heard this year china is taking dogs off the menu for the Olympics is this true?

Restaurants at the 112 Olympics-contracted hotels in Beijing have been ordered not to offer dog meat during the Games, while other restaurants in the city are being urged to keep canine dishes off the menu and caterers won’t be allowed to provide dog meat dishes in “restricted zones” (such as around Games venues, Tiananmen Square, at airports and other transportation centers).

A pampered pooch in Beijing (AP photo)

The Chinese-language Beijing News reports that the sale of dog meat is being temporarily suspended out of respect for foreigners, which recalls a similar ban by South Korea when it hosted the Olympics in 1988. (More in English here from China Daily).

But how much of an impact will the ban actually have? For starters, dog meat isn’t widely consumed in China. Though regional cuisines vary widely, pork, chicken and beef are the staple meats for everyday cooking, while luxury dining tends to revolve around pricey seafood such as abalone, sea cucumber and shark’s fin.

Authorities had considered a widespread ban on dog meat but ultimately decided against it, according to the Beijing News. In the capital, dog meat is usually found on the menus of restaurants serving dishes from northeastern and southwestern China, as well as at some Korean restaurants. But under the temporary rules, those restaurants will only be encouraged (rather than obligated) to refrain from serving dog, while many of restaurants in the high-end Olympic hotels don’t normally offer dog on their menus.

Under traditional Chinese concept of yin and yang, dog is considered a warming meat, hence generally not appropriate for summertime dining. As a result, the actual impact of the restrictions– including the economic effect on dog farmers, distributors and restaurants– is likely to be small.

But the dog meat ban is earning Beijing some much-needed positive PR with only four weeks to go til the start of the Games. Xiong Yumei, a city tourism official, told Xinhua (in Chinese) that the move is a response to the demands of others and recognizes that “dogs are a friend of humankind.”

–Sky Canaves

Probably not in restaurants that tourists wouldnt go to, and they only eat dog in Northern China - at least I havent seen it on menus in Southern China or places like Shanghai.

We should pass animal welfare laws in NA to protect cows, sheep, lambs, pigs, chickens, fish -- they are ALL living creatures too and yet most of you have NO problem chowing down on them -

Different cultures people -- we raise cows to eat, some people in China raise dogs to eat -- they arent "pets". Its not like they are serving up Fido -

And here is an FYI cows can make good pets, as can sheep, chickens and pigs !! They are all animals and all can form attachments to their owners

You people who get all riled up about this could spend your time more productively by doing something to raise funds for starving and homeless children in NA

Sure is - isn't that just great???

Really big of them to spare the foreigners' sensibilities like that. Of course, after, they go right back since dog meat is thought to be "healthy" and much in demand.

Do you by chance know that dogs are "tenderized" by being beaten to a pulp - before they are killed and eaten?

Anybody with a conscience and love for dogs will boycott the Olympics in China - and ANYTHING chinese, including all the cheap, tacky imports they send us --- oh, and the poison ingredients for dog food, rotten shrimp, foul chicken products - the list goes ever on.

I was in Beijing in March. I didn't have any restaurant offering us dog. I did in the Philippines, but not China. (I tried it too - very greasy!) Granted, I also was on a tour, which chose the restaurants for us, so we didn't have much of a choice. I found the food to be a little better than Panda Express. Don't get me wrong; it wasn't bad. It just wasn't what I was expecting traditional Chinese food to be.

yup sadly so, i'd be much more content if they just passed a proper animal welfare law instead

Yes, thank God.

Yes it is.

lmfao no

yep, thanks god!