China has banned a dog-eating festival that dates back more than 600 years after an Internet uproar over the way the dogs are slaughtered

Dogs are chopped up and skinned in the streets of Qianxi township in coastal Zhejiang province during the ancient festival, which is usually held in October. The festival marks a military victory during the Ming dynasty, in which dogs in Qianxi were killed so that they would not bark and alert the enemy. After the victory, dog meat was served at a celebratory feast, and since then people have eaten dog meat at temple fairs held during traditional Chinese holidays. The ancient fair was replaced by a modern commodity fair in the 1980s, but dog eating has been kept as a tradition. However, vendors began to butcher dogs in public in recent years to show that their dog meat is fresh and safe and as a way to ease buyers' worry that the meat may be refrigerator-preserved or even contaminated.