A creature that has served us well

Historical status

In several dynasties, the ox was elevated to such a high status that commoners were forbidden from slaughtering farm cattle at will.

The earliest text record pertaining to this regulation dates back to more than 2,000 years ago, in the Confucius school historical record Book of Rites. Completed in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), the codex states that in the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-771 BC), the liege lords were not allowed to slaughter cattle without a good reason, and only the emperor could kill cattle in spring and autumn as sacrificial offerings.

Apart from farming purposes, another reason for the high status of cattle was their key role in the armed forces.

The Tang Code records that cattle and horses were used by the military and ipso facto different from the rest of domestic animals. Anyone stealing or killing cattle would face a sentence of two and a half years.

Cattle were used in wars to transport supplies. Even when dead, they could still be made into military apparel and weapons, hence the hides and tendon of dead cattle had to be submitted to the government in some dynasties.

The protection of cattle did not alleviate as time went by. From the Tang Dynasty (618-907) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the slaughtering of cattle, even one's own, would induce penalties from whipping to death. Even when the cattle were old or ill, the owners had to apply to governmental entities for permission.

It might be surprising to know that even after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, beef was still a rare item, as private slaughtering was deemed illegal up until the late 1970s.

Only with the advancement of modern agriculture, in which farming cattle were replaced with machinery, did beef become a common ingredient for everyday dishes. Therefore, we should probably not take beef for granted. After all, it has been a luxury item for thousands of years.