China acutely feels the need to be affable to foreign travelers, especially at the time it hosts the Olympics this year. Guidelines are in place to this end.

One important step in this direction is a ban on serving dog meat in the restaurants that will officially serve the tourists. It is believed that foreigners entering a restaurant would feel offended if dog meat is served there. China also wants to showcase the country and its culture as fully acceptable and as having no obnoxious elements.

Dog meat is a delicacy in China, Korea, and some other east Asian countries. There are dog farms in these countries that raise select breeds of dogs that sell like hot cakes for slaughter.

But, eating dog meat is a social and cultural taboo in many parts of the world. There are groups opposed to using dog meat as food. The cruel methods of killing have also been criticized by animal lovers.

One only hopes that there will be nice food for foreign visitors to relish in the Chinese restaurants during Olympics 2008, and many good reasons to remember China for.

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