Letters to the Editor
-
Not that black and white
I have lived in China for an extended period, and although I have been in a restaurant where one of the posters clearly said "dog," I have never been served or offered dog as food, ever. I shared an apartment with a Chinese woman, and she loved dogs and cats just as much as I do. She's never eaten dog (or cat) either.
One time in Beijing I was taking a taxi with a driver who was clearly hostile to foreigners, but when I asked him if he liked animals he lit up and started talking about his three dogs. How old they were, their names, everything.
Yes, there is cruetly to animals in China. On busy shopping streets like at Wu Dao Kou you'll find people selling puppies too young to be away from their mother, there are animals in small cages in pet shops, and animals for the most part are not put to sleep in a humane way. But please, don't make it out like all Chinese are indifferent towards animals or their pets. If you look up the words for "animal rights" in Chinese (动物权利), you'll get more than 300 000 hits. Compared to the number of hits you'd get in English this isn't so much, but I still think it's saying a lot for a country where the Internet is cencored.
Another thing I would like to point out is that the collie in the article was able to run around freely before being killed. That's more freedom than what most farm animals are allowed.