halcyon
犬を食べる中国の文化について書かれております。冒頭ではペットとして犬を飼ってもらった中国人が子供時代に体験したことが綴られております。気になる方は本文を読んでください。 記事の中で気になった単語は"halcyon"です。『Wisdom英和辞典第三版』（三省堂）によると「平穏な, 平和な; 幸福な」などという意味がありました。ODには"Denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful"と定義されております。ちなみに"halcyon"には「カワセミ」という意味もあります。（Ume）
The day my dog was cooked for dinner
The day that my uncle, a lorry driver, brought me a fuzzy yellow mongrel from my grandmother's mountainous, faraway home was the happiest of my young life.
I named him "Doggie", and we immediately became inseparable.
As an only child born in 1979 at the beginning of China's one-child policy, I had always been alone, and Doggie became my best friend. He loved running around outside our one-room flat, gobbling up left-over rice and snuggling near the coal fire.
But these halcyon days did not last. After just one winter, my parents told me Doggie had to go.
In Chinese cities in the early 1980s owning a pet was considered highly undesirable, bourgeois behaviour. None of my neighbours had one. It was also not entirely legal. There was no access to animal vaccines or vets, so pets could pose a public health risk.
One day, my mother announced we were going shopping - and when we returned a few hours later Doggie was no more. He had been strung up by the legs in our communal yard, and was soon turned into a stew, complete with herbs and hard-boiled eggs.
