06-006 The controversial biography of our taikonaut

06-006
The controversial biography of our taikonaut

The year was 2016. It was a rainy evening. I was on a business trip to Ho Chi Minh City. After work, I was alone in the hotel as usual. As a married man with 2 kids, there are not many opportunities for me to explore a city on my own, especially exploring a city other than the one that I am living in.

I approached the hotel front desk, lowered down my voice, fearing of being heard by others. “Where I can find this?”

No, I am a good Christian. I was not looking for girls, though I know there are plenty in Vietnam. HCMC is a vibrant city. Without doing those no-no things, there are still many to explore. But the thing I was looking for may be equally controversial, in some people’s eyes, at least.

I was scared. I asked the same question in Busan before. The receptionist was smiling at first. But once she heard of my question, her face became black. Immediately, she turned her back to me and said, “I don’t know!” Koreans are friendly people. Foreigners normally won’t get this kind of hospitality, definitely not at the hotel reception. I did not blame her. It was my fault. I was just going too far.

The receptionist in the HCMC hotel was more friendly. She did not only tell me the name of the shop. She even got me a taxi there.

Shop in Phạm Ngũ Lão, packed with backpackers

The area is nothing strange to foreigner. It is Phạm Ngũ Lão, a place packed with low cost hostels. It is a famous district for backpackers, travelling around Vietnam, seeking for cheap stays, food, beer and making some new friends. The taxi stopped outside the Phạm Ngũ Lão coach station. There is where the long distance buses departing from. The taxi driver tried all his body languages to tell me that I should get off there. The place I was looking for is just on the other side of the bus station, inside one of the back alley. He was correct. The shop was just 200 meters away. Only that there is a busy street in between which took me almost two minutes to cross. Crossing a street in Vietnam is sometimes more risky than playing bungy jump, not to mention doing this at night.

I did not know the name of the street at that time. It is not a main road and the time was already 8pm. But I was pretty sure that I was in the right place. One side of the road was completely dark. But on the other side, there were restaurants after restaurants, with hundreds of people dinning, both inside and outside. Now, I got the name of the street from Google, Hẻm 189 Cống Quỳnh. And the name of the shop is Quán Trường 1. It even got its own Facebook page.

Food served in Quán Trường 1, with a bottle of Saigon beer

Quán Trường 1 is a Thịt chó restaurant.

The Menu
I think they mean "Grilled Spareribs" rather than "Drilled"

Yang Liwei’s biography

7 years after coming back to Earth, our first taikonaut Yang Liwei wrote his first ever biography, The long march to space (天地九重). The book was published by the Army of People’s Republic of China. In the book, Yang talked about many things. He talked about his childhood, how his parents raised him and inspired him to be a scientist, how he was recruited into the army, how he was chosen to be an astronaut, the details of the training, his experiences on Shenzhou 5, and what he felt after coming back, granting himself the honor of the first taikonaut in the world. It is an easy-reading book full of information and rare photos. Readers were surprised to see so many details of the Shenzhou 5 can be found inside, as many were thinking that that information should be classified. Clearly, our government is willing to disclose them to the public.

Yang's biography, The Long March to Space

However, one page of this supposedly good book caused criticism. Technically, only 4 Chinese characters inside that are causing trouble. On page 155 of the Traditional Chinese version of The long march to space, Yang talked about the training details prior to his flight. “Actually, the 3 meals that we consume everyday were just normal food. Many friends were curious on what I was eating. They thought that we astronauts were all eating luxury food. I consulted our nutritionists and our cooks. They said our menu were very normal and there was no secret inside.” Then he listed out a sample of menu from the canteen inside Dongfeng Aerospace City.

It is the very dish on the Wednesday menu of that week that caught people’s eyes: 花江狗肉 or Huajiang Dog Meat.

It is this very page that caused the trouble.

Prior to Gagarin’s flight, the Russians has sent a number of dogs to the space to determine whether human spaceflight was feasible. Yang’s canteen menu brought up discussions on whether we also have our own version of space dogs. No, Yang has never mentioned dog meat is on Shenzhou’s menu. I have also searched different articles on the internet and browsed many photos of China Space Food, including those I took inside the Hong Kong Space Museum. There is no mentioning of dog meat being served in the space. Seems dogs have never left the kitchen of Dongfeng Aerospace City. Though, this is still controversial enough to mention.

Huajiang Dog Meat
Image Source: nipic

I like dogs. My brother keeps two and treats them like his own children. In many people’s eyes, consumption of dog meat is a taboo. Being ruled by the Europeans for centuries, Hongkong and Macau have long banned the consumption of dog meat. Two years ago, our neighboring cities Shenzhen and Zhuhai also followed. Now, eating dog meat in these 2 cities is no longer legal. Younger generations of mainland Chinese now consider eating dogs as barbaric. But I found some arguments on dog meat consumption are rather irrational or even a complete nonsense.

The most typical argument I heard is, dogs are our best friends and we should not hurt them. Dogs are only the best friends of dog lovers. In many cultures, dogs are nothing but domestic working animals. It is only in the modern world that people refuse to have offspring and treat dogs as their family members.

If you are not convinced, I can give you an example. Due to the limited size of our apartments, many people in Hongkong keeps fish as pet. And I have never heard of anyone saying that he is not eating Filet-O-Fish anymore because he now has an aquarium at home! Dogs found in the wet market are in different species and they have never been raised as pet. Same as we don’t use goldfish to make Fish ‘n Chips.

Other typical argument is, dogs are clever and we should not eat them. Scientists have already proven that pigs are cleverer than dogs. How to explain the pack of pork chop in your fridge?

Many are also sharing videos of dogs being slaughtered on YouTube, saying that killing a dog for food is nothing but barbaric. Some even use those videos to accuse those eating dog meat as uncivilized. I suggest those YouTubers to visit their local slaughterhouse once. I am pretty sure that they will shut up after the trip, except they are vegetarians. Killing a chicken is not much “mercier” than killing a dog.

Dog meat consumption is a matter of culture and there is no right or wrong within. And if there is no right or wrong, then don’t bother other people’s culture, please. No one is saying that they are going to eat your dog. And no one is promoting dog meat consumption in your country. If you are so concern about the feelings of those unknown dogs in a faraway country that most likely you will never visit in your whole life, how much you are concerning about the feelings of your kids, your parents or the one sleeping next to you? Don’t get the priority wrong.

 

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