The News Minute | June 20, 2014 | 07:04 pm IST Each year Yulin, Guangxi, an autonomous region in China, celebrates the Summer Solstice by having a dog eating festival. Rooted in traditions, this festival dates back to thousands of years. This year the Summer Solstice is to occur on June 21. Said to have medicinal properties that generates body heat, dog meat was used to be eaten during winters. It is thought to bring good luck and prosperity during Summer Solstice. Dog meat hotpots are usually consumed with lychees and liquor. Animal activist groups estimate that around 10,000 dogs are slaughtered each year during the festival, states a report in The Guardian. Every year such groups oppose what many feel is a bloody and brutal festival. Activists also raise concerns over the quality of meat, as there is no guarantee whether the dogs used for meals are disease free or not. Sometimes, pet dogs are also stolen for use.According to a South China Morning Post report, animal lovers had also petitioned the White House against the festival . The report quotes parts of the petition, one of which says, “They use knives to kill the dogs which are alive.Then people would like to burn the dogs, which are conscious, so they can eat them.â€The festival is said to have been shifted to an earlier date this year, so as to avoid flak from various fractions of the media and people. In 2011, after a social media outcry against a similar festival in China's Qianxi, the government banned it in the area. Read: Chinese Dog Eating Festival Banned After 600 Years Because Of Social Media OutcryThis, however, didn’t stop activists and people in general from protesting across all forums, demanding the government to ban this ‘illegal’ festival. Micro-blogging site Twitter is filled with pictures of dogs in captivity, those being slaughtered and hung from hooks. There is a constant outpouring of anger and resentment from people all across the world. The following are some pictures and opinions of people and organisations who'd want this barbaric activity in the name of tradition to be ended once and for all. Stop the Chinese Yulin dog-eating festival, it's barbaric! http://t.co/WQG3H4Lb3i pic.twitter.com/Qv1HCQBqEI— Joana Morais (@xklamation) June 20, 2014President of the People's Republic of China: STOP THE YULIN DOG MEAT EATING FESTIVAL http://t.co/Ur2iF3DZ0a Please Sign #GetYULINoffTheMenu!— Barbara Mathiews (@Muffit1) June 20, 2014@AnimalWorldFact There is rather a lot about China that is an insult to humanity and humans. Their dog eating orgy is one example!— Lawyers4animals (@lawyers4animals) June 20, 2014President of the People's Republic of China: STOP THE YULIN DOG MEAT EATING FESTIVAL http://t.co/KdWIH8ipx6 via @CdnChange— Cebu Homeph (@CebuHomeph) June 20, 2014The cruellest festival in the world? China advances its summer solstice DOG-EATING celebrations to avoid protests by animal rights activists— Geoffrey K Ndoigo (@GNdoigo) June 20, 2014