China: Animal Rights and Animal Welfare | 123 price hikes, thus affecting people’s right to eat meat Therefore, “advocacy of animal welfare violates human rights.” This is, he alleges, an action to be resolutely resisted because it is antihuman He asks why China would adopt laws that are anti-humanity (Zhao, 2004a) Nevertheless, actions for animal welfare legislation in China have gathered momentum In August 2003, a proposal on animal welfare legislation was submitted to the National People’s Congress The proposal called for expanding the list of state-protected species It suggested that four other types of animals (farm, lab, entertainment, and working animals) should also be protected Opposition to the proposal was swift Chinese author Jie Geng launched a pointby-point critique of the proposal The fact that anti-cruelty laws exist in the West, he argued, does not mean that China should also have them He implied that cruelty against animals is not as serious in China as it is in the West He argued that the outside world can take no actions against China for its lack of anti-cruelty laws He reminded his audience that Korea has not been excommunicated from the WTO for its dog-eating culture (Zu, 2004) Conclusions Chinese exploration of the subjects of animal rights and animal welfare is a new development in this rapidly changing society The animal rights and welfare debate is a public discussion initiated by independent-minded scholars and activists Such autonomous societal initiatives were not possible in the pre-reform era No intellectual pursuit is value-free In China, intellectual fervor has always carried normative concerns The evolving debate on rights and welfare for animals is no exception Those who have called for attention to animal rights and welfare are calling for policy change in animal-related policy areas As we have shown, the opponents who reject these calls aim to maintain the policy status quo Importantly, the debate is politically significant Animal advocacy groups will continue to push for policy change Together with other domestic NGOs, they contribute to the rise of civil society Their activism, agenda setting initiatives, and success in facilitating policy change will eventually redefine state-society relations on the Chinese mainland Further Reading Hu, Jun 2004 Gai bu gai wei dongwu lifa (Should we legislate animal welfare?) Accessible via http://www.ycwb.com/gb/ content/2004-05/18/content_693002.htm; downloaded July 20, 2004 Jie, Geng 2005 Dian ping dongwu fulifa: zhongguo falujie yingdang guanzhu de huati Accessible via http://www.xys.org/xys/ebooks/ others/science/report/mao3.txt; downloaded January 2, 2005 Li, Jingyue 2004 Dongwu fuli, ni chancheng haishi fandui? (Are you for or against animal welfare?), zhonghua dushu bao (The Chinese Readers’ News), April 28, 2004 Accessible via http://arts.tom.com/1004/2004/4/28 63573.html; downloaded April 28, 2004 Li, Xiaoxi 2004 Guanui dongwu fuli lifa de jianyi (A proposal on animal welfare legislation) Submitted to the National People’s Congress, January 2004 (unpublished article and copy, courtesy of Li Xiaoxi) Mang, Ping 2004 Dongwu fuli kaoyan renlei diode: shengxu ye ying mianyu kongju (Animal welfare challenges human morality: animals should be free from fear and trepidation) China Youth Daily Accessible via http://news.xinhuanet.com/news center/2002-11/13/content_627869.htm; downloaded February 20, 2004 Mao, Lei 2003 Dongwu fuli lifa keburonghuan (Animal welfare legislation in China cannot be postponed any more)