This is a retelling of a story a Chinese woman shared with me when I asked if eating dog meat was popular in China:
Dog meat? Yes, some people – a lot of people – like dog meat. There are special dogs that are raised, they’re farmed like pigs or cows, and they are specifically for their meat. There’s a festival every year for dog meat, and of course it brings the protestors and the world says “Oh, look at those barbarians eating dogs.” Personally, I don’t like it. I don’t know why you would eat dog. It seems kind of weird to me.
I grew up in the country. This is why, even though I have lived in Beijing for a long time, I am never considered a citizen of Beijing. I can’t vote in Beijing. I have to vote from my hometown. Beijing is like that. Unless you are born here, you’re not from here. But in the country we had a dog. It was a pet, you know, just a big house dog. The last time I went home with my daughter I saw the dog is getting really old. It doesn’t move so well anymore.
Well, the first day we were at home there was a nasty old rooster that chased my daughter. It actually bit her. It was just a mean old rooster. I shooed it away and said to my aunties, “That one’s a mean one.” The second day I sat down for dinner and that rooster was on the table. My aunties cut off the head but I knew: that was the rooster that bit my daughter. We ate it for dinner.
So then I start thinking, will they eat my dog? One of my aunties always thought my dog was mean. I don’t know why; he’s a nice dog. And I told my parents, you know, you can’t eat the dog. But every day, my aunties were poking the dog’s hind quarters like they were sizing it up to go the way of the rooster. I told my mom before we left, you know, don’t do it. Don’t you dare eat my dog. But I don’t trust my aunties. They’re going to be pestering her all the time because they think he’s mean and old.
I call my mom every Friday to make sure they haven’t eaten my dog yet. I guess, what could I do if they did eat him? Nothing, really. But I think my mom likes that I call every week so maybe this will keep my dog around longer. Maybe she thinks if they eat him I’ll stop calling. So, I call once a week, just to be sure.
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