Update: Positive News From Yulin

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This is Yulin's most popular dog meat restaurant. First, the sign was changed from

"Crispy Dog Meat Restaurant" to "Crispy Meat Restaurant." Now it's just "Restaurant."

Something unexpected is happening in Yulin.

Almost overnight, dog meat restaurants along the city’s main streets began removing the words “dog meat” from their signs.

There are no dog meat vendors in one of the renovated Yulin markets.

And that’s not all.

Two infamous Yulin dog meat markets (DongKou and NanQiao) have recently been renovated, and locals say dog meat vendors have been forced to relocate out of the centrally located city markets.

After years of watching the dog meat trade operate openly in Yulin, these changes are impossible to ignore.

But are they the beginning of something bigger, or simply a temporary retreat?

Right now, we don’t know.

One possibility is that the new local leadership may be behind efforts to regulate the trade or change how openly it operates. There is a Chinese saying, “a new broom sweeps clean” (新官上任三把火), referring to the tendency of newly appointed officials to act quickly to demonstrate their effectiveness.

But there is another story unfolding beneath the surface.

According to local sources, dog meat traders themselves don’t appear particularly worried. Traders and consumers communicate through WeChat groups, China’s popular messaging platform, and some traders are reportedly telling customers to keep a low profile for now. Their message is to wait it out. Once enforcement relaxes, business can return to normal.

In an especially telling development, some restaurants have reportedly replaced dog meat signs with cat meat signs, apparently using the new signage as a coded signal to customers that dog meat is still available.

A vendor advertises cat meat, signaling that he is also selling dog meat.

So we believe that, for now, dog meat has not disappeared from Yulin. It has simply become less visible.

As we have said, even strict enforcement cannot guarantee lasting change if the demand remains. A determined consumer who wants dog meat may be willing to make more of an effort to seek it out.

That is why changing hearts and minds is ultimately more powerful than changing signs.

When fewer people want to eat dogs and cats, the market has nowhere to go. Education and community outreach can address the demand that allows this trade to survive in the first place.

At Duo Duo Project, we applaud every effort to restrict the dog and cat meat trade. Even a small step forward is better than a step backward. Seeing dog meat signage disappear from Yulin’s main streets, and vendors being relocated, is genuinely encouraging.

But don’t mistake a quieter trade for an ended trade.

Thanks to our generous supporters, we've built a strong team in Yulin. For 13 years, Duo Duo Project has kept boots on the ground, working year-round to build a more compassionate future.

Our team in Yulin will be watching closely. Because if these changes represent the beginning of a larger transformation, Yulin could be giving us a glimpse of what happens when a century-old tradition finally loses its place in society.

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