Chinese Dog Eating Festival Banned After 600 Years Because Of Social Media Outcry

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.

Comments

[elephantlovers]

09:09 PM on 10/03/2011

Now maybe thru exposure like this the slaughter of elephants for ivory trinkets and rhino for false medicine will be stopped by the super slow Chinese government, or it is extinction for these two species. Not to mention tiger and lions too for bogus medicine. Oh, and the poor pangolins are being eating into extinction by the Chinese too. Not sure if there is an animal they don't eat.

[elephantlovers]

09:06 PM on 10/03/2011

There were so many other places to put this rather than Food. :-(

[qualityseller]

11:47 AM on 09/27/2011

Anyone who eats a dog or a cat is a barbarian, plain and simple. There is no justification except starvation for doing so. It's a miracle the human race has survived this long with such idiotic and ignorant people populating our planet. God Bless Us All.

[Donna Street]

02:41 AM on 09/27/2011

It probably will not stop with this ban, it just won't be as public.

[ozymandias13]

02:46 PM on 09/26/2011

As personally repellent as I find the idea of eating man's best friend, I truly do not see much difference between eating dog meat or eating beef or pork. Flesh is flesh...so whether or not they ban the tradition, I would support the right of anyone who chose to eat dog or any other animal flesh. To each their own.

[TheCanarySings]

01:48 PM on 09/26/2011

Everything about this festival is vile and ridiculous, the history, the celebration. Proves dogs were used as companion animals far longer than food in that area if they captured the town's dogs to invade.

[Rubyfoo]

01:46 PM on 09/26/2011

Did they at least cook the people before letting the dogs eat them.

[mr e vader]

01:42 PM on 09/26/2011

"A little hair of the dog that bit you?"
"No hanks, I'll just take a leg..."

[talkingape74]

12:40 PM on 09/26/2011

What do you think happened to those dogs that were supposed to be eaten? It might have been banned officially but probably just moved to a different date/location....

[ozymandias13]

02:49 PM on 09/26/2011

Hmmmm...aren't you the bigot...gross is as gross does and you definitely need to do some work on your language and prejudices.

[farmilyman]

11:04 AM on 09/26/2011

They should be more civilized like our factory farms.

[Mike Stone]

10:04 AM on 09/26/2011

All the ignorant progressives and PETA members that are all lathered up over a dog festival , as usual have their "deranged" priorities mixed up! The fact is that Chinese are a brutal people and are the biggest threat, not only to America, but world peace! Why not concentrate on the abuses like "a death of a thousand cuts", a traditional way of killing people in China, the process entails cutting chunks off the offenders body, little by little! People should go to You Tube and see actual pictures of what the average Chinese is capable of! As far as the dog eating goes, if the Chinese themselves want it stopped, it's their business, but radical groups around the world should not affect the decision. Only self aggrandizing, obsessed groups like PETA could feel like they really accomplished a lot when the Chinese still practice a"death of a thousand cuts"! Of course this article only highlights the fact that radical groups like radical progressives and particularly PETA concentrate on animal rights while the same perpetrators commit heinous crimes on humans!

[mcsk]

02:36 AM on 09/27/2011

Are you kidding me? You actually think that these same groups are fine with human rights abuses? The progressives that you are referring to are the same people that work everyday dealing with human rights issues as it concerns the Chinese and there have been plenty of news articles about that too. I see no problem in anyone voicing their concerns when it comes to the poor and brutal treatment of both animals and people. Showing compassion to animals is just another block in the foundations of compassion towards all living things. Here is something positive for the Chinese and the global community to be proud of and you spreading your negative feelings and for what? The ways of butchering dogs in China is incredibly brutal, as is the method of butchering animals in America. There is nothing wrong with teaching compassion and kindness, those are good morals to live by.

[elephantlovers]

09:13 PM on 10/03/2011

I am NOT a member of PETA, but anyone who makes comments like this, who think abuse of animals is less than that of humans is capable of abuse of both humans and animals, and that has been well studied. I have to work with extreme people like you in the ER.

[rbenjamin]

08:29 AM on 09/26/2011

Reading the abbreviated headline on the Front Page, I was wondering how "600" year old dog meat was preserved. Like "100" year eggs maybe? To my extreme disappointment, I find this is just a 600 year old festival. Six hundred years is not very old in Chinese culture.

[fwwest]

08:16 AM on 09/26/2011

I did not watch the video and didnot know how the dogs were slaughtered. That method is horrible and should be stopped. No living thin g shoild be tortured for any reason!!

[loudneighbor]

01:44 PM on 09/26/2011

I agree nothing should be tortured, but is being slaughtered for food torture? If so then everyone who ever eats a burger or chicken sandwich is an accomplice to torture.

[fwwest]

05:04 PM on 09/26/2011

No, being slaughtered for food is not torture. When I was raising rabbits and poultry for food they died almost instantly. I never intentionally let any suffer.

[fwwest]

08:06 AM on 09/26/2011

Eating dog meat is a part of many cultures, although I have a hard time imagining eating it I don't think I have the right to tell others not to. I have raised rabbits for food and some people think that is awful.