If animals are being boiled or skinned alive, I find that I have common ground with Sir Paul here. Can these allegations be verified?
Back in '98, I went through the farmers' market in Guangzhou - before the SARS episode. I SAW them knock a cat unconscious (killed? I don't know) and dip it into a cauldron of about six gallons of boiling water. It was immediately skinned and hanged upon a hook by the sinews of the hind feet.
The last time I was in Guangzhou, the market had been cleaned up, the restaurant (I then thought was a pet shop) no longer had live, caged animals at the entrance.