Thanks so much to everyone who has read & shared. I want to highlight a few things from my reporting of this story. This crisis—and its connection to wild animal markets—has seen cultural stereotypes spread all over the media and social media about animal exploitation in China.
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In a nutshell, based on my reporting: Eating wildlife is a common phenomenon in China. There is significant animal suffering within the trade. But live animal markets aren't a “China thing.” They exist all over the world. And in China, their cultural relevancy is inconsistent.
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Some experts argue that the idea of the “Chinese superconsumer” is a myth and that nuanced motivations explain people’s consumption of wild animals, including peer pressure, societal pressure, and the impulse to chase status. You can read a study here:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718519302945# …
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Another study found that in Guangzhou, 83% of people interviewed say they'd eaten wildlife in the past year—a significant proportion. In Shanghai, 14%. Beijing—only 5%. To many Chinese, this is outlier stuff.
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I spoke to two young people from Guangzhou on Instagram (Its banned in China; they use VPNs to access). One said eating wildlife is really common in his community. He eats it sometimes. The other said none of her friends and family eat it, and think the practice is “disgusting."
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Both support permanently banning the wildlife trade in China forever. China currently has banned the trade until this crisis is over. They did the same during SARS in 2003—opening the trade again 6 months later. Many people in China want it to be different this time.
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State-controlled Chinese media have published scathing editorials denouncing eating wild animals, calling for a permanent ban. These calls are echoed by thousands of Chinese citizens on state-censored social media like Weibo, indicating that the gov't is letting momentum build.
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Public health and wildlife trade experts caution against rushing hastily into a permanent ban without thorough research and consideration: The formerly legal trade could just rapidly move underground, hidden from oversight. For any ban to work, it would need citizen buy-in.
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One more thing: I asked Chinese wildlife trade experts about those videos circulating on social of people eating live baby mice and bats in markets. The consensus is that this is very, very rare—yet this gruesome outlier imagery has been shared extensively, stoking xenophobia.
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Thanks for this, Natasha.
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Thank you so much, Wudan
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