Party Secretary wants to ban Yulin!

[Tobi]

I just saw this on the "No To Dog Meat" blog. The party secretary for the Yulin festival would like to see the dog meat section banned....

https://notodogmeat.wordpress.com/2015/0...be-banned/

Apparently, formal confirmation is still being waited for, but hopefuly this is in the offing. It may be a step in the right direction! This is dated April 2015, so it definitely didn't happen this year. But it does show that among officials, there is some strong feeling against it.

[Catherine]

This is really good news. It shows that there is a political will to end the dog meat festival.
It may take more work, but it is clear that the festival is not so popular with the majority of people. No politician would ban a popular event. He must sense that people are turning against it.

Maybe like Gadhimai, this will have been the last year of barbaric cruelty. I certainly hope so.
Of course the rest of the world needs to keep up public pressure.
I hope we get good news soon.

[LPC]

I suspect that this is the result of internet (pressure of public opinion) both within China itself and abroad. Let's hope that this ban happens.

[Tobi]

Yes there probably is some concern about public pressure. It seems Li Jun (Party Secretary) has health and safety motives prominent, but of course, that doesn't mean he hasn't other more compassionate reasons as well, and may be stressing Health and Safety in order to get a better hearing. Many people in China do keep dogs as companions.

I watched Li Jun's video, but don't understand Chinese, beyond "How ma?" so couldn't tell what he was saying. Let's hope some health regulations aren't altered which would still allow merchants to cook dogs but with stronger rules in favour of human safety.....

As far as public health is concerned, it must be a dreadful shambles with no regulation. Many 'customers' are probably eating badly diseased meat.
Apparently the dog-eating is only one part of the Yulin Festival. So the Festival could still go ahead minus the horrendous cruelty.....

I hope and pray the cruel part of this festival will become history as soon as possible.

[Catherine]

So many of these festivals could go on without the cruelty.
For some reason they have chosen to make the dog meat the primary focus. I am sure there are many other things about the festivals that matter.
I wonder, what is the point of the Yulin festival?

With out thanksgiving, the whole point is to be thankful for a good harvest(fruits, vegetables and grains). We have turned it into a giant turkey slaughter where people really over eat and over indulge in so many ways. That has little to do with being thankful.

Maybe Yulin is the same.