Who says the lives of all beings are insignificant?

Who says the lives of creatures are insignificant? They all have flesh and skin like us;
I urge you, do not shoot the bird on the branch, for its young in the nest await its return.
—Bai Juyi, Tang Dynasty

Do Chinese people not discuss animal protection? Is animal welfare incompatible with traditional Chinese culture?
The seventy ancient poems, essays, and stories about animal welfare in this book might overturn your perceptions! It turns out...

• Confucius was also a dog lover
• Liezi might be the earliest philosopher to propose species egalitarianism
• Zhuangzi believed that "Bo Le's horse training" was actually "harming horses"
• "Benevolence towards birds and beasts" was a prerequisite for becoming a wise ruler in ancient times
• Many ancient officials and literati even defended tigers and venomous snakes
• Sun Simiao, a famous Tang Dynasty physician known as the "King of Medicine," strongly opposed using animals in medicine
• The harm caused by releasing animals (fang sheng) was criticized as early as the Zhou Dynasty
• Su Shi, believed to be the creator of Dongpo Pork, was an animal advocate and became a vegetarian in his later years
• Ancient people also supported humane slaughter and opposed practices that needlessly increased animal suffering
• Animal welfare education in the family already existed among some intellectuals in ancient times

Let long-dormant historical records and literary works unveil a little-known aspect of the human-animal relationship in ancient China!