Why do lactose-intolerant Chinese people still drink milk?

“A glass of milk a day, a stronger China” – a slogan most will find familiar.

In reality, most Chinese people are lactose intolerant, and drinking milk can lead to issues such as diarrhoea and bloating. Yet, on today’s dining tables, milk has become a common staple.

Food safety scandals involving milk have become etched into the collective memory of an entire generation. Even after the 2008 melamine scandal, China’s “milk craze” did not subside; instead, it sparked a surge in the demand for imported milk powder via personal shoppers.

Foodthink previously published two articles exploring whether small-scale or large-scale farms produce safer and more nutritious milk, as well as the challenges small-scale farmers face in being sidelined by the dairy industry.

Related reading▼

Small-scale vs Large-scale Farms: Whose Milk is Safer and More Nutritious?

Small-scale vs Large-scale Farms: Who Should We Support and How?

In truth, because milk is so perishable, the process of turning it into a modern commodity capable of long-term storage and long-distance transport inevitably introduced various safety risks. Why, then, is milk still so coveted across the globe today? In China, the habit of drinking milk daily is only a little over a century old; how did this shift occur?

When you reflexively reach for a glass of milk, you may have occasionally wondered about these fundamental questions. In this episode of Food Talk, we join Zhang Sirui—a food historian and history editor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press—to re-examine this seemingly simple white liquid.

*Click the cover to purchase this book. From religious rituals to the family table, and from the farm to global markets, milk has become an indispensable part of human civilisation. This book explores the remarkable journey of milk from ancient sacrifices to modern industry, delving into how this white liquid has permeated cultures, shaped societies, and become a symbol of scientific progress and economic development—even being hailed as the “perfect food” by modern nutritionists.

You will find that milk is never “simple”: once a “barbarian drink” in the eyes of the Ancient Greeks, it later sailed the globe on Dutch merchant ships; while framed as the “perfect food” in the West, in China it was imbued with the mission of “strengthening the nation and the race”. In this episode, we will discuss:

How did milk go from being “despised” to “deified”?
Why is India now the world’s leading milk producer?
What secrets of modernisation are hidden in the milk-drinking habits of Shanghainese people?
From New York’s “swill milk” to the melamine scandals of the past, why has the road to milk safety been so long?
Why is milk not just about nutrition, but a story written by science, politics, and global trade?

How did milk make its way onto the daily dining table? How did milk sterilisation become a system of hygiene? And how did Shanghai become the birthplace of today’s milk management system? In this work, Professor Zhang Sirui takes us back to 20th-century China to revisit the history of milk management, examine the formation of industry standards, and delve into the dilemmas and challenges faced by the Shanghai dairy industry.

We also branch out from milk to talk about understanding the world through food—from *Canned Food* and *Foie Gras* to *Ice Cream*, every bite is a taste of history.

Whether or not you enjoy milk, after listening to this episode, you will likely find yourself glancing at the glass in your hand, thinking of the long, complex, and ever-evolving story between humanity and food.

An imported milk powder advertisement from the Republic of China era, linking milk consumption with “strengthening the nation” and “strengthening the people”, reflecting the nationalistic and modern imaginations attributed to milk in modern China. Image source: Zhang Sirui

Another Republic of China era milk powder ad, promoting milk powder as a “scientific” alternative when breast milk is insufficient. Image source: Zhang Sirui

◉ A milk advertisement from a certain brand during the Republic of China era, promoting “sterilised milk” processes, showing that Western pasteurisation technology had been introduced and promoted locally. Image source: Zhang Sirui

A schematic diagram of “standardised production” in a Republic of China era milk advertisement. Image source: Zhang Sirui

Guest / Of / The / Episode

Zhang Sirui

A foodie and food history researcher who has never successfully lost weight; historical editor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press and book planner for the Shi Ke Yu brand.

Host / Of / The / Episode

Xiaojing

Host of Food Talk; a lactose-intolerant patient who, for some reason, started drinking a glass of milk every day.

Time / Line

03:04 Bright, Mengniu, Sanyuan… what was the most common milk in your hometown? Starting with regional memories of milk.

04:21 How Professor Zhang “fell down the rabbit hole” of milk research: starting with his involvement in a documentary on the 2008 melamine incident.

11:17 Milk was originally a local food rather than a naturally global commodity; in Ancient Greece, Rome, and medieval Europe, it was even regarded as an “uncivilised” drink.

13:17 Dairy cows, cheese, and trade networks: how did they drive milk to go global?

21:45 A classic case of globalisation: why is India, rather than a Western country, the world’s largest milk producer today? How India’s “White Revolution” and cooperative model forged a path different from the Western industrial dairy industry.

25:15 Returning to China: the Chinese have only been drinking milk as a daily beverage for a little over a century. How did this shift happen? Taking Shanghai as an example, how did milk first achieve commercialisation and become a daily modern consumer product in the modern city?

29:23 How did milk transform from a “winter tonic” into a mass-market food? What roles did nationalism, scientific discourse, nutrition, and advertising play?

34:29 Meanwhile, safety issues have always accompanied the development of milk: from the “swill milk” scandals of New York to melamine in China.

39:22 Today, milk is not just a drink, but a modern lifestyle that has been written, edited, and continuously constructed.

49:45 Faced with widespread lactose intolerance, how did milk undergo a bumpy “localisation” process in China?

54:29 Moving beyond “milk” to the birth of the “Shi Ke Yu” series: why write books on food such as *A History of Japanese Coffee Culture*, *Foie Gras*, and *Sweets and Bitterness*?

62:05 Finally, returning to a seemingly simple question: why should we understand the world through food?