[New York Times]

BEIJING � In the whirlwind of growth that is modern China, the loss of
ancient traditions often provokes dismay and outrage.

But people across the country cheered recently when officials in
eastern China said they were doing away with a 600-year-old local
custom: the slaughter of thousands of dogs to be eaten at an autumn
festival.

The Jinhua Hutou Dog Meat Festival, as it is called, was abruptly
canceled last week after local officials were shamed by an online
campaign begun by animal rights advocates. Gruesome photographs taken
at past festivals that show canine carcasses, some bloody and others
cooked, circulated on Chinese microblogs, creating popular pressure
against the festival, which was set for October.

Pet ownership has grown rapidly among the Chinese, as has a greater
consciousness of animal rights. In the Mao era, the Communist Party
condemned pets as a byproduct of bourgeois decadence. But these days,
dogs and cats (and all manner of creatures, including rabbits and
birds) have become accouterments of Chinese middle-class living. What
was once slated for the pantry is now housed in a playpen.

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full story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/world/asia/dog-meat-festival-is-canceled-in-china.html

REPORTING FROM BEIJING -- A six-century-old tradition of dog eating collided this week with modern concepts about animal rights; and this time, modernity won.

Local authorities canceled a three-day festival that had been planned for Oct. 18 in Jinhua City, Zhejiang province, after tens of thousands of people who organized over the Internet complained.

The festival was part of a local tradition dating back to 1389, when legend had it that a Ming dynasty military hero who was trying to capture Jinhua decided to kill all the dogs so that they wouldn't bark at night and disrupt his invasion.

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full story:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/09/china-dog-meat-festival-is-canceled.html

CHINA has banned a sickening 600-year-old dog meat festival were helpless hounds were boiled alive after furious protests by hundreds of thousands of animal rights activists.

These gruesome scenes of appalling cruelty at the festival - which has been around since the Ming Dynasty - were condemned by millions of animal lovers around the world.

Officials in Hutou, Zhejiang province, eastern China, have called off the mass slaughter next month where up to 15,000 dogs were due to be butchered and eaten over three days.

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full story:
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/212129/Dog-eating-festival-banned-after-animal-rights-fury/