A 600-year-old dog eating festival in Qianxi, China
was banned this week after a massive social media outcry called for its
cancellation. Fifteen thousand dogs are slaughtered annually at the
festival, which commemorates a battle fought in the town. Before the
battle, an invading army killed all the dogs in the town of Qianxi to
prevent being exposed by barking dogs. After capturing the town, the army ate the dog meat to celebrate.
From then until the '80s, the dogs were killed immediately before
being cooked and served. Then the Chinese government intervened and
banned on-site butchery. But the practice began to creep back into the
festival over the past few years. Pictures of carnage from the dog eating festival
made their way on to the internet, incensing thousands. This year, many
of them took to the internet to call for the festival to be banned. The
Chinese government reacted by banning the festival.
According to Global Post, sympathy for dogs has increased
markedly among the Chinese over the past few decades; keeping them as
pets was banned during the Cultural Revolution, but rates of ownership
have risen since then.
There have been some calls for a total ban on eating cats and dogs
in the country, it remains both common and socially acceptable. It's
possible, though, that this recent move could signal a further shift in
government sentiment towards the side of a ban; rumors of such a ban started to escalate as early as June.
