Thousands of cats and dogs will be killed and eaten in China to mark the summer solstice on Sunday 21 June.

The controversial Yulin Dog Meat Festival has attracted criticism and protests from animal activists around the world and government officials are said to have officially banned the annual event.

Peter Li, China specialist at animal activist group Humane Society International, told The Independent: "I saw cat and dog intestines and carcasses strung up.

"Workers were blow-torching the carcasses to make them shiny and ready for shipment to restaurants. There were some dogs still alive in wire cages, but they looked exhausted, emaciated and dirty."

But the slaughter of dogs and cats is not outlawed in China, with Yulin local government officials powerless to stop stalls from preparing the meat.

Queues were stretching outside huge 300-seat eateries such as the Yulin No. 1 Crispy Dog Meat restaurant, which sells the newly slaughtered animals to hungry customers for around £4 (€5.60) a kilogram.

The way in which the animals are killed has upset many animal rights activists. Cats and dogs are clubbed over the head and have their throats cut open before being thrown into boiling water.

"The butcher then plucks all the hair, removes all the organs and puts the dog on the grill," says Xing Hai, secretary general of the Dalian VShine Animal Protection Group.

He told the Mail Online: "You tell the chef how you want it to be cooked, they will do it... There are many ways to cook dog meat just as one would cook pork in China. For example, braised dog meat in soy sauce, dog casseroles, deep fried crispy dogs.

"There are three to four big dog meat restaurants in Yulin such as the Yulin No. 1 Crispy Dog Meat, and each of these restaurants can seat 200 to 300 customers.

"I came to Yulin last year to campaign against the festival, I feel this year the business is getting better... I just came out from the local food market and there were queues outside of dog meat restaurants."

The consumption of dog meat has a long history in China. At its height during the Han Dynasty (202 - 220 AD), dog meat was considered a delicacy.

This year’s Yulin Dog Meat Festival has attracted a heavy barrage of global criticism. Comedian Ricky Gervais, who is among the most high-profile critics, condemned the event on Twitter with the hashtag “#StopYuLin2015”.

A dog rescued by the Humane Society International from a Yulin slaughterhouse has been renamed Ricky in tribute to Gervais’ activism.

“Some residents of Yulin have the habit of coming together to eat lychees and dog meat during the summer solstice,” the city’s news office wrote on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter equivalent.

“The ‘summer solstice lychee and dog meat festival’ is a commercial term, the city has never (officially) organised a dog meat festival.”

The Humane Society International (HSI) says thousands of dogs, many of them stolen pets, have been captured and transported over long distances under horrific conditions to Yulin.

“There, they’re held in crowded cages without food or water until they are killed,” the HSI says.

“Often, they are beaten and their throats are slit in front of other terrified animals.”

The HSI also said the festival did not reflect Chinese tradition, and started in 2010 as a way for dog meat traders to boost sales.

Most Chinese people were opposed to the festival, the charity added.

Xing Hai, a Chinese activist working with HSI, said: “I’m ashamed that around the world China has become famous for its animal cruelty, and Yulin in particular, and I want people to know that there are thousands of us here in China who are sickened by this cruelty too.