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

Milking economies: Multispecies entanglements in the infant formula industry

“…By the 20th century, especially during 'The Great Leap Forward' (1952)(1953)(1954)(1955)(1956)(1957)(1958)(1959)(1960)(1961)(1962), the Chinese government came to frame cows' milk as essential to building not only a stronger and superior people but a communist nation, too. This was iterated by juxtaposing China's careful rationing of milk to Chinese people (especially babies) against images of Americans pouring out milk that had not been sold, implying that a capitalist government did not care for its people (DuBois, 2019). Here the Communist Nation was relationally constituted in opposition to capitalism and the West, specifically through ideas of milk drinking and milk waste.…”

“…Despite an extensive history of plant-based milk consumption in China, cows’ milk has long been used as a tool and symbol for socialist progress, ethnic unity and nation building in that country. Ancient Chinese texts cite cows’ milk as an elixir for weakness, but it was only in the 19th century, when Western and Russian immigrants introduced higher-yielding, European cows to the country, that dairy consumption increased (DuBois, 2019). Chinese Health reformers believed milk drinking was a key variable in explaining differences between Western and Asian, as well as strong and weak nations (Wei, 2020).…”

“…While small and adaptable, goats do not produce as much milk as cows, and colonial authorities framed them as unruly and counterproductive to civilizing projects (Anderson, 2004). However, in China, goats’ milk – like cows’ – is mentioned in ancient texts referring to its health benefits and usefulness as a human breastmilk replacement (DuBois, 2019). It is only recently though that goats have been subject to heightened dairy market attention, due largely to the perceived digestibility of goats’ milk (Miller and Lu, 2019) and because it requires less supplementation than Holsteins’ milk as it ‘better mimic[s] human milk for infant formula’ (‘Health-Canada-Presentation’, 2016).…”

“…European cows were brought by ship to North America and used as tools to exclude Indigenous people and their claims to land (Anderson, 2004). In China, European cows displaced domestic cow breeds (namely F eng cows) and further marginalized the role of dairying populations (primarily Tibetans and Mongolians) in Chinese society (DuBois, 2019). Due to these historical entanglements, European breeds have been included within and come to dominate agricultural projects in both North America and China, but not all breeds equally.…”

Evaluation and survey of nutrition and sensory quality in domestic and foreign milk sold in China

“…Chinese researchers have estimated that China's milk consumption in 2050 will be 3.2 times of that in 2010 (Bai et al, 2018). Foreign researchers have speculated that China's milk market will become one of the most important milk markets in the world (DuBois, 2019;Wiley, 2007). Because of the substantial development potential of China's milk market, China's domestic milk industry has developed quickly, and a number of foreign milk brands have entered China to seize the market.…”