Xi Chang Market. December
1997
Xichang, known as China's "space
city" and capital city of the Liangshan Yi Nationality Autonomous Prefecture in
southwestern Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China.
These are pictures of a market area on an
embankment above the river in the old part of town. At the front there are puppies and
kittens for sale as pets and further back are about 100 dogs waiting to be selected by
customers. When selected the vendor puts the dog in a sack and weighs it. After a price is
agreed the purchaser kills his dog and butchers it (sometimes in that order, more often in
the reverse order). Business was brisk with a dog being killed about ever 5
minutes. There seemed to be two techniques. The one man technique was to hit
the dog twice on the head with a wooden plank which dazed it sufficiently to make it safe
for him to plunge his knife into its jugular without getting bitten. He then held the dog
up by the tail until it bled into unconsciousness - he would then proceed to butcher it
with the dog coming in and out of consciousness. With the two man technique,
one man held the dog up by her tail while the other pulled the neck back with a wire round
the dog's neck. The first man was then able to reach down, again without fear
of being bitten, to sever the jugular vein. Since the dog was in no way stunned, she
struggled and howled and urinated until passing out. The watching dogs were also shaking
and howling. The dog was flung onto her back and the butchering began - consciousness
returned on lying flat but she was too weak then to struggle much. One of the men laid
down his knife and put his mouth to the inside of the dog's hind leg.
To view photographs at full scale, click on the thumbnails
below:
Waiting their turn:
Watching the proceedings and waiting:
Dog weighing:
Watching the show:
Dividing the spoils:
Applying his mouth to the
inside of the leg:
Trembling and whining piteously as she
watches:
The true meaning of vivisection:
Selecting the family roast:
Holding the animal over the
edge while waiting for the blood to drain out of the neck wound (still fully conscious):
Another dog meat market:
"Custom will reconcile
people to any atrocity." (Shaw)
"The perpetual obstacle to human advancement is custom." (J. Mill)
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