Yewei

Yewei (Chinese: 野味; pinyin: yě wèi; lit. 'wild taste') is a Southern Chinese term that describes various types of game meat, including bushmeat from exotic wild animals.[1][2]

Yewei
Ye wei in Hunan
Chinese野味
Literal meaningwild taste

Terminology

The character 野 (pinyin: yě) means "wild", and is shortened from 野兽 (Traditional Chinese: 野獸; pinyin: yěshòu), which means "wild beasts".

The character 味 (pinyin: wèi) literally means "taste", and metaphorically refers to various delicacies that appeals to the popular palate.

History

Historically, members of the imperial courts in Chinese dynastic eras requested grand animals for their meals. Famous examples include the Manchu Han Imperial Feast. Today, yewei can be eaten by anyone with access to wild animals, which can also be imported.

Animals eaten

Yewei can include badgers,[3] bats,[4] beavers,[5] civets,[6] crocodiles,[7] foxes,[7] giant salamanders,[7] hedgehog,[8] marmots,[4] ostrich,[9] otters,[6] pangolins,[10] peacocks,[7] pheasants,[11] porcupines,[7] rabbit and rabbit organs,[12] rats,[7] snakes (including many-banded krait),[3] spotted deer,[12] turtles[13] and wolf pups.[14]

Culture

It has been reported that the consumption of wildlife appeals only to a minority of people in China.[15][16][17] However, the topic of whether it should be consumed has had some mixed reactions. According to a 2006 survey by WildAid and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, about 70% of 24,000 people surveyed in sixteen cities in mainland China had not eaten wild animals in the previous year, up from 51% in a similar 1999 survey.[18] In a 2014 survey of several cities in China, 52.7% of respondents agreed with the statement that wildlife should not be consumed.[19]

According to The Guardian, locals in Southern China sometimes boast that they will "eat anything with four legs except a table".[10]

The consumption of exotic wildlife, especially in Guangdong, came under heavy criticism after the SARS epidemic. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese government formally made the practice illegal,[20] amidst growing calls inside China to permanently ban the wildlife trade.[21][22]

References
  1. Shah, Sonia (2016). Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond. New York: Sarah Crichton Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 15. the Chinese taste for what's called yewei, or "wild," cuisine, in which exotic animals from snakes and turtles to bats are prepared in special dishes.
  2. Quammen, David (2013). "The circle". Ecohealth. 10 (4): 492–493. doi:10.1007/s10393-014-0905-3. PMC 7088317. PMID 24488188. the live-animal dealers of southern China began stacking caged bats and caged palm civets at close proximity, along with many other kinds of wild and domestic animals, all available to be served as food in yewei (wild flavor) restaurants of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and other cities ....
  3. Guo, Haitao; Luo, Guangxiang "George"; Gao, Shou-Jiang (13 February 2020). "Snakes could be the original source of the new coronavirus outbreak in China". The Conversation. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  4. Schnirring, Lisa (8 January 2020). "Virologists weigh in on novel coronavirus in China's outbreak". CIDRAP. Archived from the original on 8 January 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  5. Campbell, Charlie (24 January 2020). "The West Blames the Wuhan Coronavirus on China's Love of Eating Wild Animals". Time. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  6. Perper, Rosie. "China banned live animal sales in Wuhan, after a food market selling wolves and civet cats was linked to a deadly virus". Business Insider. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  7. "On the menu at Wuhan virus market: Rats and live wolf pups". CNA. 22 January 2020. Archived from the original on 22 January 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  8. "Here's What It's Like in Wuhan, the City at the Center of Coronavirus". Time. 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  9. Page, Jeremy (27 January 2020). "Virus Sparks Soul-Searching Over China's Wild Animal Trade". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 26 January 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  10. "Pangolin and porcupines on sale in Chinese market despite jail threat". The Guardian. 2014. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  11. 华南海鲜批发市场西区有十几家贩卖野味的商户. cb.com.cn (in Chinese). 2020-01-22. Archived from the original on 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  12. Shih, Gerry; Sun, Lena H. (8 January 2020). "Specter of possible new virus emerging from central China raises alarms across Asia". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 8 January 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  13. Xie, Echo; Cai, Jane; Rui, Guo (22 January 2020). "Why wild animals are a key ingredient in China's coronavirus outbreak". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  14. "The West Blames the Wuhan Coronavirus on China's Love of Eating Wild Animals. The Truth Is More Complex". Time. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  15. "A sea change in China's attitude towards wildlife exploitation may just save the planet". Daily Maverick. 2020-03-02. an online poll by the Peking University Centre for Nature Society found that 97% of some 100,000 participants were against eating wild animals. Nearly 80% rejected using wildlife products. Knights said the poll was "probably biased to more educated people, but, you know, that's a large proportion of the Chinese population now." By contrast, 14 million people worked in wildlife and trade consumption before the ban, some media have suggested. "A minority is still a minority; the majority have changed," Lin said when Daily Maverick pointed out a minority in China could mean tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people..
  16. Mekelburg, Madlin. "Fact-check: Is Chinese culture to blame for the coronavirus?". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  17. "No, You Won't Find "Wild Animals" in Most of China's Wet Markets". RADII. 2020-02-25. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  18. "Why wild animals are a key ingredient in China's coronavirus outbreak" Bangkok Post. January 23, 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  19. Zhang, Li; Yin, Feng (6 May 2014). "Wildlife consumption and conservation awareness in China: a long way to go". Biodiversity and Conservation. 23 (9): 2371–2381. doi:10.1007/s10531-014-0708-4. S2CID 16650929.
  20. "China temporarily bans wildlife trade in wake of outbreak". The Associated Press. 2020-02-27. Retrieved 2020-03-11.
  21. "China cracks down on wildlife trade amid coronavirus outbreak". Public Radio International. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  22. "EIA supports calls in China to extend temporary wildlife trade ban and make it permanent". Environmental Investigation Agency. 2020-01-31. Retrieved 2020-03-11.
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