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Aftertaste from Shanghai
If you say two magic words in a Chinese restaurant - gou rou, the waiter will not be surprised and after a while will bring you a meat dish. True, it will be (this dish) cooked from your four-legged friend, you guessed it, dogs.
At the beginning of the year, Western press published responses to the holding of the FCI World Exhibition in Shanghai in China. In particular, a large article by Elizabeth Lee described in sufficient detail the situation that exists in China in relation to dogs. This article was widely disseminated in the media, which allowed everyone to read it.
Every year, a festival of eating dog meat takes place in Guangxi Province in southern China. It is also known, including participants of the show in Shanghai, that from 10 to 20 million dogs are killed annually in China. In the Celestial Empire, it is believed that dogs in the summer months brings good luck and good health, and that meat protects against disease and increases the sexual potential of men. Against the background of 1.5 billion people, it’s ridiculous to talk about raising such opportunities, it would be much more sensible to think about reducing them. (Author's note) By the way, at the festival, the dogs are set on fire still alive, torn to pieces, smashed with hammers and cut with chainsaws. From the point of view of the kennel clubs that have boycotted the world wide, the main argument was that there are no national animal protection laws in China.
It is appropriate to recall the Chinese neighbor - South Korea. In the North, it seems, they have already reached people, communism is in its prime. So in 1988, an Olympiad was to be held in Seoul and part of the athletes decided to boycott the Olympiad if the government does not take any measures to curb the residents' unhealthy appetites. For this reason, the government urged not to sell dog meat and to exclude these dishes from the menu of restaurants. It is noteworthy that people who keep dogs as pets have joined the boycott. Perhaps it means that athletes rarely sell puppies, do not take pictures of animals for money and, of course, do not judge dogs at shows.
Quite rightly and naturally, the English Kennel Club announced a boycott of the Chinese world-wide. There is a special story that goes back centuries, but in the bottom line, it can be stated that the existence of almost all Eastern breeds of dogs, we owe it to the English. They (English breeders) once saved the Pekingese, Shih Tzu, Pugs, Chinese Crested Dogs, etc. from destruction. For this reason, the Kennel Club had the moral right to ignore the Shanghai show. By the way, not a single English expert appeared in the rings of Shanghai. Some value here is played by the Internet. Thirty years ago it was possible to make a dubious act and no one would know about it. Today, the situation due to the information revolution has become radically different, and any more or less bad deed becomes public knowledge.
Nevertheless, in 2019, the most prestigious exhibition of the International Film Festival was held in Shanghai in China and caused many disputes among dog breeders. But first you need to determine what the event itself is worth, and for this to look into the statistics.
In total, 1578 dogs were recorded at the exhibition. In the group of shepherd dogs - 182 dogs, in the 2nd group - 275, in Terriers (3 group) -152, in Dachshunds (4 group) - 52, in the Spitz (5 group) - 277, in Hounds (6 group) - 47 , for the Setters (group 7) - 26, for the Retrievers (group 8) - 173, for the decorative ones (group 9) - 348, for the Greyhounds (group 10) - 46. That is, with the modern "rate of fire" of dachshunds, hounds, setters and greyhounds could quietly judge one expert in one day, as it happens on many domestic shows today.
A small lyrical digression. In a society in which it is customary to call things by their own names, and there is self-esteem (please do not confuse with a patient self-esteem), if it is a question of competition, a n-th number of participants is assumed, otherwise it is a strange form of self-satisfaction. (In this regard, perhaps the most interesting and democratic system of awarding points and champion title exists at American shows.) For this reason, titles at decent exhibitions are not awarded with an insufficient number of participants. True, if such conditions were observed on the Shanghai “worlds”, dogs in 15 breeds would get the title: Border Collie (55 dogs), Welsh Corgi Pembroke (49). Doberman (43), Cane-Corso (31), Miniature Schnauzer (27), Amstaff (29), Pomeranian Spitz (84), Shiba-Inu (51), Husky (28), Beagle (31), Golden Retriever (63 ), Labrador (72), Bichon Frize (51), French Bulldog (78), Toy Poodle (36). In the rest of the breeds, few dogs are represented and the title is an example of a peculiar slyness. In such a situation, it would be humiliating for the participants themselves to give the names of the winners, since in most breeds the victory was won in a painful fight with himself.
When reviewing the judges who agreed to work on the world-wide in Shanghai, the following joke is remembered.
The man climbed the ladder knowing that the ship would sink. Nevertheless, he asked God:
- I understand, you decided to drown, but why do people who go on the same flight suffer?
- Do not worry, I have collected you for ten years, ghouls.
Is it possible to apply this situation to the judges who ended up in Shanghai, to judge the readers, but there is an assumption that among the judges of the FCI there are individuals who do not see much sin in eating dogs, and of course, their age also has to be flexible. These "divine experts": Aramis Joy Lim (AUS), Tamas Jakkel (HUN), Ronnie Bong Natividad (PHL), Kim Ramey-Leblanc (CAN), Desmond J. Murphy (USA), William Rodriguez (CRI), Paul Stanton (SWE), Horst Kliebenstein (DEU), John Reeve-Newson (CAN), Oleg Yanchev (RUS), Fabio Amorim (BRA), Adrian Landarte (URY), Claudio de Giuliani (ITA), Roberto Velez-Pico (PRI ), Rafael Malo Alcrudo (ESP), Bruce Schwartz (USA), Cristian Stefanescu (ROU), Karl Reisinger (AUT), Barbara Zanieri Corsini (ITA), Barbara Zanieri Corsini (ITA), Takahiro Miyagawa (JPN), John Reeve-Newson (CAN), Kim Ramey-Leblanc (CAN), Stefan Sinko (SVN), Carla Molinari (PRT), Rafael de Santiago (PRI), Kari Jarvinen (FIN), Vija Klucniece (LVA). The only thing that can justify the actions of these specialists is the opportunity to watch an interesting country for free and get acquainted with fancy Asian cuisine at banquets. However, there is another ridiculous argument in favor of the Shanghai show: something must begin. For example, in 1779 the Hawaiians ate Mr. Cook, and now the Americans in the Hawaiian Islands have a rest. If we agree with this argument, we will hope that in a couple of hundred years the Chinese will stop eating dogs.
It is likely that the meat of dogs is useful, and the number of exhibitions should be such that each participant becomes a winner. If so, then I apologize for the text above.
Alexey Kalashnikov