What does this have to do with communism? In early 20th century, when white people were robbed, 19 "Chinaman" from Chinatown were hanged and shot in one day in LA, the rest beaten.
**This is not early 20th C, and if you're saying China's gov't is that far behind - then you've actually made my point.
I don't agree with your point that dogs are "equal" with humans. If we can't kill dogs, then who says we can kill mosquitos and flies, aren't they lives too? What about bacteria?
**Where did I ever say dogs are equal with humans? Anyone that has worked in veterinary medicine in any capacity knows that euthanizing animals is a regular part of the job. Don't confuse me with animal rights activists.
On the other hand I also think such individual incidents, carried out in small towns, are unnecessary and cruel. I'm from China. My point in mentioning the one dark page of US history is not to piss anyone off (sorry if I did), but just to point out that all nations go through such a process. With more educated people things will change. It has little to do with the political system, but more about awareness. I do not object Westerners exerting pressures on China and other Asian nations. The point is you need to understand the cultures first, and the attitude needs to be rationally helpful, and not simply emotionally critical.
**Well, since I'm part Chinese and part Vietnamese, I think I understand the culture quite well. Several years ago I went back to Vietnam to help my friend film a documentary on dogs being used for food. Have you ever been in a kennel full of dogs waiting to be killed for food? Interestingly enough, the people of the town wanted nothing to do with this family, and avoided walking by his property whenever possible.
Asian countries traditionally do not care about "dog rights", that's why we have "democratic" Korea cooking dogs as delicacies. I think a lot of anger and disgust I see in this post actually stems from "culture shock". Matter of fact, many Asians are equally angry at Westerners for treating dogs so nice: the total retail sales of dog food in US is more than the national GDP of many Asian countries such as Mongolia, Cambodia and Laos. In other words, millions of Asians live lives worse than American dogs. Not to criticize, just to point out a strange fact.
**I will tell you something strange about this family in Vietnam that sold dogs as food for a living. They also kept several dogs as pets. They loved these dogs like family. The human-dog relationship was no different than what we see here. Some more interesting info for you. The first domesticated dog is believed to have come from China. Dogs were kept as house pets and signs of good luck by royalty and later the bourgeois. Ever heard of the Pekingese? The Shih Tzu? It wasn't until 1949 that dog ownership was condemned by the communist government as a "luxury." At that point they were hunted and killed. So you were asking what this has to do with communism?