Reason Number 28 - A Traditional Feast of Cruelty

‘Fault Lines On The Face Of China: 50 Reasons Why China May Never Be Great’ - Excerpt 53
“Cruelty to animals has a long history in China. ‘Rich people in ancient times used to put live ducks onto hot iron plates and the ducks end up dancing themselves to death. The diners then eat the meat on the ducks’ feet because it was said to be much more delicious than the meat of ducks cooked in the ordinary way’ said media.

China has many cruelly-prepared dishes. One is called ‘the three squeaks.’ This dish consists of live baby mice, and its name comes from the fact they squeak first when picked up by the diner’s chopsticks, second when dipped in sauce, and third when placed in the mouth and bitten.

Media also noted that while some people were kinder to animals, this could ‘stem from a fear of being punished if animals are treated badly’ because ‘Buddhism encourages people not to eat animals since … after death, people may become animals themselves.’ It is fear of religious retribution that may dictate positive treatment of animals rather than the natural expression of kindness itself."

Among the few people still bothering to comment on this blog there’s a bit of a debate going on about the merits of TCM – traditional Chinese medicine.

As a rationalist I no more believe in most of TCM than I believe in other equally preposterous fairy tales such as Jesus and Allah. Sure, TCM has its testable benefits, but only insofar as its shamanistic recipes coincide with the proven benefits of many types of plant. The bulk of it is sheer nonsense, from yin and yang to acupuncture.

This is not to deny it can be effective – for what TCM most does is soothe the mind of those who believe in it – and if the mind is convinced, the body often can be. That’s why there is such a vast army of idiots who believe in homeopathy and crystal healing and aromatherapy and so on.

But these ‘medicines’ are nothing more than placebos – in the case of acupuncture, for example, an experiment last year found that “There was no statistically significant difference between proper, genuine acupuncture and fake, ‘bung a needle in, anywhere you fancy, with a bit of theatrical ceremony’ acupuncture.”

The problem with TCM is that it sees nature as an allegory. It imposes a very human interpretation on the world, and suggests that the way ‘we’ see the world is how the world really is. In short – the essence, the very theory and core of TCM is ignorant and arrogant.

Take the case of tiger bone. Tiger bone – indeed all parts of the tiger – are highly prized by TCM since they are held to endow great strength on those who ingest them. This is because, from a human perspective, the tiger is a signifier of power and prowess; it is an animal of grace, speed and deadliness.

TCM sees the tiger as an answer; in fact it is just an equation. The tiger is made out of the same stuff as any other animal, and it is the inescapable Darwinian response to its environment. It is merely a staging post in the grand flow of evolution. But TCM views it as a finished, almost designed product; TCM sees it as an embodiment rather than a process.

But nature is not an allegory; eating the tiger does not make us strong any more than eating the mole makes us miners. To see animals as signifiers is to misunderstand nature and our place in it. And that is why TCM has done so much damage to the natural world, driving the tiger and the rhino close to extinction. It is also why China’s attitude to the animal world (all parts of it save small fluffy dogs) is so monstrously cruel, stuck back where the West was in the age of bear-baiting and cock fights.

‘Fault Lines On The Face Of China: 50 Reasons Why China May Never Be Great’ - Excerpt 54
“China does have laws to protect its endangered species, though like so many laws in the country they carry little judiciary weight, the result of which leaves rare animals hunted for food in an age of grocery stores and supermarkets.

A nationwide campaign called Spring Thunder in 2003 saw Chinese police inspect nearly 16,000 animal fairs and 67,800 hotels and restaurants across the county. During the inspection, which lasted just nine days, 838,500 endangered animals were confiscated, saved from China’s kitchens. About 45,000 of them were wildlife with first-class state protection.

In 2007, demand for wild and exotic animals on the dinner table was still high. Thirteen people were sentenced to up to 14 years in prison after they were found guilty of illegally buying and selling thousands of state-protected wild animals in the largest wild animal trade case the country had seen, said media. One man, Ma Weihu, illegally bought about 900 owls, a Grade-II state protected animal, to sell to restaurants in southern Guangdong Province.

While China’s laws on endangered species are clearly ineffectual, the country also does not have a single law ruling against animal cruelty. None. ‘(Animal abuse) cannot be tackled with public opinion or moral pressure, it’s time for legislation,’ said Mang Ping, assistant professor with the Central Socialist Academy, and a long-time advocate for animal rights in China.”