China advances its summer solstice DOG-EATING celebrations to avoid protests

Daily Mail UK ^ | 6-19-2014 | TravelMail Reporter

[equalator]

Some residents of the southern Chinese city of Yulin started gathering last weekend and eating dog meat and lychees to celebrate the longest day of the year, ahead of Saturday's actual solstice, state media reported.

The locals wanted to avoid protests which have in recent years seen the festival, slaughterhouses and markets selling dogs targeted as part of a social media campaign and ongoing online petition against the practice

[equalator]

"eating dog meat and lychees to celebrate the longest day of the year.."

I can't post Daily Mail photos, so I'll have to make due with these instead-- use your imagination...

[dragonblustar]

The dog days of summer.....

[kiryandil]

Did they invite Obama?

He’ll be on it like white on rice...

[equalator]

In this particular case, I have to admit I honestly don’t care what they eat. I’m sure to a Hindu, my eating a hamburger would be freaky. People have to eat, and I can’t see the difference between dogs, horses, cows, turkeys etc. We find them cute and we make them pets. I had a lobster as a pet once, and I love eating lobster so there you go. But it is disturbing to see I must admit. Food is food.

[Zhang Fei]

A New Yorker recounts his experience in dog-eating:

Since it was our last night in Yangshuo, I wanted to try some river snails — a local specialty. As we flipped through the menu, once again it was Christina who spotted the thing we’d been hoping to find without even realising it. Right there on the menu in English: “dog meat.” We stared at each other, wondering if we were really that bold.

I can’t remember which of us had mentioned it first, but an obsession with eating dog had been running through our conversations for weeks. It was probably me that brought it up, as I’d been telling friends in New York that I would definitely eat a dog in China if I had the opportunity. This was partially to amuse myself, a way of really cementing my status as a dog hater, which was an aspect of my personality I’d been playing up a lot lately, but it was also something of a conversational gambit. Eating dog is such a taboo in America that I just wanted to see my friends’ reactions. I wasn’t even sure if people really did that in China. In fact, until that moment, I had kind of doubted I would actually have the opportunity.

“We can’t let those dogs we saw this morning go to waste,” I said, feeling very practical and noble all at once.

“Oh shucks, we have to try it!” Christina agreed. Her only hesitation was the price — 60 yuan for the dish seemed a bit steep. “What if it doesn’t taste good?” she worried. Then we’d have wasted a whole 10 dollars — about five meals at the Muslim restaurant near her apartment in Guangzhou.

[Born to Conserve]

How do you advance the Summer Solstice?

[BenLurkin]

Did they enjoy the meal?

[Slambat]

So Obama eats dogs too. I guess it’s a primitive sorta thing.

[equalator]

Tardis

[familyop]

Who has try dog meat. it is a delicacy in China.?
Yahoo Answers
Excerpt:
"One day in Hong Kong, I was in a small supermarket and two Hakka (one of the ethnic groups of China) women were having a discussion about a can of ALPO dog food, and one woman asked the other if the canned dog meat was as good as fresh dog meat. Since the can had a picture of a dog on the label, she assumed it was canned dog meat."

[Cronos]

to be fair, many Chinese in China are protesting this. As China gets more affluent, and more people keep dogs as pets, not food, there is an increasing stigma against this

[familyop]

That’s true. Well said. Many of the generalizations have also come from humor and folklore in Chinese movie entertainment. Northern Chinese have told me that people around their villages did not eat dogs. Some Chinese folks visiting America have also been shocked to see dogs in houses (reportedly not allowed in some Chinese locales).

We should remember that our own European ancestors (and for some of us, our native American ancestors) had some rather interesting cuisine. Many in some parts of Europe continue to eat things that most Americans won’t eat. Meanwhile, Americans in some areas eat squirrels (rodents that eat nuts and live in trees). Many in the past ate opposum, swamp rats, raccoons, etc. Some eat rattlesnakes yearly.

At least one writer of fiction reported that ancient Romans were shocked about Mongols eating horse meat. Many Italians eat horse meat to this day as many Germans and others have in the past.