Thousands of food lovers crowded the streets of Yulin, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, chatting, laughing and sweating while enjoying a feast of dog meat hotpot with lychee wine.
Inside a nearby market, an acrid smell filled the air. Thousands of dogs were packed into crowded cages, barking and whining behind high chain-link fences. The butcher grabbed a dog by the neck and hauled it out of the cage, bashed its head in with a stick, pulled out a knife, skinned it, boiled it and chopped it up ready to be served.
Despite widespread outrage among animal lovers, this annual dog meat festival kicked off on June 21. It is considered a local way to mark the summer solstice and legends say eating dog meat on that day will keep evil spirits and disease at bay.
It is estimated that over 10,000 dogs were killed during the one-day event. Animal rights activists said the dogs are often strays or stolen from their owners in the countryside and might carry diseases that can be passed on to human beings. However, local officials say all the dogs are bred on farms.
The ancient practice of eating dog has become increasingly distasteful for China's growing number of pet lovers and this year's dog meat festival has come in for particularly virulent criticism.
The name of Yulin, a southern city home to 6 million people, is now linked with its controversial dog eating.
This summer solstice tradition by local residents began in the late 1990s when the trend of eating dog meat spread from the countryside to the city. As more and more dog meat restaurants opened, residents would invite their friends to go out and enjoy dog hotpot served with lychees and strong liquor.
At first, the dogs were all raised locally but as business expanded and demand grew, butchers brought in dogs from across China. Animal lovers say many dogs were abducted from their rightful owners in the countryside, kept in inhumane conditions and then transported to the festival.
A few years ago, dogs were butchered in public to show that the meat was fresh and answer other concerns about whether the meat had been stored in refrigerators.
Since 2010, the local tradition has caught attention from animal lovers and animal rights organizations. In an open letter to the mayor of Yulin, Hong Kong-based NGO Animals Asia said the overcrowded trucks used to transport the dogs increased the risk of disease spreading.
More and more animal rights activists have been converging on Yulin to protest in front of dog-eaters.
Last year, artist Pian Shankong knelt down in front of a pile of dead dogs in Yulin to beg for forgiveness of the sins of those who killed them.
This year, led by Du Yufeng, founder of Chinese animal rights group Boai Small Animal Protection Center, several volunteers protested outside Yulin's most famous dog meat market, carrying a banner saying "Stop the cruelty, do not eat dogs and cats."
Their protest soon drew notice and the restaurant owner confronted the protesters while trying to wrench the banner away.
The mood of the crowd seemed to favor the festival as onlookers asked "we eat chicken, pork and beef, why not dog meat? It is not against the law."
There are no animal welfare laws in China. The ministry of Agriculture issued a regulation in April, requesting local governments to strengthen cat and dog quarantine measures to control the spread of diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. In response to this, the Yulin government doubled down on its insistence that all dogs eaten at the festival were raised on dog farms.
But one local butcher told the Global Times that he does not pay much attention to the safety issue.
"It is the government's job to decide whether it is ok to eat dog or not, my job is to kill them and make money, I don't ask where they come from," he said.
The tradition is not unique to Yulin. Other places in China such as Zhejiang and Guangdong Province are also known for eating dog meat.
In ancient China, dog meat was considered a medicine that could warm up the body and boost male fertility.
But not all authorities have been as stubborn as those in Yulin. In 2011, the government in Zhejiang Province cancelled a dog meat festival held every October in the wake of animal rights protests.
Inside a nearby market, an acrid smell filled the air. Thousands of dogs were packed into crowded cages, barking and whining behind high chain-link fences. The butcher grabbed a dog by the neck and hauled it out of the cage, bashed its head in with a stick, pulled out a knife, skinned it, boiled it and chopped it up ready to be served.
Despite widespread outrage among animal lovers, this annual dog meat festival kicked off on June 21. It is considered a local way to mark the summer solstice and legends say eating dog meat on that day will keep evil spirits and disease at bay.
It is estimated that over 10,000 dogs were killed during the one-day event. Animal rights activists said the dogs are often strays or stolen from their owners in the countryside and might carry diseases that can be passed on to human beings. However, local officials say all the dogs are bred on farms.
The ancient practice of eating dog has become increasingly distasteful for China's growing number of pet lovers and this year's dog meat festival has come in for particularly virulent criticism.
The name of Yulin, a southern city home to 6 million people, is now linked with its controversial dog eating.
This summer solstice tradition by local residents began in the late 1990s when the trend of eating dog meat spread from the countryside to the city. As more and more dog meat restaurants opened, residents would invite their friends to go out and enjoy dog hotpot served with lychees and strong liquor.
At first, the dogs were all raised locally but as business expanded and demand grew, butchers brought in dogs from across China. Animal lovers say many dogs were abducted from their rightful owners in the countryside, kept in inhumane conditions and then transported to the festival.
A few years ago, dogs were butchered in public to show that the meat was fresh and answer other concerns about whether the meat had been stored in refrigerators.
Since 2010, the local tradition has caught attention from animal lovers and animal rights organizations. In an open letter to the mayor of Yulin, Hong Kong-based NGO Animals Asia said the overcrowded trucks used to transport the dogs increased the risk of disease spreading.
More and more animal rights activists have been converging on Yulin to protest in front of dog-eaters.
Last year, artist Pian Shankong knelt down in front of a pile of dead dogs in Yulin to beg for forgiveness of the sins of those who killed them.
This year, led by Du Yufeng, founder of Chinese animal rights group Boai Small Animal Protection Center, several volunteers protested outside Yulin's most famous dog meat market, carrying a banner saying "Stop the cruelty, do not eat dogs and cats."
Their protest soon drew notice and the restaurant owner confronted the protesters while trying to wrench the banner away.
The mood of the crowd seemed to favor the festival as onlookers asked "we eat chicken, pork and beef, why not dog meat? It is not against the law."
There are no animal welfare laws in China. The ministry of Agriculture issued a regulation in April, requesting local governments to strengthen cat and dog quarantine measures to control the spread of diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. In response to this, the Yulin government doubled down on its insistence that all dogs eaten at the festival were raised on dog farms.
But one local butcher told the Global Times that he does not pay much attention to the safety issue.
"It is the government's job to decide whether it is ok to eat dog or not, my job is to kill them and make money, I don't ask where they come from," he said.
The tradition is not unique to Yulin. Other places in China such as Zhejiang and Guangdong Province are also known for eating dog meat.
In ancient China, dog meat was considered a medicine that could warm up the body and boost male fertility.
But not all authorities have been as stubborn as those in Yulin. In 2011, the government in Zhejiang Province cancelled a dog meat festival held every October in the wake of animal rights protests.
Xie Changping, deputy director of the Guangxi Traditional Culture Research Institute, argues that eating dog meat "is just a traditional habit. Why do we have to follow Western values on this?"
Zhang Dan, founder of the NGO China Animal Protection Media Salon, argues that if a tradition is becoming a bad habit, it has to go.
"Eating dog meat is dwindling worldwide, it's behind the times," Zhang told the Global Times, "It may be hard to see this habit die out and the biggest challenge will be changing people's minds."
Zhang Dan, founder of the NGO China Animal Protection Media Salon, argues that if a tradition is becoming a bad habit, it has to go.
"Eating dog meat is dwindling worldwide, it's behind the times," Zhang told the Global Times, "It may be hard to see this habit die out and the biggest challenge will be changing people's minds."
