I don't even know how to write about this topic -- animal rights in China. Whenever I think about describing some of the disturbing things I've seen, I think of my lovely nieces who work with animals. I could see them charging, Carrie Nation-like, into the fray if they were in China, to rescue some dogs bound for the dinner plate, or to berate some owner who left his puppy for hours without food or water, tied by a very short leash to a lamppost beside the highway. I don't want to distress anyone by discussing this.
These are little turtles for sale, in little plastic containers, in the hot sun. There are gradations of sympathy -- from animals with big soulful eyes, like dogs, to these poor trapped turtles, to crickets, which are kept as pets for fighting with other crickets, to bugs, which are of course fried and eaten. I was going to ask if sympathy, or sentimentality, for animals is a luxury that only more prosperous countries can afford, than I thought about Hinduism. I don't think Confucius ever spoke to the question of animal rights. He didn't even think about women...
These are little turtles for sale, in little plastic containers, in the hot sun. There are gradations of sympathy -- from animals with big soulful eyes, like dogs, to these poor trapped turtles, to crickets, which are kept as pets for fighting with other crickets, to bugs, which are of course fried and eaten. I was going to ask if sympathy, or sentimentality, for animals is a luxury that only more prosperous countries can afford, than I thought about Hinduism. I don't think Confucius ever spoke to the question of animal rights. He didn't even think about women...
Dogs as pets -- as opposed to dogs as dinner -- are becoming increasingly popular in China. Naturally, since all city dweller live in apartments, small and miniature breeds are popular. I am astounded by the fact that very few people put leashes on their dogs, even in the city, even with the crazy traffic.
There was a craze for Tibetan Mastiffs for a while, but they are a large dog so they were impracticable for China. The craze has come to an end and the surplus Tibetan Mastiffs are now being eaten. I once saw a truck with a large wire cage full of dogs pass by on the highway and I thought they were pretty certainly going to loving homes -- homes where people love to eat dog meat, that is. And my emotional reaction to that was decidedly different from my reaction when bicycling past a truck with a large wire crate filled with big dozing pigs. Then, my reaction was, what's that horrible smell?
I can't fathom how China supplies the staggering amounts of fish, seafood, chicken and pork that must be raised to meet growing consumer demand to feed 1.4 billion people. I've only seen small scale animal husbandry, around here, such as sheep and goats grazing the long grass right at the entrance to the campus or along the riverside. I met this goat in downtown Zhangdian, near my (then) apartment building. I took the picture because I realized that this goat was not at all creepy, unlike Pleasant Goat.
There was a craze for Tibetan Mastiffs for a while, but they are a large dog so they were impracticable for China. The craze has come to an end and the surplus Tibetan Mastiffs are now being eaten. I once saw a truck with a large wire cage full of dogs pass by on the highway and I thought they were pretty certainly going to loving homes -- homes where people love to eat dog meat, that is. And my emotional reaction to that was decidedly different from my reaction when bicycling past a truck with a large wire crate filled with big dozing pigs. Then, my reaction was, what's that horrible smell?
I can't fathom how China supplies the staggering amounts of fish, seafood, chicken and pork that must be raised to meet growing consumer demand to feed 1.4 billion people. I've only seen small scale animal husbandry, around here, such as sheep and goats grazing the long grass right at the entrance to the campus or along the riverside. I met this goat in downtown Zhangdian, near my (then) apartment building. I took the picture because I realized that this goat was not at all creepy, unlike Pleasant Goat.
The chickens in the picture above probably were raised elsewhere than in that tiny wire cage. They are in a holding pen at an outdoors restaurant, waiting to be selected for dinner. At seafood restaurants we also select our dinner when it's alive and wiggling and you can watch the cook scoop out the fish and bonk it on the head. Not for everybody. If you want to buy your chicken at the supermarket already plucked gutted and cut into pieces, with the head and feet removed, if you never want to be confronted with a chicken head in your soup, then you might find China little challenging. But I was trying to talk about the rights of the animals, not the squeamishness of Westerners when confronted with the reality of where their meat comes from.
Attitudes are changing in China. The Yulin Dog Meat Festival (warning, graphic images!) is under siege within and without. The dog sellers are accused of stealing people's pets to eat them and of killing them inhumanely. The British press has taken up a campaign against the dog meat festival. Celebrity dog-lovers have weighed in. Which for me also raises the question, is it cultural imperialism for outsiders to criticize the Chinese for eating dog? For many, there is a moral imperative that overrides everything else. For what other practices is this true? If I have a moral imperative to stop people in another country from eating dog, why should I not also have a moral imperative to protest against cultural practices being established in my own country? Surely there should be some clear objective overarching principal here, not simply one's own personal hobby horse. I'm sure the distinction is clear to many, not so clear to me.
Oh, I've strayed off of animal rights again. It's not that I'm complacent about what I've seen around me; it saddens me. But I accept that I am in a different culture, and I can see that change is coming. However, if you are extremely tender-hearted, you might want to take this into consideration if you are thinking of working in China.
Oh, I've strayed off of animal rights again. It's not that I'm complacent about what I've seen around me; it saddens me. But I accept that I am in a different culture, and I can see that change is coming. However, if you are extremely tender-hearted, you might want to take this into consideration if you are thinking of working in China.
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