Language of Love - 7. Chapter 7: "Gau"

Chapter 7: “Gau”

Two weeks passed by in my life like a dream, or perhaps a nightmare. In that time my elderly dog passed away. He had been having problems for some time now, but he stopped eating and stopped drinking water. His body began fading away every day and I knew it was time. There’s a debt man has to dogs in any culture or society; once upon a time, we depended on our pets to live. They are more than companions; they are family.

Among the twelve Chinese zodiac animals, the dog is ranked 11^th. According to one legend, the 12 animals were racing towards the gates of Heaven with a river blocking the path. The dog was second to last, not due to its abilities at swimming, but it was too playful in the water. Despite its lower celestial standing, the dog nevertheless accepted its place and remained loyal to the others. The dog symbolizes fidelity and loyalty, both highly praised traits in common Chinese traditions.

Despite the dog’s reverence, Chinese people are among the few remaining cultures that eat dogs as food. While the Communist government has been attempting to outlaw dog meat distributions in China with the 2010 ban due to foreign protests about animal abuse, it is still a practice. To a western minded person, it must seem paradoxical and incredibly hypocritical that a culture can praise a being to the point of godhood and eat him. No, this cannot be explained with Catholic practices of transformation between wine and blood. Chinese people do literally boil cook dogs with daikon and radishes. It’s a pragmatic principle in Chinese culture that became a staple of cuisine. During the worse farming seasons and draughts of China, there was no choice except to sacrifice your dog as food for the family. There are no religious issues in China over this paradox of praise and slaughter; traditional Chinese people are different than western peoples, who hold faith as supreme over worldly affairs. It might be said that Chinese people hold to pragmatic solutions rather than waiting for miracles until everyone starved to death. The dog can be loyal, faithful, and lovable to an extreme, but it is also a possible food source.

In the southern regions, like Guangzhou, where I was born, dog meat is a traditional dish with historic roots. Hong Kong under the British government outlawed dog meat in the 1950’s. Taiwan also outlawed it in 2001, due to pressure from foreign groups. There are two arguments running currently in mainland China; whether dog meat should be outlawed out due to its nature of cruelty, or whether this action is a destruction of pragmatic Chinese principles for western moral values.

As a Chinese person, an American, and a formal dog owner, I can see the arguments. I would never have eaten my dog; though, I would joke about it to him. I agree that dogs serve human beings so faithfully and loyally; it is wrong to kill them. However, I can’t deny a fact; in my blood, there are generations of people, including my own father and mother, who have eaten dog meat to survive. From the stories I was told of the Cultural Revolution, if Chinese people lived by western standards of morality; there would be hundreds of millions dead now due to the food shortages during that time. I can’t argue with history; the traditionalists are arguing from a standpoint of experience, not cruelty. Western media never gives both sides of the story when it comes to the dog meat issue, but there are two sides.

A few hours after completing the task of rendering my dog onto the eternal sleep, I received a text.

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Him: What are you doing?

Me: Nothing, my dog just passed away

Him: What happened?

Me: He grew too old to live

Me: He would not drink water or eat

Him: I am sorry

Me: No

Me: I am sorry to bring this up

Me: You must be having fun in Chicago

Him: Toronto now

Him: I understand

Him: My dog died years ago too

Me: They are giving me a nice wooden box for his ashes

Him: Have you ever eaten dogs?

Me: No I avoid it

Him: My Ba ba did when he was forced to do farm work

Me: Oh

Me: Was he stationed in Guangdong?

Him: Yes and other places like Hunan

Me: Sorry

Me: My grandparents were teachers and were sent to Yunnan from Guangdong

Him: You should be very accustomed to dog food

Me: Excuse me!

Him: Rou

Me: You mean yuk

Me: Meat

Him: Yes

Me: I have lived in the US since I was a kid

Him: Oh

Him: Sorry

Me: Don’t be

Me: I know it’s a Southern delicacy

Him: They used to have it in Shanghai too

Him: Before it was outlawed three years ago

Me: I heard

Him: Ba ba opposed the Ban

Me: How about you?

Him: I do not know

Him: I do not want to do it

Him: But if others do

Him: Why deny them if it hurts no one?

Me: Except the dogs

Him: Oh

Him: I am sorry

Me: No I do not know either

Me: Personally I do not want it done

Me: But I also agree with you

Him: Rou baozi da gou

Me: lol

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I can only laugh at his colorful use of a Chinese idiom. The translation of the phrase he used is “You hit a dog with a bone”. The Chinese also have a flare for sarcasm and satire based on our idioms as well. Used in this context, he conveyed that the reaction of China’s government to outlaw dog meat was punitive, but it could have achieved the results better if it offered an alternative. The literal counter is that you should give the dog the bone and ask it not to perform bad behavior.

It was the most Chinese conversation I had ever had with text messaging. I wonder if the US government might be monitoring us, but they would probably be monitoring this story as well if that’s the case.

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Me: What else do you think they will outlaw next?

Him: Maybe gay people

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I froze at reading that and I think it was that point that gave me a revelation at what could easily go wrong with Chinese westernizing. By attempting acceptance internationally, China had begun accepting another set of values, moral values over practical values. If you do what is “right” rather than what is “practical”, then what makes things “right”. The last time China did this was under Chairman Mao during the Cultural Revolution, or more precisely under the Gang of Four, who took power as Chairman Mao was slowly dying due to illness. A dozen movies came to my mind from classics like A Few Good Men, Morality in its nakedness is one person or group dictating life and death.

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Me: I hope not

Me: Who says that being Gay is “Right” or “Wrong”?

Him: I guess you are not Christian

Me: I am kind of

Me: Have not been to Church in a long time

Me: How about you?

Him: Never interested me

Me: I don’t think being gay is a sin

Him: Yes

Me: But I like what they offer in terms of charity and kindness

Him: Buddhist offer the same thing

Me: Yes I just don’t want to be a vegan

Him: You do not need to unless you want to be a monk

Me: Americans interpret it differently

Him: Really they do?

Me: Well some of them at least imagine that Buddhism must be pure

Me: No meat or alcohol

Him: Must be very sad

Me: But sex is fine

Him: So they are actually Taoists

Me: lol

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He was getting all the fun puns and cultural snipes in. Chinese Buddhism and American Buddhism despite what Chinese-American masters might claim are not the same things. Abolition of meat and alcohol are true in Buddhist principles, but so are sex and any possibility of pleasure. This idea would run counter to Chinese culture’s strong emphasis on lineage and preserving the family. In ancient China, Buddhist concepts were adjusted to match Confucian ideology and pragmatic issues of familial fidelity. There are still purists in China, who do not eat meat, drink alcohol, or have sex.

Taoism is China’s own religious and ideological base. It is very strong on principle towards blending natural understanding and daily life. The early Taoists were some of the first chemists, engineers, and mapmakers of China. Paper, Compass, and gunpowder were some of their greatest contributions to human society. Also, they favored a very active sexual culture, because the blending of man and woman or Yang and Yin brings balance to the universe. In terms of philosophy, they were the forerunners of rationalism and empiricism, centuries before European Enlightenment. They fell out of favor in China due to their radical notions and Han Chinese foundations during the reign of the Manchu or Qing dynasty.

I see myself as a Taoist in some respects, wanting to learn and understand everything about nature and people. That desire for knowledge is tempered by Christian concepts of charity and compassion.

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Me: So I guess you are an Atheist

Him: Yes

Me: Are you sure you will not recant on your deathbed?

Him: What do you mean?

Me: It’s a rumor among Christians that Charles Darwin recanted near his death

Him: Stupid people

Me: Well what can I say they want to hold out hope

Him: What hope?

Me: That their life has meaning in itself

Me: If Darwin was right and we evolved

Me: Their life loses meaning

Him: They are stupid

Me: I don’t know

Him: You believe them

Me: No not really

Him: Then why?

Me: It takes millions of cells to combine and create us as we are

Me: It took the same for everyone else including our ancestors

Me: We came about over time and became what we are

Me: That’s already impressive and improbable in itself

Him: I see

Him: You do not agree with them

Him: But you agree with the importance of life itself

Me: Exactly

Me: Glad you’re a grad student

Him: I only have an 89 in biology

Me: HA!

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There’s nothing special about our conversations, but it felt great to release some tension in my life. My dog’s passing struck me really hard. This discussion just threw me out of my depressive stupor. There’s nothing like a fun discussion about everything and nothing at the same time.