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Dogs and British Colonialism: The Contested Ban on Eating Dogs in Colonial Hong Kong

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 42; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03086534.2013.851873

1743-9329

S. Poon,

Rabies epidemiology and control

AbstractBritish colonialism brought new standards of treatment towards animals to the Far East. This article examines the ways in which the western concept of dogs and animal welfare introduced by the British colonists was received, and contested, in Hong Kong, and the colonial politics that shaped the way the controversial legislation against eating dog meat was created and passed in 1950. It argues that the original concept of animal welfare did not consider eating dogs a form of animal cruelty, as long as dogs were killed in a humane way for their meat. The dog-loving native elites, who saw dogs as pets which thus should not be eaten, manipulated the outbreak of rabies epidemic in 1949 to their advantage by petitioning the government that dog-eating was conducive to the spread of rabies. The resulting 1950 ordinance against dog-eating rationalised the taboo against eating dogs in the name of public health and extended the ‘benevolence’ of British colonialism to dogs. Yet it also brought a challenge to colonial administration due to the difficulty of its implementation. AcknowledgementsThe author wishes to thank Tik-sang Liu, Mark Hampton, Patrick Hase and Vincent Goossaert, as well as the anonymous reviewers of the journal for their helpful suggestions.Notes1 Apple Daily (Hong Kong), 28 Dec. 2006, 31 Dec. 2006.2 Mintz, Sweetness and Power, 3.3 The Philippines and Taiwan banned eating dog meat in 1998 and 2001 respectively.4 Tsang, A Modern History of Hong Kong, 46–47.5 Blaisdell, ‘Rise of Man's Best Friend’, 77–81, 84; McMullan, ‘The Day the Dogs Died in London’, 32–40; Ritvo, ‘Pride and Pedigree’, 227.6 There are six types of livestock in China, namely, horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, chickens and pigs. Yet eating dogs was a taboo for some religious practitioners in imperial China. According to Vincent Goossaert's study, Daoists in the Song period (960–1279) began to advocate abstention from the ‘three revolting meats’, including dogs, wild geese and certain aquatic animals. Goossaert, ‘The Beef Taboo’, 243.7 Cai, ‘Haba Gou Yuanliu’ (A History of Pekingese Dogs), 211–20.8 China Mail, 5 June 1959.9 Anderson, The Food of China, 176, 179, 214.10 ‘Three-six’ is a code word for dogs. Three plus six equals nine. Cantonese pronunciation for ‘nine’ is ‘gau’, which is the same as for the word ‘dog’.11 Gray, Walks in the City of Canton, 166–67.12 Schwabe, Unmentionable Cuisine, 172–75; Simoons, Food in China, 312.13 For example, Cho, Chuka Ryori no Bunkashi, 115.14 Dogs were eaten in many Asian countries, including Japan, where dog meat was consumed by the elite class well into the Edo period. Skabelund, Empire of Dogs, 164.15 Leach, ‘Anthropological Aspects of Language’, 154, 161.16 Marvin Harris, Good to Eat, 175–98.17 Simoons, Eat Not This Flesh, 251–52.18 In Bencao gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica) completed in the sixteenth century, author Li Shizhen wrote that dogs can be divided into three main categories, namely, field dogs (i.e. hunting dogs), barking dogs (i.e. guard dogs) and dogs for eating (i.e. meat dogs). Li, Bencao gangmu, vol. 50.19 Goossaert, ‘The Beef Taboo’, 241.20 Edwards, Horse and Man in Early Modern England, 18.21 Ritvo, ‘Animals in Nineteenth-Century Britain’, 106–09.22 Ordinance no. 14 of 1845.23 Munn, Anglo-China, 148; ‘Returns of Superior and Subordinate Courts for 1888′, Hong Kong Sessional Papers, 1889.24 Wu, America through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat, 156.25 Hong Kong Government Gazette, 2 Oct. 1903, 1448; Blaisdell, ‘170 Years of Caring’, 189; Harrison, ‘Animals and the State’, 788.26 The HKSPCA was not the first SPCA founded in Asia. An SPCA was founded in Calcutta, India, in 1861, in Singapore of the Straits Settlements in 1876 and in Shanghai in 1898. The founding of the SPCA should have played an important role in promulgating laws or regulations pertaining to animal welfare in these British colonies or foreign settlements. However, due to the absence of related studies, a comparison between Hong Kong and these cities, though intriguing, is beyond the scope of this article.27 The connection between the HKSPCA and its counterpart in Britain, if any, was not strong in early years. In fact, the HKSPCA did not discuss possible affiliation with the RSPCA of England until 1934, and application for affiliation was sent to London in 1935. See Hong Kong Telegraph, 29 Aug. 1903, 10 May 1934, 5; Hong Kong Daily Press, 30 May 1935, 7. For the history of the Shanghai SPCA, see MacGregor, ‘The Early Years of the S.S.P.C.A.’, 86.28 Hong Kong Telegraph, 4 April 1921.29 Hong Kong Daily Press, 24 June 1921.30 Hong Kong Daily Press, 12 April 1921; Hong Kong Telegraph, 25 Nov. 1922.31 Hong Kong Daily Press, 24 June 1921.32 Hong Kong Telegraph, 25 Nov. 1922.33 Hong Kong Daily Press, 12 April 1921, 9 Dec. 1921; Hong Kong Telegraph, 5 Dec. 1924. The Coast Officers Guild and the Marine Engineers Guild of China, whose members were primarily Europeans, complained that the ordinance was unfair, that the master of the vessel was made responsible for the offences on board, even though the actual offender was the Chinese stevedore. The local Chinese poultry and livestock importers emphasised that their current practices did not constitute cruelty to animals, and that some of the regulations were not viable and would affect the whole poultry industry and food prices. Hong Kong Telegraph, 26 May 1924, China Mail, 5 June 1924; Huazi ribao, 1 April 1925, 2 April 1925.34 Hong Kong Annual Report, 1935, 46.35 Huang, Wushi huiyi (Reminiscences at Fifty), 228.36 For example, Huazi ribao, 8 May 1908, 11 March 1935, 17 March 1935; Gongshang ribao, 11 March 1935.37 China Mail, 4 Aug. 1926; South China Morning Post, 13 Dec. 1933; Hong Kong Telegraph, 13 Dec. 1939.38 Hong Kong Telegraph, 25 Nov. 1922.39 For example, Delaporte, Disease and Civilization, 199.40 Van Sittert, ‘Class and Canicide in Little Bess’, 207–34.41 Strathern, A Brief History of Medicine, 289–93.42 Hong Kong Daily Press, 21 Jan. 1927; Gongshang ribao, 3 April 1926; Huazi ribao, 8 July 1927.43 South China Morning Post, 19 May 1914.44 Hong Kong Telegraph, 25 Nov. 1922; South China Morning Post, 12 May 1933.45 Hong Kong Daily Press, 24 June 1921; Hong Kong Telegraph, 25 Nov. 1922; Hong Kong Telegraph, 5 Dec. 1924.46 Tianguang bao, 14 Aug. 1934.47 Singtao Daily, 18 Sept. 1949; China Mail, 28 Sept. 1949, 6 Oct. 1949, 26 Oct. 1949.48 Gongshang ribao, 29 Aug. 1949. Chow Shou-son was a legislative councillor from 1921 to 1931. In 1926, he became the first Chinese appointed to the Executive Council and was knighted in recognition of his service and allegiance to the Hong Kong government during the General Strike in 1925–26. Endacott, Government and People in Hong Kong, 146, 253. The first five signatories were Sir Chow Shou-son, Richard Charles Lee (OBE, and a member of one of the leading mercantile family in Hong Kong), Tang Shiu Kin (OBE, and founder of the Kowloon Motor Bus Co.), Eva Ho-tung (daughter of Sir Robert Ho-tung) and Yu Tat Chee (President of the Chinese Manufacturers Union). See Hong Kong Public Records Office, HKRS41-1-5149.49 Hong Kong Public Records Office, HKRS41-1-5149.50 Dagong bao, 22 Aug. 1949.51 Hong Kong Public Records Office, HKRS41-1-5149.52 HKRS41-1-5149. There were six official members and six unofficial members in the Executive Council in 1949. All official members were non-Chinese, and three of the six unofficial members were Chinese. Hong Kong Dollar Directory, 441–42.53 Cats were included within the scope of the ordinance because cats are also susceptible to rabies.54 Hong Kong Hansard, Reports of the Meetings of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Session 1949, 300–02.55 Kete, ‘Animals and Human Empire’, 16.56 Chan, The Making of Hong Kong Society, 34–35.57 The first dog show in Britain was held in 1859. Kean, ‘The Moment of Greyfriars Bobby’, 27–28.58 Hong Kong Telegraph, 2 April 1913.59 Huazi ribao, 20 March 1939.60 Lethbridge, Hong Kong, 19–20.61 The Kennel Club in London was founded in 1873 for the purpose of establishing the identity of pure-bred dogs. See Ritvo, ‘Pride and Pedigree’, 241.62 Hong Kong Sunday Herald, 17 Aug. 1947; China Mail, 22 March 1948; China Mail, 1 Feb. 1949.63 Xianggang nianjian, 1950 (Hong Kong Year Book, 1950), 175.64 Gongshang ribao, 5 Jan. 1950. The Chinese characters of the ‘Anti-Rabies Act’ are ‘fangzhi diangouzheng fa'an’.65 Gongshang ribao, 20 Jan. 1950. The cost of average quality rice in 1950 was 70 Hong Kong dollars for one picul (60.5 kg). In other words, one could buy about 17 kg of rice with 20 Hong Kong dollars.66 Hong Kong Public Records Office, HKRS41-1-9273.67 China Mail, 5 June 1959.68 Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Hong Kong), Annual Report, 1979, editorial. It should be noted here that the chairman of the Hong Kong SPCA signed the petition for the ban on eating dog meat in 1950.69 Gongshang ribao, 7 Dec. 1979.70 Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Hong Kong), Annual Report, 1980, 4.71 The Times, 11 Oct. 1980.72 Hong Kong Standard, 20 Nov. 1979; Simoons, Eat Not This Flesh, 203.73 Ferguson, Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order, xx.74 Levine, The British Empire, 141.75 Miners, Hong Kong under Imperial Rule; Pedersen, ‘The Maternalist Moment’, 161–202.76 Jones, ‘Tuberculosis, Housing and the Colonial State’, 654, 664–75.77 Podberscek, ‘Good to Pet and Eat’, 615; Tosa, ‘Dogs are Good to Eat’, 48; Walraven, ‘Bardot Soup and Confucians’ Meat’, 104.78 Lee, Being Eurasian, 25.79 Carroll, Edge of Empires, 17–19.80 Van Sittert, ‘Class and Canicide’, 234.