Guest guest Posted February 4, 2010 Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 >Most of the chineese are buddhist and founder of Budhism Gautam >Budha had prohibited consumption of non vegetarian food to his >followers. I wonder what sort of relegion the buddhsts of China are >practising these days Buddhism was at one time the prevailing religion in China, but only about 6% of Chinese are still practicing Buddhists, according to the best available survey data. About 2% are Muslims, about 20% follow other traditional religions, including Taoism and Confucianism, and the remainder profess to no particular religion. However, the teachings of Confucianism, which is less a religion than a philosophy, are heavily influential throughout the society and government. The present government of China has often been described as a fusion of Communist and Confucian ideas. -- Merritt Clifton Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE P.O. Box 960 Clinton, WA 98236 Telephone: 360-579-2505 Fax: 360-579-2575 E-mail: anmlpepl Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org [ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide, founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations. We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year; for free sample, send address.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 4, 2010 Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 Along similar lines, Professor Mang Ping of the Central Institute of Socialism gave a great presentation at the Forum on Promoting Animal Protection Legislation in China (organised by ACT Asia) in September 2009. I took notes, so hoping this is almost accurate, Jill *Mang Ping Central Institute of Socialism. Animal legislation - implications of Chinese culture.* - All people here have sympathy not just for humans but for all creatures of the world. Our role is to inform people of other countries - we have a consensus of building a harmonious society which is part of Chinese culture. When invited to talk about the legislative framework I was very pleased. In Chinese history there is a long tradition of protecting animals, but we forget about the past. In ancient times we had political and daily practice of protecting animals - amazing. Tang Dynasty is a glorious period of civilisation. Together we are very much impressed with this and during a 300 year rule of Tang there was a suspension of slaughter and showing a mercy of Buddhism and Taoism. Each year, during one third of the 365 days people were not allowed to slaughter animals and you could not buy fish in the markets. Our culture is embedded in benevolence which is the core of Buddhism. It has great impact in terms of animal protection and in line with our Chinese culture. People were closely connected in terms of appearance and blood with animals and when you read ancient books you can feel that. In this modern world we forget a lot about these fundamental things even though there is improvements in science. Harmony with nature dominates Chinese culture. In Qing dynasty we introduced Buddhism and Taoism into Confucianism. The core concept of Chinese culture is benevolence and if we lose it we lose Chinese culture. We have the same sympathy and mercy as the West towards animals. Buddhism has introduced mercy of non killing into Confucianism. Back in the former dynasties there were scripts showing that the behaviour prescribed for animal protection was the first in terms of political decree. In previous dynasties you were not allowed to kill young like cubs, or pregnant animals and working animals. However, today you can see people eating young animals and this is a shame on the Chinese people. The Qing Dynasty stated that working animals were not to be slaughtered. So this reflects benevolence towards animals in Chinese culture and represents Buddhism Taoism and Confucianism. We have a few exceptional cases - Shanxi province eating live donkeys and very cruel behaviour but actually it was forbidden by the government and those who dared break the law were to be exiled because eating live animals is a very cruel behaviour. So once you have a lawsuit this justifies the enactment of animal protection. In modern China we see the mercy of people and when the student was cruel to the bears in Beijing many people were outraged - even an old grandmother said " how can you do that? " - and this shows that keeping animals in a good way is still part of our culture. In modern China we are challenged as our culture was greatly damaged The Cultural Revolution saw great damage to our culture - sons turned against parents and we had massive animal abuse. But we had no legal laws to protect the animals and people said that this framework is not part of our history - but actually it is. In the late 1990's the number of wild animals apparently decreased by 15-17% - I think this is an underestimate and many became extinct during this period. The situation was much worse in China than other areas and in the market we see a lot of wild animals sold which is very much against our tradition. Tibetan antelopes for example - the hunting of them is very cruel and related animal protection departments enacted laws to protect them in 2006. Live animal feeding - and an alarming level of animal abuse. 700 million pigs farmed and injected with water to increase the weight of the meat. In fact the banning of this was raised for the purpose of protecting the people. We found that 70 or 80% were injected and then found that we were not punishing people because of morality - and now this practice is spreading to chickens and cows. In our culture we should care for and respect the ox because they are farming animals and work for their whole lives for people's lives. We must encourage husbandry or livestock industry to treat animals more fairly. Shouldn't we pay more attention to animal protection - this is our task. If we inject ox with so much water that they die we do not deserve our culture. We must have regulations on transport of animals as other countries. In Qing dynasty we called people in remote areas savages, but these people already had good legislation for animal welfare and we should follow this and learn from them. The British have the earliest legislation and many people are very quick at promoting this but today Jill Robinson gave a case that even though regulations exist, people are not implementing all of them and this is an endless battle for human beings. We need people to monitor legislation and supervise implementation. It's a pity in today's legislations that Govt don't show an institutional response to these appeals - we have a long way to go. Can we turn to our traditional culture? We have the capability and the tradition and a long sympathy for animals and we are capable of implementing legislation that will make our future generations proud. It is necessary to make this legislation. At so called wildlife parks the animals are abused because they cannot make enough money - the lions kill and eat other creatures, the tigers eat the cows, and today we see this situation which is very disappointing - bears riding bikes, animals hurting and dying. Live animal feeding - Nero in ancient Rome - asking people to fight beasts but today in China we act just as cruelly as Nero. Animal labs in China and so on - welfare so important. *********************** Merritt Clifton wrote: > > >Most of the chineese are buddhist and founder of Budhism Gautam > >Budha had prohibited consumption of non vegetarian food to his > >followers. I wonder what sort of relegion the buddhsts of China are > >practising these days > > Buddhism was at one time the prevailing religion in China, > but only about 6% of Chinese are still practicing Buddhists, > according to the best available survey data. About 2% are Muslims, > about 20% follow other traditional religions, including Taoism and > Confucianism, and the remainder profess to no particular religion. > > However, the teachings of Confucianism, which is less a > religion than a philosophy, are heavily influential throughout the > society and government. > > The present government of China has often been described as a > fusion of Communist and Confucian ideas. > > -- > Merritt Clifton > Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE > P.O. Box 960 > Clinton, WA 98236 > > Telephone: 360-579-2505 > Fax: 360-579-2575 > E-mail: anmlpepl <anmlpepl%40whidbey.com> > Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org > > [ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing > original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide, > founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the > decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations. > We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year; > for free sample, send address.] > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 4, 2010 Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 Following on Jill's email, the information about the Forum on Promoting Animal Protection Legislation in China can be found on the web http://www.actasia.org/index/index.php/legislation-forum-2009 You can also download the Forum's handbook which contains Prof. Mang Ping's abstract: http://www.actasia.org/index/index.php/legislation-forum-2009 Pei ACTAsia For Animals www.actasia.org On 4 Feb 2010, at 07:25, Jill Robinson wrote: > Along similar lines, Professor Mang Ping of the Central Institute of > Socialism gave a great presentation at the Forum on Promoting Animal > Protection Legislation in China (organised by ACT Asia) in September > 2009. I took notes, so hoping this is almost accurate, Jill > > > *Mang Ping Central Institute of Socialism. > Animal legislation - implications of Chinese culture.* > - All people here have sympathy not just for humans but for all > creatures of the world. Our role is to inform people of other > countries > - we have a consensus of building a harmonious society which is > part of > Chinese culture. > When invited to talk about the legislative framework I was very > pleased. > In Chinese history there is a long tradition of protecting animals, > but > we forget about the past. In ancient times we had political and daily > practice of protecting animals - amazing. Tang Dynasty is a glorious > period of civilisation. Together we are very much impressed with this > and during a 300 year rule of Tang there was a suspension of slaughter > and showing a mercy of Buddhism and Taoism. Each year, during one > third > of the 365 days people were not allowed to slaughter animals and you > could not buy fish in the markets. Our culture is embedded in > benevolence which is the core of Buddhism. It has great impact in > terms > of animal protection and in line with our Chinese culture. People were > closely connected in terms of appearance and blood with animals and > when > you read ancient books you can feel that. In this modern world we > forget > a lot about these fundamental things even though there is improvements > in science. Harmony with nature dominates Chinese culture. In Qing > dynasty we introduced Buddhism and Taoism into Confucianism. The core > concept of Chinese culture is benevolence and if we lose it we lose > Chinese culture. We have the same sympathy and mercy as the West > towards > animals. Buddhism has introduced mercy of non killing into > Confucianism. > Back in the former dynasties there were scripts showing that the > behaviour prescribed for animal protection was the first in terms of > political decree. In previous dynasties you were not allowed to kill > young like cubs, or pregnant animals and working animals. However, > today > you can see people eating young animals and this is a shame on the > Chinese people. The Qing Dynasty stated that working animals were > not to > be slaughtered. So this reflects benevolence towards animals in > Chinese > culture and represents Buddhism Taoism and Confucianism. We have a few > exceptional cases - Shanxi province eating live donkeys and very cruel > behaviour but actually it was forbidden by the government and those > who > dared break the law were to be exiled because eating live animals is a > very cruel behaviour. So once you have a lawsuit this justifies the > enactment of animal protection. > > In modern China we see the mercy of people and when the student was > cruel to the bears in Beijing many people were outraged - even an old > grandmother said " how can you do that? " - and this shows that keeping > animals in a good way is still part of our culture. In modern China we > are challenged as our culture was greatly damaged The Cultural > Revolution saw great damage to our culture - sons turned against > parents > and we had massive animal abuse. But we had no legal laws to > protect the > animals and people said that this framework is not part of our > history - > but actually it is. > > In the late 1990's the number of wild animals apparently decreased by > 15-17% - I think this is an underestimate and many became extinct > during > this period. The situation was much worse in China than other areas > and > in the market we see a lot of wild animals sold which is very much > against our tradition. Tibetan antelopes for example - the hunting of > them is very cruel and related animal protection departments enacted > laws to protect them in 2006. > > Live animal feeding - and an alarming level of animal abuse. 700 > million > pigs farmed and injected with water to increase the weight of the > meat. > In fact the banning of this was raised for the purpose of > protecting the > people. We found that 70 or 80% were injected and then found that we > were not punishing people because of morality - and now this > practice is > spreading to chickens and cows. In our culture we should care for and > respect the ox because they are farming animals and work for their > whole > lives for people's lives. We must encourage husbandry or livestock > industry to treat animals more fairly. Shouldn't we pay more attention > to animal protection - this is our task. If we inject ox with so much > water that they die we do not deserve our culture. > > We must have regulations on transport of animals as other > countries. In > Qing dynasty we called people in remote areas savages, but these > people > already had good legislation for animal welfare and we should follow > this and learn from them. > > The British have the earliest legislation and many people are very > quick > at promoting this but today Jill Robinson gave a case that even though > regulations exist, people are not implementing all of them and this is > an endless battle for human beings. We need people to monitor > legislation and supervise implementation. It's a pity in today's > legislations that Govt don't show an institutional response to these > appeals - we have a long way to go. > > Can we turn to our traditional culture? We have the capability and the > tradition and a long sympathy for animals and we are capable of > implementing legislation that will make our future generations > proud. It > is necessary to make this legislation. At so called wildlife parks the > animals are abused because they cannot make enough money - the lions > kill and eat other creatures, the tigers eat the cows, and today we > see > this situation which is very disappointing - bears riding bikes, > animals > hurting and dying. Live animal feeding - Nero in ancient Rome - asking > people to fight beasts but today in China we act just as cruelly as > Nero. > Animal labs in China and so on - welfare so important. > > *********************** > > Merritt Clifton wrote: >> >>> Most of the chineese are buddhist and founder of Budhism Gautam >>> Budha had prohibited consumption of non vegetarian food to his >>> followers. I wonder what sort of relegion the buddhsts of China are >>> practising these days >> >> Buddhism was at one time the prevailing religion in China, >> but only about 6% of Chinese are still practicing Buddhists, >> according to the best available survey data. About 2% are Muslims, >> about 20% follow other traditional religions, including Taoism and >> Confucianism, and the remainder profess to no particular religion. >> >> However, the teachings of Confucianism, which is less a >> religion than a philosophy, are heavily influential throughout the >> society and government. >> >> The present government of China has often been described as a >> fusion of Communist and Confucian ideas. >> >> -- >> Merritt Clifton >> Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE >> P.O. Box 960 >> Clinton, WA 98236 >> >> Telephone: 360-579-2505 >> Fax: 360-579-2575 >> E-mail: anmlpepl <anmlpepl%40whidbey.com> >> Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org >> >> [ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing >> original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide, >> founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the >> decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations. >> We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year; >> for free sample, send address.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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