Tibetan mastiff owners usually give their pets a glorious funeral to honor their lifelong faithfulness and services as shepherd dogs. But recently some of the prized animals almost ended up in hot pot restaurants, because their raisers could not afford to feed them any more after failing to find buyers for them.

The reason, many say, is the anti-corruption campaign.

Last month, dog lovers saved 20 Tibetan mastiffs and hundreds of other dogs from a truck in Beijing's suburbs that was carrying them to eateries in Northeast China, by paying $5 each for them.