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China’s Dairy Century: Making, Drinking and Dreaming of Milk

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Animals and Human Society in Asia

Part of the book series: The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series ((PMAES))

Abstract

China’s dairy industry has become big business. A country that few would have associated with milk has in a short period emerged as the world’s third largest producer and second largest consumer of dairy products. But the significance of milk in China is greater than size alone, and goes back to well before the current period of explosive growth. Milk was not a prominent theme in China’s twentieth century, but it was a surprisingly persistent one. This chapter examines China’s century of dairy as three distinct processes—production, consumption and culture—discussing each according to its own sources, standards and logic. Besides introducing a vital transformation within China’s animal industries, it also aims to introduce some new ways to understand how we make, consume and think about food.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Evershed et al. (2008).

  2. 2.

    Kraal (2017). Statistics from the website of the World Holstein Friesian Association, http://www.whff.info/.

  3. 3.

    Pasiakos et al. (2015).

  4. 4.

    “China’s mega-farm” (2015), Hennelly (2015), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2012).

  5. 5.

    For example, Manmin seikatsu (1940).

  6. 6.

    Qing shengzu shilu, 1985, volume 6, 629–630.

  7. 7.

    Yoshida (2000, 13–18) and Li et al. (2013, 46–54).

  8. 8.

    Wang Huaibao et al. (1999, 21, 27) and Li et al. (2013, 86).

  9. 9.

    Li et al. (2013, 79, 88–92).

  10. 10.

    Dairy Farm (1919, 57–65) and Doeppers (2016, 275–277).

  11. 11.

    Consulate of Japan in Qiqihar (1917) and Consulate of Japan in Qiqihar (1922–1924).

  12. 12.

    Chinese Eastern Railway (1924, 128).

  13. 13.

    Li et al. (2013, 140).

  14. 14.

    Li et al. (2013, 94).

  15. 15.

    Mofang naiye chang (1937), Shanghai muzhi naiye gongsi (1937), and Chongqing shi niunai chang (1943–1947).

  16. 16.

    Huabei qu Beiping Mofang, n.d.

  17. 17.

    Baihao lianru chang (1940–1943), Rupin zhizao chang (1947), Xihu lianru (1933–1937), and DuBois (2018a).

  18. 18.

    RMRB (1946, July 13).

  19. 19.

    Zhang and Lu (2014, 2).

  20. 20.

    RMRB (1949, May 3).

  21. 21.

    Zhang and Lu (2014) and Li et al. (2013, 177–178, 180–181, 189–191).

  22. 22.

    Li et al. (2013, 193, 211–216, 219, 239); Wang Huaibao, 15–16.

  23. 23.

    RMRB (1984, October 6; 1985, April 28) and Pasternak and Salaff (1993).

  24. 24.

    Li et al. (2013, 251).

  25. 25.

    Chen ba’erhu (1988, 223), Hailaer shi Hake (1999, 53–54), and Hulunbeier meng (1999, 823, 831).

  26. 26.

    RMRB (1980, March 28; 1981, February 14; 1983, July 11; 1984, February 17; 1987, July 17).

  27. 27.

    Kong and Zhang (2008, 204–205).

  28. 28.

    Li et al. (2013, 296).

  29. 29.

    Wang et al. (2015, 618–627) and DuBois (2018b).

  30. 30.

    “Notices of China” (1840).

  31. 31.

    Nevius (1882, 246).

  32. 32.

    Bray (1984, 4–5).

  33. 33.

    Yoshida (2000, 13–18).

  34. 34.

    Wang Mengying, juan 1.

  35. 35.

    Yinshan zheng yao [Correct Eating and Drinking]; Yoshida (2000, 13–15).

  36. 36.

    “Yan du xiao shipin za yong”.

  37. 37.

    Shen Taimo, Donghua suo lu.

  38. 38.

    North China Herald (1850, October 5) and DuBois (2018a).

  39. 39.

    Huaijiang du dianfa gongsi (1907).

  40. 40.

    Harupin annai (1925, 8).

  41. 41.

    Glosser (1999).

  42. 42.

    On Chinese brand competitors, see DuBois (2018a).

  43. 43.

    Li et al. (2013, 183–185, 187, 209–210) and Zhang and Lu (2014, 5–6).

  44. 44.

    Li et al. (2013, 245–246).

  45. 45.

    Guojia tongji ju (1994–2013).

  46. 46.

    Yang et al. (2009) and Xiu and Klein (2010, 463–470).

  47. 47.

    Valenze (2011).

  48. 48.

    Cao Xueqin, Dream of the Red Chamber, part 19.

  49. 49.

    DuBois (2018a).

  50. 50.

    Majia guoyou kaoyan; Zhang and Lu (2014, 5).

  51. 51.

    Fu (2012), Swislocki (2011), and Lee (2015).

  52. 52.

    Lu (2018), Yoshida (2000, 90–93), Levine and Cadbury (1918), and DuBois (2018a).

  53. 53.

    RMRB (1946, July 27; 1949, August 4; 1949, October 24; 1950, November 15; 1951, January 28; 1953, February 13).

  54. 54.

    RMRB (1950, November 2; 1951, October 26; 1951, December 31; 1974, September 4).

  55. 55.

    RMRB (1951, August 17).

  56. 56.

    From “Kennedy forbids drinking milk,” RMRB (1962, March 16).

  57. 57.

    RMRB (1950, April 16; 1951, August 2; 1951, October 29; 1956, February 12; 1960, September 17).

  58. 58.

    “Folk song,” RMRB (1958, September 9).

  59. 59.

    RMRB (1950, February 3; 1950, December 11).

  60. 60.

    RMRB (1952, December 8; 1955, October 11; 1956, April 30; 1956, July 4; 1956, July 9; 1957, September 26; 1960, February 17).

  61. 61.

    RMRB (1969, September 3).

  62. 62.

    RMRB (1980, March 28; 1981, February 14; 1983, July 11; 1984, February 17; 1987, July 17).

  63. 63.

    RMRB (1981, August 15; 1981, August 24; 1982, June 6).

  64. 64.

    DuBois and Gao (2017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Professor of Humanities, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Thomas David DuBois

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  1. Thomas David DuBois
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Asian Studies, The University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Rotem Kowner

  2. Zinman Institute of Archaeology, The University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Guy Bar-Oz

  3. Institute of Asian and African Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Michal Biran

  4. Department of East Asian Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Meir Shahar

  5. Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Gideon Shelach-Lavi

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DuBois, T.D. (2019). China’s Dairy Century: Making, Drinking and Dreaming of Milk . In: Kowner, R., Bar-Oz, G., Biran, M., Shahar, M., Shelach-Lavi, G. (eds) Animals and Human Society in Asia. The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24363-0_6

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