VILLAGERS IN eastern China are fattening up thousands of dogs ahead of the annual dog meat festival in Hutou, which is due to take place next month. During three days over 10,000 dogs will be killed and eaten.

The photographs from Hutou are grim.

In one scene, cooked dogs hang from skewers at a roadside stall, while in another a butcher uses a forceps-like instrument to kill the dog. It is then placed into a bloody vat.

The Chinese have eaten dog for 7,000 years and it is widely believed to have medicinal qualities, such as an ability to lower blood pressure, as well as boosting virility.

In the northeast, people believe it helps keep the body warm during the freezing winter months.

According to local legend, the festival marks the time when the founder and first emperor of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Zhu Yuanzhang, laid siege to a site near Jinhua, but every time they attacked, dogs would bark and give them away.

So they stealthily killed all the dogs and overran the town, after which they feasted on dog for three days.

The scenes from Hutou are at odds with the image of a dynamic China embracing modernity and reaping the benefits of economic growth. And opposition to eating dog meat is growing in China.

“After seeing the photos from Hutou, I can’t tell which are the humans and which are the dogs. A dog is always a dog, but humans are not always human,” posted dog lover Qianyi 2046.

However, dog meat eaters are a vocal lobby too. Many cite western practices such as eating foie gras or kangaroos in Australia as examples of equal barbarity.

“There are more pigs than dogs eaten every day, why don’t you post a message to save the pigs,” wrote commentator Porket SD.

“You have too much love, but people have to make a living from this. Will you pay their salary if they lose their livelihood? This is their tradition, why do you think they should change it,” wrote another.

As it stands, there are no laws banning animal cruelty or killing animals for food in China, a country in which famine is still in many people’s living memory and is less sentimental than the West when it comes to how our fellow creatures are treated.

Dogs as pets are not eaten, and dog meat is illegal in Hong Kong but still widely available on the mainland, featuring prominently in the cuisines of Yunnan, Jiangsu and Guizhou. The ancient philosopher Mencius recommended dog as the “tastiest of all meats”.