Why Chinese People Still Drink Milk Despite Lactose Intolerance?

“‘A glass of milk a day strengthens the Chinese people’ – an advertising slogan most of you will recognise instantly.”

In fact, the majority of Chinese people are lactose intolerant, and drinking milk can trigger diarrhoea, bloating and other digestive discomforts. Yet on today’s dining table, milk has become an utterly commonplace fixture.

Food safety scandals involving milk have even been etched into the collective memory of a generation. Yet in the wake of the 2008 melamine crisis, China’s ‘milk frenzy’ did not abate; instead, it sparked a boom in purchasing overseas milk powder through personal shoppers.

In two previous articles, Foodthink examined whether small-scale dairy farms or large commercial operations produce safer, more nutritious milk, and explored the marginalisation of smaller producers within the dairy industry.

Further reading ▼

Small-scale dairy farms vs. large commercial operations: Whose milk is safer and more nutritious?

Small-scale dairy farms vs. large commercial operations: Who should we support, and how?

In reality, given its highly perishable nature, milk has always been fraught with various safety risks as it evolved into a modern commodity capable of long-term storage and long-distance transport. So why do people around the world still rely so heavily on milk today? Milk has only been a daily staple for Chinese people for little over a century – so how did this shift actually come about?

When you reach for a glass of milk out of habit, you may have occasionally found yourself pausing over these fundamental questions. In this episode of Food Talk, we join Zhang Sirui, a history editor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press and a food history researcher, to take a fresh look at this seemingly simple white liquid.

*Click the cover to buy this book. From religious ceremonies to family dining tables, from farms to global markets, milk has become an indispensable part of human civilisation. This book explores the remarkable journey of milk from ancient sacrificial rites to modern industry, delving into how this white liquid has permeated cultures, shaped societies, come to symbolise scientific progress and economic development, and even been hailed by modern nutritional science as the ‘perfect food’.

You’ll quickly discover that milk has never been “simple”: once viewed as a “barbaric drink” by the ancient Greeks, it also sailed the globe aboard Dutch merchant vessels. Hyped in the West as a “perfect food”, it was bestowed in China with the mission of “strengthening the nation and its people”. In this episode, we’ll explore:

How did milk go from being scorned to being idolised?
Why is India now the world’s top milk producer?
What secret to modernisation lies behind the Shanghai habit of drinking milk?
From New York’s “swill milk” to the melamine scandal, why has the journey to milk safety been so arduous?
Why is milk more than just nutrition, but a story co-authored by science, politics, and global trade?

How did milk make its way onto the everyday table? How did milk pasteurisation evolve into a public health standard? And how did Shanghai become the birthplace of modern milk regulation? Zhang Sirui’s book takes us back to twentieth-century China to re-examine the shifting landscape of milk management, trace the development of industry standards, and delve into the dilemmas and challenges faced by Shanghai’s dairy sector.

We’ll also branch out from milk to discuss how food can help us understand the world—from *Canning*, *Foie Gras*, to *Ice Cream*—every bite carries the flavour of history.

Whether you’re a fan of milk or not, by the end of this episode, you’ll likely find yourself glancing at the cup in your hand, reminded of the long, complex, and ever-evolving story of humanity’s relationship with food that lies behind it.

Republican-era advertisement for imported milk powder, linking milk consumption to “strengthening the nation” and “the people”, reflecting the national and modernist aspirations attached to milk in modern China. Source: Zhang Sirui

Another Republican-era milk powder ad, illustrating the promotional campaign that urged consumers to consider milk powder a “scientific” alternative when breast milk was insufficient. Source: Zhang Sirui

◉ A Republican-era ad for a milk brand, promoting the “pasteurised milk” process. It demonstrates that Western pasteurisation technology had been introduced and adapted for local marketing. Source: Zhang Sirui

Illustration of “standardised production” from a Republican-era milk advertisement. Source: Zhang Sirui

Episode / Guest

Zhang Sirui

A lifelong food enthusiast and culinary history researcher who has never successfully managed to lose weight despite endless dieting. History editor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press and book planner for the Shkeyu imprint.

Episode / Host

Xiao Jing

Host of Food Talk. A lactose-intolerant host who, without quite knowing when it started, drinks a glass of milk every day.

Time / Line

03:04 Bright Dairy, Mengniu, Santai… What was the most common milk brand in your hometown? We begin by exploring regional memories of milk.

04:21 How Professor Zhang “fell down the rabbit hole” of milk research: it all began with her involvement in documentary filmmaking following the 2008 melamine scandal.

11:17 Milk was originally a local food rather than a naturally globalised commodity. Indeed, in ancient Greece, Rome, and medieval Europe, it was once regarded as an “uncivilised” drink.

13:17 How dairy cattle, cheese, and trade networks drove the global spread of milk.

21:45 A striking example of globalisation: why India, rather than countries in Europe or North America, is now the world’s largest milk producer. How India’s “White Revolution” and cooperative model carved out a path distinct from Western industrial dairy farming.

25:15 Back to China: Chinese people have only had milk as an everyday drink for a little over a century. How did this shift occur? Taking Shanghai as an example, how did milk become commercialised and integrated into daily life in modern cities, transforming into a modern consumer good?

29:23 How did milk transition from a “winter tonic” to a mass-market staple? What roles did nationalism, scientific discourse, nutritional science, and advertising play in this transformation?

34:29 Meanwhile, safety concerns have constantly shadowed the industry’s development: from the “swill milk” scandal in New York to the melamine crisis in China.

39:22 Today, milk is not just a beverage; it is a modern lifestyle that has been written about, curated, and continuously constructed.

49:45 Given the widespread prevalence of lactose intolerance, how has milk navigated a rather bumpy journey of “localisation” in China?

54:29 Branching out from milk to the origins of the Food Talk book series: why publish food-focused titles such as A Cultural History of Coffee in Japan, Foie Gras, and Sharing the Bitter and the Sweet?

62:05 We conclude with a seemingly simple question: why do we need food to understand the world?