On September 29 masked university students crouched in one-cubic-meter iron cages on the streets in Changchun City, the capital of northeastern Jilin Province. They were representing helpless cats and dogs waiting to be butchered for food.

The art performance, displaying a variety of tortured expressions and despairing gestures of the caged animals, was launched to persuade people to give up eating cats and dogs, according to Hou Haiyang, the campaign organizer.

Hou, a sophomore from Northeast Normal University, established the Changchun Animal Protection Association (CAPA) with two of his classmates last August. They built the CAPA website and passed out leaflets on the streets to try to persuade people to reject fur products and to promote birth control for deserted street pets. But results failed their expectations.

Having been inspired by a Korean protest against eating dog, the Changchun animal protectors resorted to an art performance. “I was deeply moved by their performance, and saw the pain filled eyes of the caged animals. This scenario can hardly be forgotten when we eat them as meat,” Zhang Deping, a passer-by, said.

An increased number of elderly people and DINK (double incomes no kids) families are adopting cats and dogs as companions in China.

(China.org.cn by Wu Jin September 30, 2007)