AR-News: US IL) Animal-rights activism tramples China bullfighting idea

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0405200215may20,1,1265822.s
tory?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
 By Mark Magnier, Tribune Newspapers
Los Angeles Times
Published May 20, 2004

BEIJING -- "Foreign Bulls Head for the Middle Kingdom."

"Spanish Matadors Pack Their Bags for Beijing."




"Local Promoters Salivate Over the Prospect of Bloodthirsty Crowds."

The headlines said it all: Bullfighting was coming to China.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the bullring. In a country known for 
its often brutal treatment of animals and its anything-goes capitalism, a 
public outcry halted the project in its tracks. Chagrined promoters aren't 
talking, while emboldened activists voice hope that their win will help spur new 
laws to strengthen animal rights.

"This is a very significant victory," said Zhang Luping, head of the Beijing 
Human and Animal Environmental Education Center. "It shows that ordinary 
people's voices can be heard in China and that policies can be changed."

The treatment of animals in China still leaves much to be desired. For-profit 
zoos often mistreat them, selling unwanted ones as exotic restaurant fare and 
feeding live animals to other beasts for visitors' amusement. Tigers are 
drugged and tied to concrete slabs so tourists can have their pictures snapped on 
the felines' backs.

Attitudes changing fast

Markets in ivory, fur and endangered-species parts for virility treatments 
still thrive. And bears are kept in tiny cages and "milked" of their bile, used 
for medicine, with permanently implanted metal catheters puncturing their 
gallbladders.

But animal-rights groups say they are impressed by how fast the attitudes of 
average Chinese are changing. A few years ago, there wasn't even a good term 
in Chinese for "animal welfare," said Jill Robinson, founder of Animals Asia. 
Now dongwufuli is in widespread use as public support surges for a broad range 
of environmental issues.

"In the past two years alone, you've seen enormous change," Robinson said.

Driving the shift, animal-rights groups say, are economic, social and 
cultural factors that suggest how quickly China is adapting to global sensibilities.

"As people's lifestyles have improved, they've become more and more sensitive 
toward animals," said Wang Shi, secretary-general of the Chinese Culture 
Promotion Society, a government-linked civic group. "It's becoming a universal 
value, like Western classical music."

New social structures also have heightened respect for the birds and the 
beasts. As more and more people move from the countryside into urban apartments, 
the average family size is declining and the number of people living alone is 
rising.

That has spurred pet ownership as animals become companions. Beijing 
officials got a taste of the new attitude when they sought to discourage pet ownership 
through high license fees in 1995, a policy that was largely reversed under 
pressure from outspoken residents.

Rural areas respect animals

Activists and sociologists point out that harsh treatment of animals is not a 
Chinese tradition, at least not an old one. Rural culture has for centuries 
respected animals, which are seen as an important part of local life, the 
economy and people's hopes for success.

However, during the difficult years after China's 1949 Communist Revolution, 
when famines swept the country, and later as the Cultural Revolution spread 
social upheaval, there was little scope for worrying about much beyond human 
survival.

"Because of the social problems, the people-to-people tensions and 
overpopulation, we lost our traditions," said Mang Ping, associate professor of 
traditional culture at the Central Institute of Socialism, based in Beijing. "During 
the famines in Inner Mongolia, people started killing rare yellow goats in 
large numbers--driving the species onto the endangered list--to avoid starvation."

Word of Beijing Wildlife Park's plans to introduce bullfighting--seen locally 
as a way to stimulate tourism and promote economic growth--came in early 
March from Shen Baochang, the Communist Party secretary from Daxing, a district on 
the outskirts of the capital where the private zoo complex is located.

News reports cited plans to bring Spanish bullfighters to China so Chinese 
could learn the trade. European and American bulls would be imported, with the 
option of replacing them with local animals later.

As word spread, however, animal-rights groups kicked into gear. They wrote 
articles, pressured lawmakers and held seminars. They marshaled 
counter-arguments. They appealed to Chinese civility. They convinced National People's 
Congress representatives, who added their voices to the howls of protest from 
non-governmental groups across China.

"I was really amazed at the depth of public feeling and anger this 
bullfighting proposal aroused," said Zhang, the animal education center director.

That sort of grass-roots challenge, once unthinkable, reflects the relative 
vibrancy of China's environmental movement.

Chinese authorities have given nature-focused organizations far greater 
leeway in recent years than groups concerned with human rights, religious freedom, 
migrant worker conditions or AIDS because the subject is not as politically 
sensitive, said Zhao Liqing, a professor and civil society expert with the 
Central Party School of the Communist Party.

Those supporting bullfighting--largely the wildlife company, local government 
officials and local National People's Congress representatives--tried to stem 
the public tide by arguing that they were bringing a respected cultural 
tradition to the country. That has become a potent argument as China embraces the 
outside world.

"They argued that this was tied into the national essence of Spain," said 
Zhang Li, Beijing director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "But 
that's a bit disingenuous. We argued back that culture and tradition are not 
necessarily good. China, after all, has a culture of collecting ivory."

The wildlife company, having invested a substantial, though undisclosed, sum 
in a 6,400-seat, Spanish-style ring, backed down last month. It quickly 
regrouped and came up with a new plan to offer American-style rodeos.

Company officials declined requests for interviews. But Jiao Shenhai, a 
Daxing tourism official, said local planners should not be blamed.

"We realized it was a mistake, and we changed," he said. "All we knew at the 
beginning was that Spanish bullfighting was famous. But we learned that even 
in Spain, many oppose it."








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    "The day may come when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those 
rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of
tyranny. - Jeremy Bentham 1748 - 1832 
The question is not can they REASON, nor can they TALK, but can they SUFFER?" 
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