Some Things That Happened While We Were Gone

[Randy W]

I had taken a bike ride for the festival last year, but I went in the afternoon before things had really started. I had planned to poke around a little bit more this year, but it looks like they held it while we were out of town.

 

Neither my wife nor I partake. I won't post any of the pictures here, although I have posted some in the past. I have seen more than a couple of restaurants which keep a dog carcass hung in their front window, or even out on the street.

 

Yulin dog meat festival changes start date to throw off protestors

 

Look: Dog butchers prepare their quarry for Yulin Festival, outraging activists

 

[Randy W]

It may still be on, since it would normally fall on the equinox - I call it "hot dog and lychee day", since the "strong liquor" is lychee liquor. The streets used to turn red from the lychee peelings.

Man bites dog festival

 

Eight people who claimed themselves Buddhist followers, led by a monk, showed up at the largest dog meat market in Yulin, in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Wednesday, praying that the souls of butchered dogs can be released from suffering.

 

It's the latest move of animal rights activists calling for a boycott of the traditional dog meat festival that falls on June 21 this year, following protests that have even seen clashes with local business owners.

 

Now the Yulin government has denied hosting the festival, urging restaurant owners, civil servants and even medical staff to keep a low profile and adding that it will "strictly enforce" food safety regulations - effectively abandoning dog-meat lovers to their own devices.

 

. . .

 

Licenses and laws

 

Restaurants and booths owners in the city have meanwhile covered or even cut off the word "dog" from their signage. A local restaurateur surnamed Xie told Nandu Daily that food-hygiene supervision departments suggested this. Authorities have also advised those owners to reduce dog meat sales. The trade has seen its revenues decrease by two thirds recently, Xie said, although several restaurants told the newspaper that business remained normal.

 

. . .

 

"To persuade people to stop eating dog meat with extreme actions and fierce arguments would be counter-productive. We should advocate the idea in a reasonable way," Li said.

 

Li believed that while eating dog meat is not illegal, running such a business is, since China doesn't have quarantine regulations on dog or cat-meat products, unlike those for pork, chicken or beef.

 

[Randy W]

A LOT of coverage in the Global Times

 

Uproar over dog meat calls tradition into question