Last night I went to a Chinese wedding dinner. As usual, you would find shark fin soup in every Chinese wedding dinner, and even important dinners. Shark Fin soup is a “traditional” (or must-have) dish in Chinese wedding dinner. I have been eating it for many year without questioning. After I learned that millions of sharks had their fin cut away from their bodies when they were still alive, I found the soup disgusting and I refused to eat it. This was the first time I said No to shark fin, in the future I will do the same.

My action surprised other old Chinese sat at the same table. When they knew my reason, they just haha then continued to enjoy the shark fin. They even finished mine. I know in their mind, they think, “This guy so stupid lah. Shark Fin is expensive and delicious but he does not want to eat.” Apparently there was no sense of guilt in them. All is done in the name of “tradition”. I will try my best not to attend Chinese wedding dinner that serves shark fin. If I do attend, I will not eat shark fin. This is not an act of boycott or something. Just like you can’t force a vegetarian to take meat, you also can’t ask me to eat shark fin. It is my choice to exclude myself from contributing to the cruelty of killing innocent animals.

I know I myself alone cannot do much. But at least I started to send a message “Not everyone loves shark fin.” I am deeply dismayed by the fact that Chinese is always associated with killing of sharks, tigers, rhinos, and many other endangered species, and even friendly animals such as dog and cat. I always hope I can do more. In the future, if I have children, I will educate them to love the nature, animals and environment, and of course, eat NO SHARK FIN. As one says, “The killing will stop when there is no buying.”

Below is a real reflection of a Chinese wedding I got from:
http://www.seashepherd.org/longline/longline_shark_finning.html