Read this if you are skeptical about China using their products to spy on us

There has been a lot of talk about China deviously installing spy software in their consumer goods sold in the West, including in cars to allow the authorities in that dictatorship to collect data about what is happening in the West at a micro-scale which they can use in the future to increase their dominance of the world order. 

It sounds fanciful but Which? magazine has said that some Chinese-made airfriers collect personal data and send it back to servers in China using a smartphone app. Smartphones are often paired wirelessly with these sorts of devices to operate them which gives China a way in to monitor people.

The report in The Times states that: "The consumer group [Which?] tested four types of smart gadgets to see how invasive they were of users' privacy. Air fryers made by Xiaomi, Aigostar and Cosori...all wanted to record audio on users' phones with no specified reason, as well as know the customer's precise location, Which? said. The Aigostar and Xiaomi fryers both sent people's personal data to servers in China and the Xiaomi app connected to trackers from Facebook and TikTok."

In addition, "the Huawei Ultimate smartwatch was classed as giving invasive access to parts of someone's phone, including precise location, the ability to record audio, access to stored files and the ability to see all the other apps installed."

Samsung's TV app requested eight "risky" phone permissions including being able to see all the other apps on iPhone.

Trackers in apps are software that monitor data about your activity including how you use your app, your location and the device that you are using.

The information is often sent to big businesses such as Facebook and Google which use the information to target users in respect of advertisements.

In response to the finding, for example, Xiaomi said that it adhered to all UK data protection laws and did "not sell any personal information to 3rd parties".

Can you trust China? Personally the answer to that question is a big NO.

-----------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

Don't buy or use this F**k**g litter robot killer (infographic and video)

This is a cross-post as the information needs to spread around the internet like manure over a farmer's field 😱. Look, when a device made in China ends up killing cats it gets me very annoyed. And there is a long history of China shipping crappy products from their country to the West which kill cats and dogs.

Cycles vertically - a scissor action by Michael Broad

--------------------

-----------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

University applicants' morality is the 'second exam' before entering

You may remember the case of the highly intelligent, star-student, Xu, in China who wanted to take a masters degree at Lanzhou University's School of Nuclear Science and Technology. He was ranked first of all students during his professional course results and therefore was eminently qualified to begin a masters degree at this university. He passed the written exam with flying colours but according to this university failed the second exam which was to demonstrate the requisite degree of morality.

Xu was allegedly a known cat abuser. It had been fairly widely reported as I understand it that this candidate had allegedly abused and killed cats in his school dormitory and uploaded videos of his cruel acts online. Allegedly he is one of those people who enjoys hurting and killing cats and videoing it at the same time to publicise his cruelty. Most bizarre considering that this person is highly intelligent.

Clearly, intelligence does not always go with morality which is surprising since a lack of education is often a cause of a lack of morality or good behaviour.

Anyway, there are two exams in order to be allowed to enter a university to follow a course there; one is the written exam and the other is the moral exam.

And it appears that in a poll of I presume Chinese students, 90% agree that "graduate admissions should strengthen moral assessment". What that means is that assessing the morality of an applicant needs to be strengthened in future applications. It isn't just about being intelligent enough and getting top marks.

The Global Times remarks that "Good grades may be a sign of being a good student but they certainly do not equate to good character. A student with poor character but good academic performance may pose a significant threat to society in the future."

The statement indicates that universities should also be focusing on developing young people to become useful citizens within society. The role of university is to develop students holistically as I see it. The academic side is obviously the primary target but there's also the morality side on developing students with good character.

The suggestion is that admissions brochures at universities should make this clear. The need to tell applicants that moral character is crucial universities when selecting talented applicants.

Some might argue that it is indeed more important to excel "in the invisible exam of moral character outside the examination hall" as stated by the author of the Global Times article to which I have referred in writing this article.

There is one postscript point to make in this short article which is this. China is known for its animal abuse because there are no animal welfare laws in China of note. 

And therefore it is doubly interesting to see this university focusing on moral character in the context of animal abuse in order to select suitable applicants. 

It's interesting that they find it unacceptable that a person who abused cats should be a student at their university. 

And yet there is a well publicised dog festival in Yulin, China, which takes place annually, during which dogs are horrendously abused and killed in the most brutal way. 

How can the 10-day dog meat market in Yulin be called a FESTIVAL!?!?

How can we reconcile this legalised and formal acceptance of animal abuse in full view of everybody including news media cameras while at the same time this university makes a stand against animal abuse? 

It seems that Chinese society is somewhat schizophrenic but perhaps it is a sign that Chinese society is developing into being more animal welfare aware.

----------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Academically gifted postgraduate university student with a history of abusing cats is REJECTED

NEWS AND OPINION: This is a another story from China and as it happens another story about a Chinese university student. I've just written about a Chinese university student who was expelled because of his alleged abuse of his pet cat in an horrific manner. In this instance, the student who is named Xu is reported to have a history of abusing cats and as a consequence he was rejected by two top Chinese universities. China Daily reports on this and is the source of this blog post.

Academically gifted postgraduate Chinese student. This is a fictional creation. Not a real person.

It is alleged that he was abusing cats in his dormitory at Southeast University in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Like other cat abusers he posted videos of his miscreant behaviour online. This took place in February. In one clip he is shown putting a cat in a bucket of water and treading on the cat's head.

The videos were evidence against him. He was investigated and interviewed with his parents. He admitted wrongdoing and promised not to repeat it.

He is an engineering graduate. He was applying for a masters program at Nanjing University School of Physics late in 2023.

He had the highest total score among the applicants for the course but was nonetheless rejected because it his alleged cat abuse. It indicates that the University is taking a moral stance.

There appears to be no definitive statement from the University confirming that he was rejected because of his cat abuse but it is reported that "his abuse of cats may have affected their decision."

Chinese citizens commenting on the University's Sina Weibo blog urged the University to be cautious about enrolling Xu. The comment indicated that morality plays a role in selecting candidates. One commenter said: "Morality prevails over intelligence and academic performance".

The former editor-in-chief of Global Times wanted Xu to be given a chance. He said that posting the video of animal abuse was clearly a serious mistake but indicated he thought he had potential psychological problems. Notwithstanding that, he suggested that "society should provide the student with an opportunity for correction, allowing this young person to have prospects and hope."

Hu wanted the student to progress in life and be given the opportunity to do so. Comment: the big question here is whether Xu has the capacity to correct his behaviour because as Hu stated it appears that Xu has mental health problems. And therefore he needs treatment and he needs to be certified as being mentally well enough to participate in such a course before being allowed to do so.

Comment: The Chinese government needs to make that all important step of introducing general animal welfare laws to protect all animals. Laws can change opinions and attitudes as they gradually embue the citizens with a different attitude towards animal sentience and welfare. Animal welfare laws can indirectly set moral standards as is the case with the UK's Animal Welfare Act 2006

--------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Student expelled from Chinese university for badly abusing his pet cat

Guo Xiang kept a pet cat in the dormitory and allegedly abused the cat many times. The Facebook post says it all actually although the story is reported on the website of Global Times.

This image is from Facebook. I have cannot verify that this is the man involved.

The executive council of the university issued a document expelling Guo after following the relevant provisions of the Jiangxi Normal University Student Disciplinary Management Measures.

"According to the decision of the office meeting of the school, Guo, who kept a pet cat in the dormitory and engaged in multiple acts of animal abuse, which led to a major negative public opinion on the internet, causing a particularly bad impact on the school. At the same time, Guo also engaged in spreading obscene videos, skipping 12 classes, and other violations of school rules and regulations. According to the relevant provisions of the disciplinary measures, Guo has been expelled from the school."

From Jiangxi Normal University Academy of Fine Arts (Yaohu Campus):

"Completion opinion: Hello, citizen! Your message has been received. In view of the fact that student Guo Xiang kept a pet cat in the dormitory and abused the cat many times, and the cat abuse caused major negative public opinion on the Internet, which caused a particularly bad impact on the school, the school office decided to agree to expel student Guo Xiang according to the relevant provisions of the "Jiangxi Normal University Student Disciplinary Punishment Management Measures". If you have any objections, please call the Jiangxi Normal University Student Affairs Office: 0791-88120145 for consultation. Thank you for your support and understanding of Jiangxi's government service work."

Comment: I was surprised to read that Guo kept a pet cat in his dorm. He seems to have kept the cat as a recipient of abuse. Quite horrendous. The complaint from commenters is that he was not prosecuted for animal cruelty but that is completely unsurprising for me as there are no general animal welfare laws in China to protect pets under the circumstances described.

There was no chance of his being prosecuted for the crime of animal cruelty as the crime appears not to exist in China 🤢😢.

The Global Times reports:

On March 29, a netizen posted a video claiming that a male student at the campus had been abusing cats in the dormitory over an extended period. In the video, the male student punched and kicked the cat, and ruthlessly beat it with a hanger, causing the cat to cry out in pain when it was knocked against the door.

Guo was reported by a fellow student on March 29th, 2024. The university was very concerned (reported) and investigated. The concern was about the university's reputation which suffered harm. I hope they were also concerned about the cat.

There is no report on the state of health of the cat and/or what happened to him/her which is indicative of the anthropocentric nature of the reporting (human-centric nature of reporting meaning it all turns on human behaviour).

-----------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

China will use their cheap EVs to spy on and control other countries. Discuss.

If Edward Lucas, a British writer, journalist, security specialist and politician, is correct in that China is going to flood the UK with cheap EVs with the intention of spying and controlling the country it will affect all of us and therefore indirectly our companion animals making the topic relevant for this website! I want to briefly discuss this topic.

Lucas says that Chinese-made EVs which will be a fraction of the cost of the expensive models now available will flood the UK and US markets and are a 'recipe for mayhem'.

The Chinese EV is cheap thanks largely to government support and access to cheaper batteries and labour.

The Daily Mail newspaper reports that Lucas has said that "Chinese EVs in the West would act as 'mobile surveillance devices' that could be unilaterally switched off by the CCP at its whim, sparking chaos, death and destruction."

How can this be? He is saying that the Chinese can pull the wool over the eyes of the world's computer science experts and covertly spy on us with these cars and shut them down at a whim.

Surely this is impossible? All it takes is for a bunch of British and American computer scientists to thoroughly examine one of the cars destined to be exported to the UK and check if it has the capability to be controlled by the manufacturer and ultimately by the Chinese state if there is a close connection between the two.

The United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, France and the United Kingdom are the top countries for computer science courses. They have the best brains in computer science they would be able to strip down a Chinese EV and find out whether it is capable of spying on people and whether it can in any way damage the lives of citizens of these countries.

Edward Lucas believes that the UK is asleep at the wheel on this matter. He added that "The result of China's ravenous appetite for our data will be that every commercial, political, military and intelligence secret in every Western country is potentially compromised. So too is every facet of our personal privacy, making us vulnerable to blackmail and bullying."

Is it possible for China to spy on the citizens of countries in which Chinese EVs have been imported through technology built into the EVs?

The answer: The Biden administration has raised concerns about the potential national security risks posed by Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) and other internet-connected vehicles on American roads. These EVs are becoming increasingly computerized, akin to “smartphones on wheels.” They collect sensitive data on drivers, including personal information, biometric data, and travel patterns. The worry is that a foreign adversary like China, with access to such information at scale, could pose a serious risk to U.S. national security and citizens’ privacy.

While Chinese EVs have not flooded the U.S. market extensively yet, the situation is evolving. Chinese automaker BYD recently surpassed Tesla as the world’s largest EV company by sales. Some analysts predict that the United States and other Western nations could soon see an influx of Chinese electric cars. However, it’s essential to note that not all Chinese EVs are necessarily involved in espionage. Market competition and innovation drive the adoption of similar sensors and technology across various high-tech cars, regardless of their country of origin.

In summary, while the alarm over Chinese EVs is justified to some extent, it’s essential to balance security concerns with fair competition and technological progress. President Biden has emphasized the need to address any intelligence or economic risks proactively to safeguard national interests.

Sources: Various including The Week, pbs.org, frep.com.

-------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice

"It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice". This is a Chinese saying (proverb) in which the person saying it isn't concerned about the person making decisions and their behaviour or skin colour or background et cetera but what decisions they make and whether they are pragmatic and workable or not. 

In traditional Chinese (as per Google Translate): 不管黑貓白貓，抓到老鼠就行.

The colour of the cat represents the different parties and people with different opinions. But these are less important than achieving the objective in anyway possible.

It's a phrase which advocates pragmatism. And pragmatism means making things work no matter how, without being overly concerned with how you do it, how you achieve it or even being overly concerned with ethics and morality. Sometimes even criminality might be thrown away in order to meet the objective, pragmatically, which is desired.

Zimbabwe

The reason why I have picked up on that saying is because apparently, in Zimbabwe, the colour of the cat matters! This appears to mean that the person or the group or the party making the decisions matters more than it should and it is probably getting in the way of achieving a result.

House of Cards

I am currently watching the Netflix series House of Cards which is about the politics surrounding the president of the United States. And if the depiction is true, there's a lot of pragmatism in those politics. You get the job done no matter how you achieve it. In the series there's even murder. In fact, the president murders two people! That is the ultimate form of pragmatism.

Below is what my artificial intelligence assistant, Mr Poe, says about the proverb

The proverb "It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice" is a saying that originated in China and was popularized by Deng Xiaoping, a Chinese politician. It is often used to convey the idea that the outcome or result is more important than the specific method or means used to achieve it.

In its original context, this proverb was used to emphasize the importance of practical results over ideological purity. Deng Xiaoping used this saying to advocate for economic reforms in China, suggesting that it didn't matter whether those reforms were in line with strict communist ideology as long as they yielded positive economic outcomes.

By using the metaphor of a cat catching mice, the proverb implies that the primary concern should be the effectiveness of the action rather than the superficial characteristics or appearance. The colour of the cat (black or white) represents the different approaches or ideologies, while the act of catching mice symbolizes achieving the desired goal.

In a broader sense, this proverb can be interpreted to mean that it is more important to focus on the practical aspects and results of a task or action rather than getting caught up in theoretical debates or superficial distinctions. It encourages people to prioritize effectiveness and pragmatism over rigid adherence to specific ideologies or methods.

-----------

I did not know what Mr Poe would say so my words come from my mind and I've not copied from this AI program's answer.

-------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Bunch of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) police beat up woman selling vegetables

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is the tweet: "The Communist regime’s dog-like city management officials, beating a poor woman who sells vegetables! It appears her husband is forced to watch this scene! Beasts! #CCPChina".

Do they need a license to sell vegetables in China? What has she done wrong? That is not the point though. The point is that if she has done something wrong the police should either caution her or after spelling out her rights regarding evidence arrest her for violating a specific law.

But this is China where they kill dogs in the street all the time by beating. Where cats are stolen for the cat meat market in their many thousands and where the f*** police prefer to beat up a woman rather than abide by the law.

Note that her husband is retrained while he is forced to watch this crime by the police whose job it is to stop crime.

If they had owned a dog, it would have been killed there and then. An example of poor human rights in China. As you can expect animal right are pretty well non-existent in China. You don't want to be a dog in China. You really wouldn't.

Chinese police beat up woman trading in vegetables. Screenshot.

-----

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Chinese infant indoctrinated by no animal welfare laws tosses kitten onto street where it dies.

I have said it before a thousand times and I will probably say it again a thousand times but there are no general animal welfare laws in China which is of course a result of their attitude towards animals but a lack of law also helps to mould attitudes. Countrywide laws can change attitudes. They can change human behaviours. And conversely, a lack of adequate nationwide law does the same thing but in a negative way.

This is what is happened in China and will continue to do so while Beijing abjectly refuses to introduce animal welfare laws that have been in place for over a hundred years in Britain and in America. China is so massively out of step in this regard. They just don't get it and this is because of a 3000-year history of animal abuse.

This picture comes from Twitter X where it has been posted by an animal advocate. It shows a Chinese infant chucking a kitten into the air and then onto the pavement or road where it dies. And this child will grow up and perpetuate this animal abuse by teaching their children to do the same thing.

It is all so unnecessary and so cruel. It's about attitude and in another post, I have said that the thread that runs through the concept of karma is attitude.

Eventually a bad attitude to something comes home to roost. It is cause and effect. What goes around comes around. If a country does something negative for so long such as abuse animals, karma will insist that that country will eventually suffer the consequences of this lacuna in their animal welfare laws. For me, the sooner the better.

------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

White Coat Waste Project stops American taxpayer funding of Putin's Cat Lab (and more)

This is a cross post. It's important. The brilliant White Coat Waste Project (WCW) are an incredibly important organisation. They work independently and they lobby the US government to change their incomprehensible ways. They call it 'madness' that Americans through their taxes fund cruel animal experiments abroad. They are correct. It is mad on several levels.

And isn't just any old foreign country. The American government has been funding through the Department of Defence (DOD) and via a disgraced Wuhan lab funder, EcoHealth Alliance, experiments on the coronavirus found in bats discovered in a mineshaft in the north of China.

RELATED: Stronger evidence that COVID-19 started at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

On my research, the Wuhan Institute of Virology has been involved in military biowarfare testing. They have connections to the military. This novel coronavirus was discovered in bats. It killed people early on and it seems that it was decided to develop it as a biowarfare agent. 

And it is now believed by many that the Covid-19 pandemic started at the Wuhan lab. And to think that via EcoHealth Alliance American taxpayers were funding this laboratory.

It is madness as WCW state. But through tireless campaigning and lobbying, WCW have achieved a very important milestone. They have convinced the US government to stop this funding.

White Coat Waste Project stops American taxpayer funding of cruel animal experiments in foreign countries. Image: WCW.

RELATED: White Coat Waste Project pressured Biden administration into defunding Russian animal experiments.

The American taxpayer was also funding cruel tests on cats in Russia for, as I understand it, military purposes. Clearly, this went under the radar from the perspective of the American public. Through WCW the ridiculousness of this funding was exposed and through tireless campaigning they have stopped it.

I received an email from WCW which states that the US House panel that funds the Department of Defence (DOD) has passed its 2024 spending bill which includes key language that WCW wanted to see in the bill and which cuts DOD funding to the Wuhan animal lab and other laboratories in China, Russia and other adversarial nations.

And the bill also cats funding for other animal experiments and virus hunting as they call it or other projects in China.

The WCW campaign documented at least 32 animal testing laboratories in Russia and China which were receiving funding from American taxpayers.

Also, following their efforts, the NIH (National Institutes of Health) has recently disqualified the Wuhan animal lab and all animal lives in Russia from taxpayer funding.

If and when the bill is passed by the full US House and becomes law later in 2023 the then statute will disqualify all labs across China and Russia from Pentagon funding as well.

WCW worked with House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Members Reps. Chris Stewart (R-UT) and Dave Joyce (R-OH) to include this important measure in the bill. They commented as follows:

Statement from Justin Goodman, Senior Vice President, White Coat Waste Project:

“Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to foot the bill for foreign enemies’ animal experimentation labs, and we’re proud of the progress we’re making to find, expose and defund this waste and abuse in Wuhan and beyond. If signed into law, this bill would prohibit the Pentagon from sending tax dollars to white coats in dozens of animal labs run by China, Russia and other adversarial nations. Our Worldwide Waste campaign first exposed how the DOD, NIH, USAID, and other federal agencies recklessly ship billions of tax dollars to unaccountable foreign animal labs, including how EcoHealth funneled funds to the Wuhan lab for dangerous gain-of-function animal experiments that likely caused COVID and how taxpayer unwittingly funded a Kremlin-linked lab crippling cats. The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness!”

Statement from Congressman Chris Stewart (R-UT)

“Our foreign adversaries, particularly China, have proven they should not and cannot be trusted with American taxpayer dollars to conduct laboratory research and experiments. Cutting American funding to research labs in adversarial nations that pose a threat to our national security should never be a partisan issue. I’d like to thank my colleagues who have recognized the importance of this effort.”

Chinese call Western food "White People Food" (dull) but 27% of Chinese in China ate wild animals before Covid

The South China Morning Post says that Chinese citizens think that European food is bland and boring to put it mildly. They probably think it's even worse than that and they call it "white people food". They are referring to salads, boiled eggs, chicken breast et cetera. Healthy food. I've just written about Novak Djokovic's diet which is super-healthy as a refinement upon the healthy European diet.

But the Chinese disgust of healthy European food has resulted in some quite extraordinary criticisms. Clearly, the Chinese living in China like their food to be very spicy and super tasty. But they don't mind if it is unhealthy or if its production was obscenely cruel.

White People Food as per China. They hate the stuff! Image: South China Morning Post.

"The point of the white people’s meal is to learn what it feels like to be dead, but I’ve taken two bites and it was so bad it made me realise how alive I am,” wrote one poster who tried a serving of plain crackers, cheese and ham.

Ah, the intoxicating white people’s meal,” wrote another sarcastically, posting a photo of sliced tomatoes and a banana.

You get the drift. They are being sarcastic about European healthy food. And that's the point. It is healthy. Some Chinese think that there is no point in being healthy and living longer if you're so miserable eating such boring food 😎.

Word of the week is "white people food", a recent trend explained by Zilan. It's inspired by the lunches of white people that Chinese people have observed in real life or in the media, with three characteristics: simple ingredients, simple preparations, and an unappetizing taste. - Manya Koetse of What's on Weibo.

But I would like to present a counterargument. Think of the wet food markets in China where Covid-19 ostensibly started or was it the Wuhan Institute of Virology when they were messing around with biowarfare for the military (coronavirus from bats found in mineshaft)?

In Chinese wet food markets, they slaughter wild animals in an unregulated way (hack them to bits). Perhaps that has changed since SARS and Covid-19. But these traditional habits run deep. Eating pangolin scales for example comes to mind. They are pretty well exterminating the pangolin entirely on the planet because of their fascination with the scales which they superstitiously believe brings them health benefits (entirely unsupported by science).

Pangolins are being poached to extinction to supply INEFFECTIVE traditional Chinese medicine

What about cat and dog meat? Both horrendously brutal and obscene habits which includes the barbaric killing of dogs and cats. Okay, apparently it is only a small proportion Chinese in China who eat cat and dog meat. Most of them in the south of the country.

But then again, many millions of dogs and cats are killed for this market. So, it is not a small business. In fact, it is probably very big business and these often-domestic animals are also eaten because of superstitious reasons.

No doubt they spice up the meat (the flesh) but do you think that Europeans have a greater right to criticise this Chinese diet then they have of our diet? I think we do. I'm not saying that the chicken in a chicken salad has been raised and looked after well on an intensive farm. They haven't. Europeans have their way with livestock and it is unpleasant but nothing matches the hell of the cat and dog meat markets.

At least, ostensibly, chickens and other livestock are killed under regulated conditions in abattoirs with the intention of inflicting minimal pain. But in China in the dog and cat meat market they have no conception of pain or the sentience of the animals that they brutally kill. It doesn't enter their head. If they did, they wouldn't do it.

So, relatively speaking, boring European salads take the moral high ground compared to the Chinese dog meat dish which originates in hell on earth for the dogs. The dog meat market is managed and administered by devils. Devils on Earth but not in hell.

Note: the 27% statistic comes from a study: Attitudes towards Wildlife Consumption inside and outside Hubei Province, China, in Relation to the SARS and COVID-19 - https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10745-020-00199-5

Cooling down the dogs on a dog meat farm

CHINA - OPINION: Go to Twitter and search for 'dogs China'. All the top search results are dogs being treated cruelly in dog meat farms. Or dogs being cruelly transported on lorries to be driven to the south for the dog meat market. 

The dog are compressed into small metal cages. They are on top of each other. They are confused and terrified but they have blank expressions on their faces as if numbed by the experience. 

For them the alpha dog (the human) has turned against them when they should be supporting them. Alpha dog wants to eat pack member. That's what is looks like to the dog destined for the dog meat market.

Here, in this video, sickly sweet Chinese music plays over a dog meat farmer as he cools down the dogs in more rusty metal cages. These animals will be transported to the dog meat market.

It looks like a humanitarian, kindly act. No. He just wants to keep his dogs alive long enough so they can be brutally killed at the market so the meat is fresh. It is a commercial decision; not one based on animal welfare. I don't think the phrase 'animal welfare' exists in the Chinese language. Animal welfare laws certainly don't.

All these dogs, as far as I know, have been snatched from the street or from back or front yards. They are street dogs, domestic dogs or stray dogs. It doesn't make any difference to the brutes who make their money from this abject animal cruelty.

The law does nothing. Correction. There is no law in China to stop this. Imagine trying to do this in the UK or Sweden or the USA. You'd be in the criminal courts as fast as you could say 'dog meat'. 

Want to get rid of your cat? Throw it out of a high-rise window. No problem. Legal in China

Chongqing, China - opinion: Yes, once again, I'm going to be highly critical of China in respect of their lack of animal welfare laws and their lack of respect on too many occasions for the sentience of domestic cats and dogs. They deserve to be criticised because the kind of cruelty we see on Twitter perpetrated upon these innocent animals is truly shocking.

The tweet:

#China: May 22, Chongqing. Pet cat was thrown to death by the neighbor. The owner: What kind of person can do such a thing? There's no legislation on cruelty to #animals. Those crazy people cannot be sanctioned.

Comment: I take that tweet to mean that the cat's owner threw their cat out of a high-rise window. I could be wrong but they threw the cat with such force that death was instant on contact with the ground due to blunt force trauma and catastrophic injuries. This happened by the way during Covid when some cat owners in China were anxious about getting Covid from their cat.

Without animal welfare laws, cat owners in China can simply throw their cat out of their apartment window hundreds of feet from the ground below. Job done. No problem. Within the law. There is no law. It is madness. It looks so completely wrong. It is completely wrong. The problem is that the people who do it do not see it as wrong. They see it as normal. This is because there has never been animal welfare laws protecting the general population of cats and dogs in China.

Cat owners and dog owners in China grow up without any real concept of what is legal and illegal in terms of animal welfare. There's just no norms to guide them on this. And their morality about cat and dog welfare is based upon a tradition that cats and dogs should be utilitarian. They should be useful. When they can't entertain anymore, they should be eaten.

This ancient tradition is gradually being eroded by modern life and the Internet no doubt has changed the minds of many thousands of Chinese people living in China but the vast majority of Chinese in China, it seems to me, just don't get the concept of animal welfare or that cats and dogs are sentient creatures.

If you asked them about the concept of sentience, they probably wouldn't know what you're talking about.

China: Angel of Death dog snatcher arrives on a bike to fire a dart into a street dog

OPINION: This is another way that cruel men travel around a big conurbation in China (perhaps in the north somewhere) looking for street and domestic dogs to snatch. They take them to the south of China, to the dog meat markets by lorry in the most appalling conditions. In this instance, this man who I have described as the "Angel of Death" is a pillion passenger on a small bike. 

They are searching for stray dogs and one turns up. They stop and the Angel of Death fires a dart into the dog who immediately collapses and is then taken away speedily. See the video below.

RELATED: 25,000-30,000 dogs are being slaughtered DAILY for food in China.

China: Angel of Death dog snatcher arrives on a bike to fire a dart into a street dog. Image: MikeB.

I have decided that he is using a tranquilizing dart of some sort rather than simply shooting the dog in order to keep the animal alive for the journey to the south where they are brutally killed as fresh meat. The great brutality of all this is that they kill them in the most heinous and sadistic way. 

It's as if the dogs have gone to hell. This is hell on earth for a dog and the devils are killing them. And the journey to hell on earth for a dog starts as we see in the video on this page.

In another video I show a couple of Chinese guys jumping over the wall surrounding a front yard to snatch two more dogs this time using dog arresting poles to drag them over the wall and into a van. Once again it is extremely brutal. You can see that video if you want by clicking on this link.

I am writing quite a few articles about the cat and dog meat industry in China because it needs to be highlighted. There are some very brave people in China who are protesting about the lack of animal welfare laws in China. There needs to be protests as well about the dog and cat meat markets in China and one day, when the world is a better place, when it is more civilised, the international community will put pressure on China to ditch these horrendous traditions which go back perhaps 2,000 years and which are now so out of place in the modern world.

This is how Chinese thieves steal dogs for the dog meat market

The video is completely explanatory and horrific to any decent person. It shows a couple of men getting out of a van and climbing the wall surrounding a front yard in which are two pet dogs. They use dog catcher poles to capture the dogs and in the case of one of the dogs drag them over the wall with force by the steel collar around his neck. Horrendous. It could have killed the dog. Perhaps it did. 

Utterly, utterly brutal. By Western criminal standards these men are psychopathic bastards. They'd be in jail for several years if they did this in the UK and were caught and successful prosecuted.

The dogs are then driven in lorries in very cramped, rusty cages to China's south to the dog markets where their end will be shockingly brutal. My heart hurts for them. May they rest in peace. Bless them. As a wise person said, hell is empty. All the devils are stealing cats and dogs in China for dog meat and fur.

I won't say what I'd like to do to these men. It'd be as brutal as the abuse they mete out to the dogs.

China - cowcat's torture and 'murder' has sparked a mass movement for animal welfare laws

Animal advocates protest in China for animal welfare laws sparked by the sadistic murder of 'cowcat'. Screenshot. The cat's picture is on the placard in the picture.

NEWS AND OPINION: As I understand it, "cowcat" is the name given by animal rights protestors in China to a stray cat who was hideously tortured and then murdered after three days. And I believe that the person who did this is notorious now in China. He is a food vlogger (makes videos about food preparation). 

He is also a horrendously cruel animal torturer specifically against stray cats. He has created, I believe, a video game app in which the players have to kill domestic cats in food blenders and other disgusting ways. And I believe that he runs a gang of Chinese people living in China who enjoy cruelly abusing, torturing and then "murdering" cats in sadistic ways.

He has various names and these are some of them: Xu Zhihui - Xu Mouhui - Jack Hot Strip - Jack Spicey Strip. His photo is above.

I have a quite lengthy page on this man which you can read by clicking on this link. There was an allegation that he was beaten up by a gang of other men. But I'm not sure that is accurate. It does indicate, though, that he is notorious in China.

The legacy that this sadistically 'murdered' cat might leave China is that Beijing introduces some sort of umbrella animal welfare laws to protect cats in the future. I would very much doubt that that will happen but it just might eventually happen if enough people for long enough protest and make the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) sit up and think about what they're doing.

The CCP refuse to enter the 21st century in terms of animal welfare protection. They prefer to remain in the dark ages and stick with tradition. The tradition of China 2000 years ago amounted to cruelty to animals and that tradition has been brought forward to the 21st century. It is time for it to stop.

The culture has to change and one way to change culture is to introduce laws which force people to change their ways and develop new habits: habits in which animals are treated as sentient beings to be respected.

Duck down industry in China is unconscionably cruel. Listen to their cries.

This is a video from PETA. It is hard to watch as usual. They say you should listen to the soundtrack. I haven't. I can barely look at the first three seconds of the video. It is horrendous. And yet people in the West rely upon this when they buy their duck down duvets or clothing insulated with down. Nobody should be buying duck down duvets. They should buy synthetic insulation.

WARNING: take deep breath and steal yourself if you feel that you are up to watching this rank cruelty. Shame on these people.

PETA exposed so-called responsible down standards farms live plucking geese. Another scam in this world full of scams. In a world getting worse with more and more objectionable human behaviour.

This live geese feather plucking has been going on for donkeys years. It is a process known as "live plucking". Producers developed international standards claiming that they were more responsible which did not include live plucking. 

You can see a screenshot of the video by clicking on this link. It's on another page as there are advertisers on this page.

But when PETA and PETA Asia visited farms associated with these responsible companies, they uncovered this animal cruelty.

They also tell us that 80% of the world's down and feathers used in clothing, sleeping bags and duvets come from China.

The investigators working undercover saw workers ripping geese's feathers out leaving bloody open wounds while the birds were fully conscious. Many of the bird struggled and cried in terror and pain they say. Other birds just froze; paralysed with fear.

To stop the birds from fleeing, the workers stepped on their delicate wings and necks and bound their feet together. They sometimes put them in choke holds while ripping out their feathers and swinging them about by their wings. When released, the geese cried out loudly and ran back to their flocks.

Any geese and chicks who are injured and sick are left to die a slow death. Dead birds were left decaying in crates and ponds or tossed around like trash according to PETA's report. This is China. This is duck down. This is bird hell.

When you are lying in your bed under your beautiful and expensive duck down high-quality duvet bought in Harrods, think about these ducks. You are sleeping under their pain.

China celebrates the domestic cat in huge cat wall murals and yet is simultaneously and culturally cruel to them

OPINION: China celebrates the domestic cat huge cat wall murals and yet is simultaneously and culturally cruel to them far too often with no laws to protect them.

The photos are on Twitter. The murals seem to me to show a schizophrenic attitude towards the domestic cat in China. China's culture states that companion animals need to be useful and if they can no longer be useful, you can eat them. Not good and a violation of the unwritten agreement between domestic cat and human.

And the simple fact that Beijing obstinately refuses to create animal welfare laws strongly indicates a lack of respect for the cat, dog and other sentient creatures.

What kind of developed country refuses to enact animal welfare legislation? A backward one. But China is not backward. They are very advanced in many respects.

The problem is that the CCP (中國共產黨) is rooted in the past in respect of attitudes towards animals. The culture is rooted in tradition and you can read about the Chinese tradition concerning animals by reading what Ai Weiwei says. He is the famous Chinese contemporary artist living in Portugal. He does not fit in with the Chinese way of life. Click here for his thoughts.

Tradition holds back the development of more advanced and enlightened thoughts on animal welfare. 2,000 years ago, the word was far crueller to animals than today. China in rooted in that era.

Ms Wang met a cat seller on the sidewalk in China

OPINION: Once again, I can't look at the video below. Here's an insight. If you write about China's relationship with domestic and street cats as portrayed on social media IT CAN HARM YOU. Yes, very much so. If you are sensitive to the sentience of animals. If you care about animal welfare as I do. And as many others do as well.

Ms Wang met a cat seller on the sidewalk in China. Screenshot.

I feel a duty to spread the word about what is happening in China. It is one of those countries which throws up some horror stories of animal cruelty. This can only happen under an attitude that in general disrespects animals. Pakistan is another country which is woefully out of step with the world in this respect and very backward.

This disrespect is SCREAMED out from China to the rest of the world by the stark and entirely unacceptable fact that they don't believe in animal welfare laws to protect animals. There are almost none and there no umbrella animal welfare law such as we see in every country in the West.

Animal protection through legislation is a staple of all developed countries. Not so for China, the country with world's second largest economy and destined to have the largest in the not-too-distant future. 

This is not an omission borne out of carelessness but a deliberate act by Beijing to allow the Chinese culture to thrive which includes cruelty to animals.

International pressure needs to be applied to the PRC (People's Republic of China) to change their ways. To upgrade themselves and drag their sorry asses into the 21st century.

The tweet

Animal lives don't seem to matter. They are often treated as commodities, without compassion. Right now, life for cats seems to be very dangerous. The story: Rescuer : I feel very pitiful. May 13, Changde, Hunan, China. Ms. Wang met a cat seller on the pedestrian street.

Location

The video

Photo of street cat in China should leave us feeling concerned

This is a straight forward photograph of a street cat in China, somewhere. It should not worry us but it concerns me because I've just been reading and writing about a monstrous individual who likes to torture and kill street cats in China. You can read about this man if you want to buy on this link but it's unpleasant although there are no photographs which might harm you psychologically.

Street cat in China. Image: What's on Weibo.

The picture that you see on this page accompanies an article written about 3 years ago which tells the story of a Chinese security guard pouring scalding water over a pregnant cat. another psychopathic individual who gets kicks from extreme violence against cats. 

The story went viral on social media and there was a call for animal welfare legislation in China which trended on Weibo.com.

It takes extreme animal cruelty to provoke Chinese citizens to demand animal welfare laws which should be entirely acceptable and which should have been in place donkey's years ago.

China is out on a limb in respect of animal welfare. All abandoned or homeless animals - almost always cats and dogs - are highly vulnerable to becoming the victim of extreme torture or turned into a meal in China.

There is no value in street cats or sensitivity towards their sentience in China. They are garbage. Rubbish. Trash. You can do what you like with them.

Although there must be many Chinese who love cats and care for them well. It's just that there are far too many who are the opposite. And no protection for them under the law.