The call to put an end to China's Yulin Festival became widely popular in the past few weeks. While animal rights groups have been lobbying for the abolition of the now infamous tradition for several years already, the clamor has hit an all-time high this year, thanks to #StopYulin2015.

According to The Independent, the campaign is now backed by unprecedented figures due to shares, reposts, and likes by netizens in different parts of the world. Even celebrities like British comedian Ricky Gervais and Chinese stars like Fan Bingbing, Chen Kun, and Yang Mi took to social media to air their support of the campaign.

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However, several restaurant owners in Yulin are playing the "bad publicity is still publicity" card. In a report by CNN, one dog meat vendor remarked at how the international campaign has brought prominence to the city and boosted business. A restaurant owner who goes by the name Ning narrated that prior to the movement, people from other provinces in China knew nothing about their "delicacy." Since being featured on TV, the restaurant has allegedly enjoyed an increase in visitors who want to try dog meat.

"We just wanted to take a look and try things out," Liu, a college student from Nanning, shared with CNN.

Yulin reportedly started observing the festival in the 1990s, but the custom of eating dog meat can be traced to five centuries ago. The older generation of southern provinces mainly comprise the consumers. Today, canine meat is enjoyed by locals with lychees and beer. Furthermore, Yulin residents and vendors claim that the animals are killed "humanely," BBC cited. Many who rear and eat dogs as regularly as the common folk rears and eats pigs do not understand where all the commotion is coming from.

Amid the online outrage, the festival is still a go. Pressure on the Chinese authorities seems to have headed into a dead end. Independent attributed the lack of action to the government's "dismissive attitude" to foreign opinion and to the national blockade of Facebook and Twitter, where most of the outcry happens. A number of Chinese social media users also took a stand against the critics of the Yulin fest.

"Dog-meat eating is a custom belonging to other people, the same way that people of the Islamic Hui ethnic group doesn't eat pork. They won't protest us for eating pork. We should mutually respect each other. If you don't want to eat something, then don't," Independent quoted one netizen. 

TagsChina Yulin Festival, stopyulin2015, dog meat