Restaurateurs in a southern Chinese town are holding an annual dog meat festival despite international criticism.
Eateries reached by phone in Yulin reported brisk business Sunday during the event marking the summer solstice. They say eating dog meat is traditional, while activists say the festival has no cultural value and was invented to drum up business.
As many as 10,000 dogs, many of them stolen pets, are slaughtered for the occasion held deep in the largely rural and poor Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Celebrities such as British comedian Ricky Gervais and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen have called for an end to the festival.
Dog is eaten in some parts of China but is not a common dish.
Be careful when ordering the 'hot dog.' Incidentally, 'hot dog' is also Mandarin slang for 'cop.' Complex eaters, the Chinese.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @12:35PM
So we eat pigs. Muslims and Jews would consider that horrific. But what would you think would happen if some prominent Muslims organized protest against westerners eating pigs? I can imagine there would be a big outcry. So why should we complain that the Chinese eat dogs? What makes eating dogs worse than eating pigs?
Now if they use stolen pets for this, then that of course is an issue; just as it would be an issue if they used stolen pigs for a bacon festival. But I'm sure that's not the issue the celebrities are complaining about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @12:49PM
Yeah but they don't keep pigs as pets, they just consider them to be evil because of their feet and that you might get some evil in you if you eat them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @12:58PM
A better parallel would be a beef BBQ festival and people in India not being happy about the idea.
... Now I want some ribs... 60°C for 48 hours with East Texas style BBQ sauce.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @05:37PM
> A better parallel would be a beef BBQ festival and people in India not being happy about the idea.
This.
Muslims and Jews don't eat pork because they think the meat is contaminated - and there is historical justification for it, trichinosis [wikipedia.org] which is still a problem in third world countries. They don't care if pigs are intelligent, look cute or are mistreated by the pork industry, they just think they are inherently unclean.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 24 2015, @01:36PM
Muslims protesting that I enjoy bacon and ham? Outcry? Not really. I'd just laugh at the dumb bastards, and keep on eating. Unless of course one of them tried to TAKE my sammich. Then, I'd be considering having a Muslim sammich, so that I could compare the taste between pig and long pig.
(Score: 3, Funny) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday June 24 2015, @02:57PM
Oh good lord. I just imagined all the rightwing posts on social media about that one. Imagine: Piles of pigs slathered in BBQ sauce are cooking on bonfires fueled by Korans while AR15 armed attendees wave confederate flags around chanting U-S-A U-S-A.
Pretty much this. I don't like the idea they are eating dogs either but it's none of my business. If they are bred for eating then fine. Just don't go plucking them off the streets.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday June 24 2015, @03:08PM
Oh good lord. I just imagined all the rightwing posts on social media about that one. Imagine: Piles of pigs slathered in BBQ sauce are cooking on bonfires fueled by Korans while AR15 armed attendees wave confederate flags around chanting U-S-A U-S-A.
The bad news is thats how it is today, imagine after the theoretical anti-pig jihad.
Its not gonna happen in the USA anyway. Now, France and UK after they go majority Muslim in just a couple years, that'll be interesting to watch.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @03:31PM
Watch out for the stampeding presidential candidates!
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday June 24 2015, @08:52PM
Never underestimate the decentralised, grass-roots love-power of a thousand C of E coffee mornings and jumble sales miraculously springing up in village halls and community centres the length and breadth of the Green and Pleasant Land.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday June 24 2015, @03:57PM
> Imagine: Piles of pigs slathered in BBQ sauce are cooking on bonfires fueled by Korans while AR15
> armed attendees wave confederate flags around chanting U-S-A U-S-A.
Not gonna happen. They wouldn't desecrate good BBQ by cooking it on ink-laden paper fires. Maybe a couple Koran pages to get the fire started, but you also can't get the right slow roasting temperature if you burn paper. Have some respect for the meat, man! And gimme another Bud Lite.