From stew to fashion accessory: A dog's life in China

[Mugu]

By Joseph Chaney

GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - If you're a dog in China then you'd better hope to be of the cute and furry variety sold in pet shops rather than a homely-looking mutt sold at a live animal market as the main ingredient in dog meat stew.

"We still eat dog, but not this kind of dog," Liu Ming, a pet shop salesman said, pointing to a toffee-colored puppy with floppy ears on sale for about 500 yuan or $70. "We eat much bigger dogs".

Keeping pets is becoming all the rage among the affluent in China, even though some Chinese still consume dog and cat meat.

Combined spending on pet food and pet care in China will be worth an estimated $870 million in 2008, according to Euromonitor International. That's up roughly 15 percent from the $757 million spent in 2007.


Complete article at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSHKG20620820080317?sp=true

[Clear Blue Sky]

1. I just lost my appetite...

[Quantess]

2. Someone told me that in Chinese culture,

cats and dogs don't have souls, and therefore can't experience pain.

[misanthrope]

3. You misspelled "Christian culture"**nm

**