‘ABUSE’: The Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan said that the practice, which aims to honor militias that died serving the Qing Dynasty, disgraced their memory
Taipei Times
Date: Aug 21, 2019
By: Huang Mei-chu and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Animal rights advocates yesterday staged a silent protest in Hsinchu County’s Sinpu Township (新
People attending the Yimin Festival in Hsinchu County yesterday look at a prize-winning “divine pig” display in a contest that was protested by animal rights advocates.
Photo: Huang Mei-chu, Taipei Times
The protest was launched after a petition by the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan failed to convince the Hsinchu County Government to ban the competition, in which pigs are fattened and skinned for the ritual.
“Our protest is not targeting specific ethnic groups or temples, but the competition itself,” group deputy executive director Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) said.
The Yimin Festival, a major Hakka cultural event, has been tarnished by the divine pig competition, which has been continued by multiple temples on the grounds that it is an “integral part of Hakka culture,” the group said, adding that a 2016 Ministry of Culture report found that the competition does not contribute to the festival being an important part of Hakka culture and heritage.
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