetch' and he goes gits the paper and brings it to me."
"Wow!" exclaims the man. "That pig sure is smart."
"Not only is he smart, but he's somethin' of a hero," the farmer tells him.
"What do you mean a `hero?'" asks the man.
"Well," says the farmer. "That there pig, being the family pet, sleeps at the foot of our bed. One night when we were all sleepin', a fire breaks out in our farmhouse. The pig started squealin' and fussin' and wakes us all up so we were able to git out of the house."
"That's truly astounding," says the man. "It's unbelievable."
"But you ain't heard the whole story," the farmer replies. "We all git out of the fire that night except my baby girl. That wonderful pig went back in the burning farmhouse and dragged the little one to safety and saved her life."
"And the pig lost his leg because it was burned in the fire?" asks the man.
"Well, not exactly," answered the farmer. "Ya' see, a pig like that, one that is so smart, so heroic, so valuable. You don't eat a pig like that all at once!
So eating dogs is just fine, but for God's sake don't put the meat in a refrigerator!
Retards.
Such suburban livestock might become popular in the USA before long. If oil goes low enough, and the US dollar high enough, most of the US beef could be traded to east Asia in exchange for more debt for employees of the various levels of government here.
Sure, go tell that to your Chinese government. But in this case I agree with them— don't eat your dog!
There are big St. Bernard farms in China. Makes me sad.
I’ve heard that stories of cat eating are exaggerated.
Fido is the yummy treat in the Orient.
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