Confronting footage showing a greyhound dog being shoved into a barrel of boiling water and cooked alive has emerged out of China.

The horrific video, filmed in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province in northern China, shows a number of people looking on as the dog is carried over to a vat.

It is then lowered in to the boiling water before two men put a lid over the tub, as the dog howls in pain, desperately trying to escape.

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Horrific footage has emerged of men boiling a dog alive at a market in Shijiazhuang, northern China

The two men hold the lid of the vat of boiling water down using a bamboo stick for extra support as the animal writhes inside trying to get out.

At one stage they move the lid to the side, to check whether the animal is still alive.

They keep the dog inside the pot until it stops struggling.

Once the animal is dead one of the men uses a stick to remove the greyhound's limp, lifeless body from the vat.

Two men hold the lid of the pot down as the down howls and writhes in agony inside

One then pokes the animal with a stick to check whether it is still alive

A man then drags the dog's limp and lifeless body from the boiling water

Among the crowd there is a child watching on as the horrific scene unfolds

Among the crowd there is a child watching on as the horrific scene unfolds, visibly upset by the animal's suffering.

According to not-for-profit organisation Fight Dog Meat, over 10 million dogs are slaughtered each year in China's dog meat trade.

Founder Michele Brown said the animals are tortured because of an ancient belief that tougher meat has more health benefits, including an increased male libido.

'The only way to get the meat tough is to flood the conscious animal's body with adrenaline,' she told Daily Mail.

'Most of the times the aim is not to kill the dog straight away... sometimes they will be tortured for hours'.