Search

Throughout contemporary China, consumers have the option of purchasing food products from “traditional” Chinese wet markets or “modern” supermarket chains. Wet market vendors are economically disadvantaged as the operators of small‐scale businesses with limited investment and high labor costs. Nevertheless, wet market vendors continue to thrive in urban China, despite the continued expansion of supermarket chains. This article combines ethnographic data and social network analysis to examine how social networks provide wet market vendors with some important competitive advantages. The article draws on fourteen months of fieldwork in Sanya City, China, and provides an analysis of the composition, structure, and strength of the network ties of 113 wet market vendors. Vendors tend to have strong and dense ties to individuals who help them establish their businesses. Vendors also rely on strong ties with regular suppliers to help them reduce costs and ensure a regular supply of goods. These strong ties are balanced by weaker ties with a diverse range of customers, including small businesses and household consumers. A combination of both strong and weak network ties contributes to the collective resilience of wet market vendors, allowing them to confront crises, reduce risk and uncertainty, and improve performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the West, the local food movement began with the hope of constructing sustainable food systems, but the philosophy’s actual impact must be examined in specific sociocultural contexts. Focusing on the daily food practices of consumers in Guangzhou, China, this study explores how Chinese consumers define, understand, and experience local food, the characteristics of local food initiatives in China, and their multifaced impacts on social sustainability. The results show that Guangzhou consumers actively seek out local food and even become involved in the production, a highly effective strategy for addressing food quality challenges. Consumer perspectives on local food can be grouped into three categories: placed-based native food, culture-based hometown food, and value-based ecological food, with localness conferred by the pathways of visceral experience, cultural heritage, and value identity. The study argues that, theoretically, the definition of local food should transcend geographical boundaries and incorporate relational proximities among consumer bodies, places, cultures, and producers as robust parameters. Practically, consumer-led local food initiatives promote social sustainability at different levels by alleviating people’s diverse food anxieties and connecting various communities. They also demonstrate the possibility of solidifying the urban-rural nexus, but efforts to motivate broad public participation and institutional support are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wet markets serve as a cornerstone of food distribution in China but are increasingly being threatened by urban displacement. This study explores the various motivations for local governments in Sanya City and Beijing City to enact aggressive policies limiting wet markets, the dynamic nature of the governing process and the multifaceted impacts such governance has on the everyday practices of vendors and consumers. Drawing upon Foucault's notion of problematisation, this study found that wet markets have become representations of 'problems' such as insanitation and disorder, lowlands of economic revenue and 'low-skilled industry'. Specific governance is regularly entangled with multiple means of problematisation, shaped and conditioned by forces such as administrative capacity, policy intensity, market configuration, business activism and consumer demand, as well as the interrelationships among them. Current governance is attempting to 'correct' wet markets to desired forms, but ignores the holistic value they embed in urban life. Thus, this research suggests more inclusive governance and sustainable development with regards to wet markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study draws on life history theory to rationalize how tourism enterprises make decisions and evolve during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a case study approach, the current work improvises the house of trade-off paradox as a visual metaphoric framework that integrates three major dyadic trade-off pairs along with four organizational resource configuration aspects. This inquiry further synthesizes the wheel of selection strategy to pinpoint a mechanism in which tourism agencies mutate to adapt to a new normal based on acute environmental shocks. We further provide practical implications for operators with valuable insights germane to post-pandemic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern food retailers in China use both intrinsic quality cues (IQCs) (e.g., umami and flavorfulness) and extrinsic quality cues (EQCs) (e.g., antibiotics-free) to market pork products. However, Chinese consumers trust IQCs over EQCs when judging the quality of pork. This study explored the reasons for this phenomenon and developed strategies for improving consumer trust in EQCs. This research engaged two focus groups and conducted 41 in-depth interviews, including consumers and managers of a leading fresh food retailer in Guangzhou. It was determined that the failure of linking EQCs with familiar IQCs was a key reason for their strong IQC preference. Food retailers enhanced EQC acceptance by integrating it into the existing IQC-based knowledge system, and highlighted transparency in production and distribution processes to build consumer trust in EQCs.The proximity of content and form between EQCs and IQCs will eventually improve consumers' acceptance of EQCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Vegetarian documentary on Chinese social media sparked resistance despite a solid cultural foundation. • Ethical vegetarianism of the documentary conflicts with Chinese views of a balanced diet. • Vegetarian messages must align with local cultural norms. • Celebrity advocacy can appear elitist and ineffective. • Flexitarian approaches may better resonate for vegetarian promotion. The shift to a vegetarian diet has multiple benefits, including the promotion of public health, sustainability, and animal welfare. Despite these advantages, vegetarian food choices often provoke controversy, particularly on social media platforms. On International Vegetarian Day 2021, renowned Chinese actress Zhang Jingchu endorsed a documentary titled "Vegetarian" on Weibo, igniting widespread discussion among Chinese netizens. Considering China's deep cultural and practical roots in vegetarianism, the predominantly negative response to the documentary was surprising. This study employs frame analysis to dissect the portrayal of vegetarianism in the documentary, utilizing topic modeling based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation and sentiment analysis to examine over 26,000 related comments. Our findings indicate that the documentary predominantly utilizes health and ethical frames to represent vegetarianism, with a greater emphasis on ethical considerations. Topic modeling of the comments uncovered 14 topics that reflect netizens' dissatisfaction with various facets of the vegetarian advocacy presented in the documentary. Moreover, the comments reveal three primary strategies netizens use to justify meat consumption and alleviate cognitive dissonance: rationalization of meat eating, skepticism towards vegetarianism, and resistance to the advocacy message of "Vegetarian". The results imply that for vegetarian advocacy to be more effective, it should align with local everyday concerns, food culture, and the current stage of social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the globalization of food sales and consumption, exotic foods are now regularly crossing geographical and cultural borders and moving into local areas. This process is attracting ever-increasing attention from academics. Taking avocado consumption presented on Sina Weibo as an example, this research analyzes avocado related user-generated content on Sina Weibo over three years- 2013, 2015, and 2017- and employs topic modeling and semantic network methods to obtain the mechanism by which exotic food cross borders to appear in local consumers' daily food choices. Two specific links are explored: online information dissemination and offline daily consumption. The result indicates that a selective geographical narrative and framework for avocado information influence local consumers' choice of exotic foods according to three aspects: edibility, accessibility, and acceptability. For local consumers, the avocado is now connected with local objects and spaces, gradually transforming from a novelty to functional daily food and from low to high-frequency consumption to high-frequency consumption, escaping the marginal and penetrating into the core cultural context and completing the process of embedment into the everyday. This study refutes the assertion that "globalized diets bring about homogenized diets," explores the mechanism of influence by which information dissemination in cyberspace affects cultural borders, complements the study of food consumption in Southern countries, and provides new thoughts on the theoretical and practical exploration of food globalization from the perspective of food geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The eradication of illicit drug crops in developing countries through international agricultural cooperation in alternative livelihoods is a new mode of clean production. This paper examines the market-oriented alternative livelihood (AL) model implemented by Chinese agricultural companies in Laos, focusing on land-based cooperation between these companies, local authorities, and communities. It aims to reveal the conditions for successful land-based cooperation and mutual trust building with local communities and government agencies. Three Chinese companies involved in alternative cultivation projects in Laos are selected as case studies. The findings highlight the market-oriented AL model as a beneficial approach to transition from illicit crop cultivation to clean production. The study emphasizes the importance of land-based cooperation and trust building for the sustainable operation of market-oriented alternative livelihoods. Challenges faced by the companies include managing international market risks and developing locally-led technical and management teams. The research underscores the need for inclusive innovation in land-based cooperation and alternative livelihoods in the Global South. It calls for further exploration of innovative approaches to inclusive cooperation, local empowerment, and capacity building. The study contributes to understanding the potential of international agricultural cooperation in promoting alternative livelihoods and sustainable development in illicit crop-growing regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]