Who are we to say what is or isn't okay in another country. Just because we value dogs as pets and don't believe in eating them doesn't mean they do as well.
I agree with your statement, however my argument is more a quality of life one. I strongly disagree with caged hens / battery hens in our country's (England + US + everywhere else) because they are basically bred, born, fed, die. Where as free-range animals at least get to play around in a field and get some life outside of "slavery". This is my argument with China + Any other country that consumes an animal that has a certain ability to learn, understand and feel emotion, as dogs very well do. Yet they never get the opportunity to experience life other than from their cages, and for something that holds such capability to understand / feel emotion, we as humans are essentially torturing that animal for our own profit. If the animals had the opportunity to at least run around once in a while, I would be somewhat more understanding. So my ultimate view is that animals should at the very least be able to have some pleasantry from life if we are going to take it away from them. (I am also a carnivore by nature, in the sense that 70% of my food consumption is meat, that doesn't mean I condone cruelty of innocence) I would also like to point out that many of the dog farmers, breeders or whatever you call them actually skin the dogs while they are alive and fully concious. Although this video is representing Raccoon Dogs, it is also representative of actual dogs, WARNING, this link is very shocking. The video will open your eye's, but likely upset you. http://features.peta.org/ChineseFurFarms/
I am not reading the article at work but consider this... Where do the dogs that were going to be eaten go? Before you respond to this, consider the pictures above and how humane it is to let them continue living like that. Good Job internet.
On a serious note animal practices in the US are bad as well. Remember veal? You starve cows in tiny crate-like holding areas shooting them up with vaccines and other medicines to keep them alive in the ordinarily deadly environment. The fur trade thing is another example, of not just Chinese, but humans in general being egocentric and overall jackasses. I don't mind what people east so much as I would prefer a more humane approach to it all. Here is something you might not of known. Human population growth has far exceeded natural limits and we are consuming 40% more of the worlds resources than the world can sustain. Once our population reaches an estimated 9 billion by 2050 we will be using 5x the amount of resources the world can produce.
It's the Chinese public who got it shut down. They care nothing whatsoever what anyone in America thinks about it. Also, don't touch anything on the PETA site, it's tainted with stupid.