Seriously, WTH is wrong with China?

FoxEye · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:16

Again tonight, watching Eden, the commentator mentions that species X is in drastic decline, due to poaching for animal parts destined for the Chinese "medicine" market. And to drive the point home the penis of this animal is considered to be a "delicacy" for the Chinese also.

This is certainly nothing new. Again and again I hear the same story. China's total disregard for the environment or wildlife is causing the suffering and death of countless species, with many projected for extinction.

Here's a recent article which is par for the course. Tiger parts used to make wine. Completely normal for the Chinese.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world...s-revealed-where-animals-are-turned-into-wine

And yet all world governments want to be China's best buddy, and we keep buying up their cheap electronics.

Seriously, I wish we could send them some sort of message that this **** is intolerable. That they should stop being so damn reckless and backwards, and get their act together.

It's disgusting that any major civilisation could still believe in nonsense like Traditional Chinese Medicine. Really, tell me how ground up tiger bones will cure cancer? Or erectile dysfunction?

No one will ever force China to stop this madness, so it will have to come from within. But it really saddens me to think this is going on, and to know that we are completely powerless to stop it.

(In before "My girlfriend is Chinese and she loves animals, only eats dog on Thursdays."

or "I had a bad cold for weeks, took loads of pills and nothing cured it. Then my Chinese buddy gave me tiger penis and it cleared right up! So it works!"

Yeah, there are people in the UK who are just as ignorant.)

Theophany · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:19

My Chinese girlfriend's tiger penis cured my ignorance.

Raymond Lin · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:19

Different culture.

They would also think putting your parents in an old people's home disrespectful.

Culture.

G|mp · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:19

Imagine a Chinese man has just killed a tiger for his eyes and then asked you to show him how to use Tivo.

How would that make you feel?

FoxEye · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:22

G|mp said:
Imagine a Chinese man has just killed a tiger for his eyes and then asked you to show him how to use Tivo.

How would that make you feel?

I would (try to) strangle him with his own intestines

He would kick my ass with some funky kung-fu. Unless I had my keyboard with me, that is.

G|mp · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:23

You need to get out more.

bitslice · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:23

I think they are starting to look at this issue, but preservation of animals is a bit of a cultural non event for them.

mrk · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:24

FoxEye said:
I would (try to) strangle him with his own intestines

He would kick my ass with some funky kung-fu. Unless I had my keyboard with me, that is.

So now all Asian people know martial arts?!

How racist!

Lysander · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:24

We eat cow, pig, young sheep, old sheep, chicken, quails, pheasant, deer, duck, fish, octopus, clams, prawns, mussels, squid and scallops. I had goat brains the other day too.

And they make wine out of tigers. Meh.

FoxEye · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:28

Lysander said:
We eat cow, pig, young sheep, old sheep, chicken, quails, pheasant, deer, duck, fish, octopus, clams, prawns, mussels, squid and scallops.

And they make wine out of tigers. Meh.

How many of those are on the endangered species list?

Admittedly we wiped out our native wolves and bears. And sent toffs to India who hunted tigers for sport.

But not for several decades. Attitudes in most Western nations are much more wildlife friendly now. Unless you're a badger.

Fulax · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:32

When I was in Hong Kong I had deer tendon soup. Apparently it helps leg muscles in some way. I have not noticed any effect.

starfighter · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:35

Sure cultures are different. But one has to be better than the other.

One · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:36

Well unless we start seriously considering moving to a new planet everything that has ever been will be extinct anyway.

Like 90% of species that ever existed are already extinct. Who cares if the Chinese eat all the tigers? Tigers will only become extinct anyway.

It's actually quite egotistical to think that we as humans can preserve the current state of environmental affairs because it's what we know and like.

starfighter · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:37

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24938874

The worlds second largest economy can only come up with $100000.

d_brennen · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:40

bitslice said:
I think they are starting to look at this issue, but preservation of animals is a bit of a cultural non event for them.

It's only relevant to "us" because it is. Why is one animal any more worthy than any other? Culture. The west sneer at the savage foreigners killing animal X for reason Y when "we" put millions of animals to death for food (a huge amount of which is not even eaten), clothing, furniture etc

FoxEye · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:41

desires said:
Well unless we start seriously considering moving to a new planet everything that has ever been will be extinct anyway.

Like 90% of species that ever existed are already extinct. Who cares if the Chinese eat all the tigers? Tigers will only become extinct anyway.

It's actually quite egotistical to think that we as humans can preserve the current state of environmental affairs because it's what we know and like.

Let's not excuse ourselves from any kind of responsibility because it's convenient to do so.

We are not talking about saving species from a natural extinction. We are talking about taking steps not to destroy the planet we live on due entirely to our own actions.

We may not be able to stop a comet hitting the Earth, but we can stop killing tigers for their skins, bones and dick.

The only thing stopping us is our own apathy and disregard for life. We think that being the dominant species means we can ride roughshod over all else. I hope in time this attitude changes.

robfosters · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:42

The day a species as magnificent as the Tiger becomes extinct is the day I officially become fed up with living on this Earth.

The Chinese spend so much effort on Panda's, it boggles me that they cant be bothered to deal with all the other crap like Tiger medicines and Shark fin soup.

Glaucus · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:45

starfighter said:
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24938874

The worlds second largest economy can only come up with $100000.

But per head, they are still extremly poor, miles behind western nations. As they slowly introduce more h&s, employment law etc, there economy will slow like the rest of the western world. They couldnt even afford to pay the estimated cost our h&s, employment law etc which is around £5k cost per person.

As to the original topic, its far more to do with education, pretty much every civilization had such practivpces, its education that slowly turns these things around.

People think china are wealthy due to huge economy, but they have an even bigger popualtion.

Nate75 · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:49

robfosters said:
The day a species as magnificent as the Tiger becomes extinct is the day I officially become fed up with living on this Earth.

The Chinese spend so much effort on Panda's, it boggles me that they cant be bothered to deal with all the other crap like Tiger medicines and Shark fin soup.

Tiger penis is a lot tastier than panda penis

obv

One · 17 Nov 2013 at 20:54

FoxEye said:
Let's not excuse ourselves from any kind of responsibility because it's convenient to do so.

We are not talking about saving species from a natural extinction. We are talking about taking steps not to destroy the planet we live on due entirely to our own actions.

We may not be able to stop a comet hitting the Earth, but we can stop killing tigers for their skins, bones and dick.

The only thing stopping us is our own apathy and disregard for life. We think that being the dominant species means we can ride roughshod over all else. I hope in time this attitude changes.

Seriously, WTH is wrong with China?

Capodecina