Liyuan Dog Market, once the largest pet dog market in North China, is now officially closed as the site is to be redeveloped. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

The market emerged in the 1980s and grew in size as the increasing number of customers attracted a growing number of sellers. Eventually at the beginning of this century the municipal government made it legal. This led to the market's heyday when it was home to hundreds of shops and stalls selling all kinds of dogs.

Now it is finally closing for good, as the municipal government plans to transform the site into a cultural tourist attraction that "surpasses Tokyo Disneyland and Seoul Lotto World".

From the map on the district's official website, the dog market lies about 2 kilometers from a planned Universal Studio theme park, which is expected to open in the area in 2019. An official from the township's urban planning division confirmed that the market is "inside the radius that is to be demolished to make way for the theme park".

However, even before the government's redevelopment plan, the dog market had already put its best days behind it, as it started to lose customers after it developed a bad reputation for unscrupulous vendors knowingly selling sick animals or doctoring dogs to make them resemble more valuable breeds.

"I was ashamed of saying that I was a merchant there during that time," said an owner surnamed Yang during an interview with Beijing Morning Post last November.