Content area
Full Text
At 25, Yang Zhaohua knows what it is to be scorned by his fellow Chinese.
He admits to being "a laughingstock" among his acquaintances. His parents have condemned his exotic lifestyle, forcing him to move in with an uncle who can "monitor" his behavior on a daily basis. Eating in public places is difficult.
All this because Yang, an extremely thoughtful and well-spoken young man, dares to be different: He is a vegetarian.
"In China, you are lonely" if you don't eat meat, Yang said with a sigh one day over a scrupulously meatless lunch. "They say to you, 'You are a fool.' "
In the world's most populous nation, life is no bowl of cherry tomatoes for the tiny minority of people who abstain from eating animals.
They battle restaurants that stir-fry everything, even vegetable dishes, in animal-based oils. They suffer the ridicule of family and friends, who sometimes dismiss vegetarianism as little more than superstition. They find themselves locked in a society so racked throughout history by famine and poverty that conspicuous consumption--of meat--is symbolic of both health and wealth.
But as China rapidly opens up to new ideas and trends, champions of vegetarian living are beginning to make small inroads here, especially among the more sophisticated urbanites like Yang who form the backbone of a burgeoning new middle class. Ironically, a culture in which the well-off display their prosperity by buying meat has now spawned a subgroup: those who spend money to go without it.
They dine at chic vegetarian eateries that have opened up in major cities across China, from Beijing to Guangzhou province. Shanghai alone, the country's most cosmopolitan and forward-looking metropolis, is now home to 10 such restaurants--and could do with many more to tap the emerging vegetarian market, according to an official with the city's Hotel Assn.
Rising incomes throughout the country have resulted in better education and a greater willingness by residents to experiment with more costly novelty items such as organically grown fruits and vegetables, which now line supermarket shelves.
And in their push for a brave new world, vegetarians in China have gained the unlikeliest of allies: the Communist government, whose relaxed controls on religion have allowed tens of millions of Buddhists to practice their...