This Dog's For You: Budweiser Advertising at a Dog Meat Restaurant in Yulin

Tomorrow is a special day in Yulin, Guangxi — the first and biggest day of the Yulin Lychee and Dog Meat Festival. And for the first time, I will be observing the festival person. I hope to better provide some important context that I feel much past reporting in Western media about the festival lacked. So there will certainly be multiple posts here in the future about dogs in Yulin, the festival, and the more general culture of eating dog meat in China.

To get the ball rolling, in the spirit of highlighting the everyday side of eating dog meat in China I will first share a photo of one of the easy-to-find restaurants which feature or serve dog meat in Yulin year round like many (many) other restaurants I have seen across China — no festival required. So here is the Camphorwood Dog Meat Restaurant (樟木狗肉管) on Dabei Road:

Restaurant signs with advertising for alcohol — typically baijiu or beer — are a common sight in (at least some parts of) China, and the Camphorwood Dog Meat Restaurant didn't pass up on this practice which at the very least helps save money on signs.

So if you want to wash down your dog meat with a cold (or outdoor / room temperature) American Budweiser beer, Camphorwood might be the perfect place.

The signs with Budweiser advertising would really be something if they included Budweiser's retired dog mascot Spuds MacKenzie.

Regardless, the Budweiser slogan on the sign says, "Be Your True Self". So fear not if you don't want dog meat. According to the sign you can get assorted cow or pig innards & meat there too — also with a Bud.

Watched By a Gigantic Panda in Yulin

I am working on a post about the opening of a new shopping mall in Yulin, Guangxi, which speaks to a variety of issues in China. While I don't share a lot of video, in this case I feel it is quite useful for communicating some what occurred. However, uploading the video across the Great Firewall will require more effort and time.

So for now, I will just say my recent time at this new mall has helped me gain appreciation for the fact that even after all of these years in China I'm still not sure what to think when a gigantic panda intently stares . . .

stares . . .

. . . stares, I say, at me.

Good times. After this, the world only become more unusual when the panda danced on the stage. The moves were at times, shall we say, intense for a creature of such a size. Or really any size. At least the panda was distracted from me. I hope.

More later.

A Spider Dreaming Big in Yulin

A Bird Falling From the Sky in Macau

A few days ago while walking down a pedestrian lane off of Largo Maia de Magalhães in Macau's Taipa Village, I froze when I unexpectedly saw something small fall straight down from above 15 feet directly in front me. The object landed with a clearly audible thud and cracking sound.

I continued forward, and to my surprise found a small bird — I believe a sparrow.

Although there were some high ledges on a nearby building, straight above was only sky. Perhaps the bird had experienced a heart attack while flying. On closer inspection, one of the bird's legs slowly moved and it slowly opened and closed its eyes a couple of times. I am not an expert on birds, but given how it had hit the ground and its current condition I felt confident I was witnessing its final moments of life or postmortem reflexes.

In either case, it felt wrong to just leave the bird in the middle of an area where there were many pedestrians who could unwittingly step on it. So I picked up the bird. It didn't react. I then looked for the most fitting nearby location.

After relocating the bird and noticing similar birds flying around, I went to a nearby public restroom that I knew had soap and washed my hands. I then returned to the quieter side of a tree to take one last photo of the bird that I had seen come out of the sky for its last time.

An Interspecies Confrontation in Wuzhou

I witnessed the interaction in the above photo while walking in Wuzhou this afternoon. Most of the time, the cat, which wore a collar, stood its ground in a defensive posture while the dog yapped at it. Although the cat didn't seem to be in serious danger, I later tried blocking the dog a few times to give the cat a chance to more safely flee. The cat didn't take advantage of the opportunity, so I left life as it was on the otherwise peaceful street.

A Chair Tied to Two Chickens in Wuzhou

I didn't ask them, but presumably these two chickens in Wuzhou just didn't want anybody to take their chair.

At Juren Road (居仁路)

Perhaps the free range chair on the street has it better.

Identified: A Paris Peacock Swallowtail on a Mountain in Wuzhou

I don't often see butterflies. I far more rarely take decent photos of them. But the other day one butterfly on Baiyun Mountain in Wuzhou was kind enough to pose (ever so briefly) for a few.

I have come up fruitless many times trying to more specifically identify unusual (to me) insects in Asia. Sometimes I have asked for help here, including with some beetles I saw around West Lake in Fuzhou, Fujian, that still remain a mystery to me. But this time a friend who saw the photos saved the day and said she thought it was a Paris peacock, a species of swallowtail butterfly. The pictures and description in the Wikipedia entry look like an excellent match, so I consider this case closed.

And now, the photos of a Paris peacock swallowtail I saw during yet an another unexpected hike up a mountain (more about that attempt to reach the top of a tower another day):

A Watching Bird in Mong Kok

Having another pair of eyes is often useful . . .

At the Fa Yuen Street Market in Mong Kok, Hong Kong

Hu Jintao Looking at a Fish

A piece about a site in Zhongshan I had planned to post yesterday turned out to be more challenging to put together than expected. I think I finally sorted out the loose ends which had bothered me, but I won't get around to finishing it today.

Instead, today I will share a photo that tangentially relates to the future post.

Photo's caption:
"2004年12月21日，时任中共中央总书记，国家主席，中央军委主席胡锦涛视察中山市食品水产进出口集团，时任中央政治局委员，广东省委书记张德江等陪同"

The photo in the above photo is displayed at Zhongshan's Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. According to the caption, it was taken in 2004 and captures a moment as Hu Jintao (far right), then general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and president of China, inspected the Zhongshan Foodstuffs and Aquatic Import & Export Group Co., Ltd. The caption doesn't say anything about whether the visit was a success, but with all those smiles it looks like at least this part went quite well, at least for the non-fish entities.

I now see that the photo relates in yet another rather tangential fashion to the unfinished future post. So I will add that it includes another exciting photo of a past Chinese leader displayed at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and has an indirect fish theme. Most importantly, I can now rest in peace knowing that I have a "Hu Jintao Looking at a Fish" post.

A Zhongshan Pug

A Snail's Pace in Zhongshan

A small friendly snail in Zhongshan

Posting has been lighter than usual lately, and by "lately" I mean for a while — which raises the question of what counts as "usual" in this case. Anyway, planning to change that soon — the usual.

Unexpected Animals in Two Photos of Scenes in Zhongshan

Twice today in Zhongshan I decided to take photos of a scene only to be surprised by the appearance of animals. In the first case, after taking a photo I noticed that two cats were sitting in the alley. In the second case, a man walked his dog by a large xiangqi sculpture. The previous posts featured two dogs, which also made an unexpected appearance while I took photos of a scene, and a cat. So fate seems to demand I share two photos from today that I probably wouldn't have otherwise thought to pair together.

At Julong Zhong (巨龙中)

At the Dragon Boat Cultural Park (龙舟文化公园)

Keeping an Eye Out for the Dogs in Zhongshan

The previous post consisted solely of a photo of a friendly cat I met at night in an alley in Zhongshan.

For some balance, I will share a photo including two dogs I encountered on another night in Zhongshan.

But the cat theme continues nonetheless . . .

Zhongshan Alley Cat

(Person in) Bear (Suit) Frightens Young Woman at a Shopping Center in Ganzhou, China

After hearing a startled scream at the the Zhonglian Shopping Center (中联商城) today, I saw a bear making sudden sharp movements with its arms approaching two young women. Of course I did the only thing possible and captured several moments which followed during which the young women refused the bear's offering and fled.

Fortunately, nobody was injured (and nobody was in any real danger). The two young women walked away laughing at times. They also made sure the bear didn't follow them. The bear left them alone after that, though, and appeared frustrated in this instance it had failed its primary task — handing out flyers.

The aggressive approach the person used wouldn't at all be common or accepted for a person in normal attire, but putting on a costume can open doors for performance. I have seen similar suited tactics before in China and have wondered how much of it is the result of the person genuinely believing it could be effective versus the person simply desiring to entertain themselves or others while performing a potentially monotonous or frustrating job.

In any case, as I left the shopping center I now had new question in mind. What would occur if this bear teamed up with Ganzhou's dancing Tyrannosaurus?

Unlucky Duckies in Huizhou

Today on a street in Huizhou, Guangdong, I saw a bunch of a ducks restrained in a truck.

I don't speak duck, but some of them sounded as if they were complaining. If so, it would be hard to blame them. I didn't stick around to see if I could learn their fate, but I feel safe guessing it isn't anything they'd be happy about.

For a more cheerful, or at least more free, duck story, there's my confrontation last year with a mighty duck in Xiapu, Fujian.

A Cat and Dog Debate the Best Peppers for Steaks in a Restaurant Chain Ad in China

Houcaller (豪客来) is a widespread Western-style steak restaurant chain in China, and I have seen it, and some imitators, in numerous cities. A recent promotion of theirs recently caught my eye as I was passing a bus stop in Shenzhen.

The ad features a red pepper steak with bones and black pepper steak without bones. The ad asks who is more correct in their tastes. The cat apparently prefers the red pepper steak and the dog prefers the other. I would have associated a preference for bones more with dogs, but maybe the black pepper would win them over after all.

Beside the dog is a Chinese phrase which can be interpreted as "Dare to be black" or "Of course, black". But it's also a bit of pun, presumably intended, because in slang the phrase means "dare to mock yourself".

I haven't tried either of these steaks, so I can't help settle this debate. I think the last, and perhaps only, time I went to a Houcaller was about 8 years ago far to the north in Anyang, Henan. It was a fascinating experience. I'll save that short story for another day. No cats or dogs were involved.

A Bubble Wrap Cat and Uploads

Yesterday I spent a lot of time troubleshooting why sometimes websites loaded at decent speeds yet I couldn't upload anything. As I am in mainland China, I wondered if the Great Firewall had something to do with it, since I was using a VPN to access blocked sites.

So . . .

I have one photo I took in Shenzhen which I managed to upload as a test.

Yes, that it is a cat proudly standing next to a fine roll of bubble wrap.

Yes, I had to walk to the elevator lobby with my laptop to make this happen.

Yes, it is more complicated than that.

Maybe this post will publish. Maybe it won't. But that cat will have plenty of bubble wrap regardless.

From Donkey to Cat: The Selection at a Butcher Shop in Yunfu

A variety of shops line historic Jiefang Road in Yunfu, Guangdong province. One which especially caught my eye sells meat.

It was specifically the selection of meat available listed on its signs that I found notable. I have seen all of these types of meat sold and on restaurant menus in China before, but seeing them all together listed so prominently isn't a daily event for me.

The first meat listed is identified with the Chinese character 羊 (yáng), which can refer to sheep or goats (and some other animals as well). Given how I have found the term used in many parts of Guangdong province, including in Jieyang, I presume it refers to goat.

Donkey meat is next, which I saw on the menu at a restaurant in Huizhou — another city in Guangdong province.

Then comes rabbit meat, which I most strongly associate with Zigong in Sichuan province since it is especially popular there. A couple of relevant dishes I had in Zigong appear in a post where I offer spicy evidence that family-sized portions of rice are quite common in parts of China.

Next up is dog meat. I have seen this for sale in many regions. A post including photos of seven restaurants in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province, that feature dog meat comes to mind.

The last item listed, cat meat, is the one I come across the least in China. I don't have any relevant posts about it. I have photos of various sightings though — potential material for a future post.

While it significantly differs from what is available at typical grocery stores, I wouldn't consider this selection of meats especially exotic for Guangdong. In terms of what I have personally come across, the winner for that is probably a live animal market I visited a number of times in Shaoguan — more material for a future post. The bamboo rats did not look happy.

Green and Red at Zhishan Park in Taipei

Some paths and insects for today, all from Zhishan Park:

If you can identify the red insects, I'd appreciate being enlightened. I feel like they deserve a name. And maybe you can give some other red insects I once saw in Fuzhou a try as well.