When this first cropped up, I'd assumed that the wet markets were a centuries old Chinese tradition. Unfortunately not, a product of the 1970's Chinese famine, when over 30 million people died. A large section of the population was forced to eat whatever they could to survive, and the Chinese Communist party allowed them to grow and flourish. Selling cats, dogs, bears, wolves, bats, snakes, whatever, even allowing battery style farms to be set up to breed these animals.
Of the 20th century, the Chinese Communist Party have been the world's largest tyrant.