玉林荔枝狗肉节

The tradition & historical record

The Dog Meat Festival (Chinese: 狗肉节), also known as the Yulin Dog Meat Festival or Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, is an annual festival held in Yulin, Guangxi, China, during the summer solstice from 21 June to 30 June in which festival observers consume dog meat accompanied by lychees or other plants. The festival began in 2009 and lasts about ten days. During this time, thousands of dogs are consumed. The festival has drawn criticism domestically and internationally. ¹

The festival is celebrated annually in Yulin, Guangxi, China, during the summer solstice in June, by eating dog meat. Early on, it was reported that roughly 10,000 dogs had been consumed for each annual occurrence of the festival. This number is estimated by some to have decreased to 1,000 in 2015. In 2018 it was estimated that 3,000 dogs were killed. The festival was launched on 21 June 2009. ¹

The festival organizers claim that the dogs are killed humanely and that "eating dog is no different from eating pork or beef". Animal rights activists and campaigners, however, claim that the animals are treated cruelly. Some media outlets have reported that dogs are intentionally tortured or boiled alive to improve the taste of their meat. Several other reports have stated that since 2015 there has been little evidence for those allegations. The festival is a relatively recent event, not rooted in tradition, but rather created in 2010 by dog traders to increase their profits. Prior to its inception, Yulin had no historical background of engaging in mass dog slaughter and consumption. As consuming dog meat is not prohibited by law in China, authorities argue that they have no legal basis to intervene. ¹

A 2015 report by Animals Asia Foundation stated that most dogs that are consumed are strays or stolen pets. Approximately 70% of rural villages surveyed in China have suffered mysterious dog losses. ¹

Epidemiological surveys of dogs across nine Chinese provinces or autonomous regions found Trichinella prevalence ranging from 7% in Henan to 39.5% in Heilongjiang, with an overall prevalence of 21.1% among 19,662 dogs examined. Dog meat sold at markets showed similar infection rates; in Kunming, Yunnan province, 3.9% of dog meat samples contained Trichinella larvae. ¹

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China officially declared that dogs are companions, and should not be treated as livestock, thereby banning their commercial slaughter and sale. During February, the city of Yulin made a statement to put a ban to the dog consumption market, stating that as an effort to combat coronavirus. However, the festival resumed on 21 June 2020 in defiance of the government campaign, although reportedly with a dwindling number of attendees. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Dog Meat Festival”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Yulin Festival and Dog meat Consumption in China is annual festival and consumption in China, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²