Chen Kun has joined others, along with a host of Chinese pop stars like Yang Mi, in the campaign against the Yulin Dog Meat Festival in China.  They are reportedly making their own mark in their Weibo accounts, a microblogging service popular in the country. 

The annual dog meat festival in Yulin has received much condemnation internationally in recent years. The event, which is really the city's summer solstice festival, takes place every year from June 21 to 22. It has been part of the city's tradition to slaughter some 10,000 dogs, and just recently even including cats, and consume their meat for the event.

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In the process of preparing the meat, the dogs are either burnt or boiled while alive.

Hollywood celebrities who have joined the campaign against the Yulin festival in Guangxi province include British comedian Ricky Gervais, British singer Leona Lewis, Richard Marx, and "Vampire Diaries" actor Ian Somerhalder.

"Most of the discussion is centred on the emotional or sentimental aspect of eating dogs," according to Programme Officer Zheng Zhishan, who is with the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

"But it is more important to look at the food safety aspect," he added.

On Twitter, Gervais and Somerhalder shared graphic photographs of tortured dogs to encourage their fans to sign a Change.org petition asking to stop the festival, reported The Straits Times.

Lewis and Marx also campaigned against the Yulin festival via Twitter. They reportedly used the hasthag #StopYuLin2015, gathering support from followers.

Please help stop the #YulinDogMeatFestival https://t.co/8qjoVQ1Y6X pic.twitter.com/MoCSgYlIfw

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) June 15, 2015

Stops dogs being skinned alive and beaten in the streets in China?SIGN THIS WITH ME NOW! https://t.co/Q7ul2toNOG — ian somerhalder (@iansomerhalder) June 15, 2015

I'm ashamed to be a human. Go & look at the images of what they do here. We can't let this happen #StopYuLin2015 pic.twitter.com/805lFm5BDr

— Leona Lewis (@leonalewis) June 15, 2015

I wrote a song w @lindathompsonlt for this PSA to #StopYuLin2015 Pls support our fight to end this insanity. https://t.co/Mytn8C1Vgd — Richard Marx (@richardmarx) June 15, 2015

The dog meat festival dispute, which has taken place in China for many years, even caused violence last year as protesters tried to stop delivery trucks in Yulin and buy back the live dogs. They also took snapshots of the grueling scene from the festival, according to AsiaOne20.

In the past few weeks, the social media campaign against the festival has taken unprecedented heat. The hashtag #stopyulin2015 trended on Twitter, and it is now being used by thousands of users. On Facebook, a Stop Yulin Dog & Cat Meat Festival 2015 group has been created and has since garnered over 17,000 likes.

The Change.org petition by US animal rights group Duo Duo has also attracted more than 200,000 signatures but was closed.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities seem to be unfazed despite the worldwide attention. The government's attitude toward outside opinion on the issue has been dismissive, especially since Twitter and Facebook are blocked in China, according to The Independent.

Chinese netizens have also been against foreigners for their so-called "finger-wagging."

Tagschen kun against china dog meat festival, chen kun dog meat festival, china dog meat festival, Yulin Dog Meat Festival, stopyulin2015, Guangxi Province, Yang Mi, ricky Gervais, Ian Somerhalder, Leona lewis, Richard marx