A roar from animal activists in China

BEIJING -- ''Foreign Bulls Head for the Middle Kingdom."

''Spanish Matadors Pack Their Bags for Beijing."

''Local Promoters Salivate Over the Prospect of Bloodthirsty Crowds."

The headlines said it all: Bullfighting was coming to China.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the bullring. In a country known for its often-brutal treatment of animals and its anything-goes capitalism, a public outcry halted the project in its tracks. Chagrined promoters are not talking, while emboldened activists voice hope that their win will help spur new laws to strengthen animal rights.

''This is a very significant victory," said Zhang Luping, head of the Beijing Human and Animal Environmental Education Center. ''It shows that ordinary people's voices can be heard in China and that policies can be changed."

The treatment of animals in China still leaves much to be desired. For-profit zoos often mistreat them, selling unwanted ones as exotic restaurant fare and feeding live animals to other beasts for visitors' amusement

There are thriving markets in ivory, fur, and various endangered-species parts for virility treatments. And live bears are ''milked" of their bile, used for medicine, with implanted catheters puncturing their gallbladders.

But animal rights groups say the attitudes of average Chinese are quickly changing.

Driving the shift, animal rights groups say, are economic, social, and cultural factors that suggest how quickly China is adapting to global sensibilities. ''As people's lifestyles have improved, they've become more and more sensitive toward animals," said Wang Shi, secretary general of the Chinese Culture Promotion Society, a government-linked civic group.

New social structures also have heightened respect for the birds and the beasts. As growing numbers of people move from the countryside into urban apartments, the average family size is declining and the number of people living alone is rising.

This has spurred pet ownership as animals take on the role of companions. Beijing officials got a taste of the new attitude when they sought to discourage pet ownership through high license fees in 1995, a policy that was largely reversed under pressure from outspoken residents.

Activists and sociologists point out that harsh treatment of animals is not a Chinese tradition, at least not an old one. Rural culture has for centuries respected animals, which are seen as an important part of local life, the economy, and people's hopes for success.

During the years following China's 1949 Communist revolution, however, when famines swept the country, and later, as the Cultural Revolution spread social upheaval, there was little worrying about much beyond human survival.

Word of Beijing Wildlife Park's plans to introduce bullfighting -- seen locally as a way to stimulate tourism and promote economic growth -- came in early March from a Communist Party official.

Media reports cited plans to bring Spanish bullfighters to China so the Chinese could learn the trade. European and American bulls would be imported

As word spread, however, animal rights groups kicked into gear. They wrote articles, pressured lawmakers, and held seminars. They marshaled counterarguments. They appealed to Chinese civility. They persuaded National People's Congress representatives, who joined the howls of protest coming from nongovernmental groups across China.

''I was really amazed at the depth of public feeling and anger this bullfighting proposal aroused," said Zhang, director of the animal education center.