General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

What the Chinese eat is one thing. and since it includes cats and dogs we can grimace. Skinning animals and gutting them whilst they are still alive is another thing altogether. Torturing penned dogs at “dog fairs” for hours in the belief that this promotes the production of adrenalin and improves the taste of the meat, is something else; it is flat out sadistic and says much about Chinese “culture.”

In Chinese restaurants, not the tourist ones in Beijing and Shanghai, but those in the towns and villages of Mainland China, diners tell the waiter what they want, and the waiter brings in the dog or chicken or whatever and kills it at the table in front of the diner. The diners demand this because it reduces, although it does not eliminate, the chance that back in the fetid kitchen the chef will substitute cheaper rat or bush meat to replace what was ordered.