“何不食狗肉？” ：从“玉林荔枝狗肉节”剖析中国食肉习俗与动物保护意识 = To eat or not to eat?” : A study of China’s meat consumption habits and awareness in animal protection using “Yulin dog meat festival” as an example

• Main Author: 何丽娜 Ho, Alena Li Na
• Other Authors: Fang Xiaoping
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: Chinese
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/69645
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

广西玉林在2009年兴办的“荔枝狗肉节”引发了一场激烈争论，将中国分化成支持与反对两大对立派。由于两派各自捍卫自己的权益，迟迟无法达成共识，这场争论也由内扩外，引起了国际关注与辩论。西方媒体大肆报道有关节日的新闻，就连动物保护组织也通过各种公开上诉状来谴责中国吃狗肉的行为。中国自古就有肉食的习惯，而且食用的肉类繁多。除了提供人体所需的蛋白质以外，食肉也能够用于养生药用当中，甚至能够用以加强人际关系等仪式性作用。无论食肉的原因是什么，只要是通过合法手段获取，人们大致上不会受到法律制裁或道德上的谴责。为了探究这一变化的原因，本文将通过玉林狗肉节的个案分析来厘清现代中国人对于食用狗肉的立场、观点和态度。其次，本文将从宏观角度对比研究中西两方食用伴侣和非伴侣动物的状态、动物观以及动物保护立法，最后说明中国动物保护现状与意识的不足。In 2009, “The Lychee and Dog Meat Festival” held in Yulin, Guangxi, unexpectedly sparked a heated conflict, causing China to be divided into two opposing sides; support and against. As the two sides sought to defend their own interests and was unable to reach a consensus, this conflict spread outside of China and resulted in international attention and debate. Not only did the Western media vastly reported news about the festival, animal protection organisations also condemned the Chinese dog meat eating behaviours through various public appeals. China has been consuming a wide variety of meat since ancient times. Besides providing the human body with protein, eating meat can also be used to improve one’s health condition, and even serve to strengthen human relationships and other ceremonial purposes. Regardless of the reasons to consume, so long as meat is obtained through legal means, people were generally not subjected to legal sanctions or moral condemnation. To explore the reasons for this change, this thesis will centre primarily on Yulin Dog Meat Festival as a case study to clarify the positions, perspectives and attitudes of modern Chinese people. Second, this thesis will adopt a macro comparative perspective to study the differences between East and West in terms of consuming companion and non-companion animals, animal views and animal protection legislations, to show China’s lack in animal protection and awareness.