CHINESE students and their eating habits were again the focus of several newspapers yesterday in the wake of reports earlier in the week that immigration department officers carrying out routine checks had discovered dog bones in a flat occupied by Chinese students, who allegedly admitted they ate the animals.
There was prominent coverage of the issue with some newspapers reporting straight facts while others wrote diatribes on which type of dog had the best meat and even suggesting ways of eating them.
Machi on Thursday published a huge front-page photograph of an Alsatian with its eyes wide open and a speech bubble saying, “help, the Chinese are coming”.
But yesterday, daily Politis published a cartoon showing a Cypriot man in traditional dress looking at a dog, which was apparently being chased.
In the second strip, the astonished Cypriot sees the dog is being chased by a Chinese man wielding a pot and a butcher’s knife. In the final part, the ingenious Cypriot has apparently jumped on the opportunity, opening up a kennel inviting Chinese people to come and get their meat. The man holds a recipe book on how to cook dogs while signs on the dog cages advertise the good quality of the meat. “Fresh dogs for sale,” and “very good very tender,” the signs say.
In another page in Politis, an article headlined ” Hot dog in the plate” interviewed a Chinese man who explained why black dogs were the best, saying their meat was of top quality, which gave a lot of energy to the people who ate them. The most common cooking method was frying with various sauces and vegetables.
The article was illustrated with a photograph of a small dog in microwave oven ready to be cooked.
Machi yesterday claimed the dog-eating furore had had repercussions on restaurants specialising in the Asian cuisine. According to the daily, the owners of such restaurants have seen their business slump.
Quoting a Chinese embassy spokesman, Machi said that dog meat was very popular in many areas of China, adding there were special kennels which bred dogs and provided restaurants and individuals with their favourite dish.
But the issue also found its way to the House, where deputies, Phileleftheros reported yesterday, had exchanged views ranging from banning dog and cat meat to the need to respect the cultures of other people, while at the same time protect local habits.
That didn’t stop the issue from spilling over to television stations too.
Reporting on the matter on Thursday night, Antenna had Deputy Attorney-general Petros Clerides saying he had lost his dog around a year ago.
The report’s punch line, however, was that Clerides lived in the same area as the Chinese students who told police they eat dogs.
The Immigrant Support Action Group (ISAG) on Thursday slammed the way the media handled the matter, branding reactions to the story as proof of “how dangerous racism can become when it isn’t stamped out”.
Journalists’ Union Chairman Andreas Kannaouros told the Cyprus Mail yesterday: “Unfortunately, at times – it’s not a widespread phenomenon – there are some cases with racist aspects that are unacceptable and condemnable.”
Kannaouros said the union was against racial discrimination and if there were any incidents, not only concerning Chinese people, but any other race, they were without a doubt condemnable and revolting.
“It is fundamental in the code of journalistic ethics that there should be respect for the particularities of all nations, people and religions,” Kannaouros said.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
