Vegetarianism and the Tofu Company: A Look at the Competition Between Chinese and Western Cultures in Early Republican China Through Dietary Trends

Miaoyu Yuan

2025

Abstract

Vegetarianism was popular in the early Republican period, and contemporaries called it “vegetarianism”. In addition to inheriting religious concepts and Chinese vegetarian traditions, this food culture phenomenon was also related to the introduction of Western science and the interpretation of evolution theory by some intellectuals represented by Cai Yuanpei. Contemporaries promoted soy products as outstanding representatives of Chinese food culture. Sun Yat-sen highly praised soy products, and Li Shizeng once opened a tofu factory in Paris in an attempt to export Chinese culture in reverse. By the mid to late 1920s, the vegetarian craze had gradually cooled. “Vegetarianism” returned from the battlefield of Sino-Western cultural competition to the life-style of those who believe in “not killing and protecting life” as well as some literati and upper class people.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Yuan M. (2025). Vegetarianism and the Tofu Company: A Look at the Competition Between Chinese and Western Cultures in Early Republican China Through Dietary Trends. In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development - Volume 1: IESD; ISBN 978-989-758-779-5, SciTePress, pages 352-356. DOI: 10.5220/0013987300004912

in Bibtex Style

@conference{iesd25,
author={Miaoyu Yuan},
title={Vegetarianism and the Tofu Company: A Look at the Competition Between Chinese and Western Cultures in Early Republican China Through Dietary Trends},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development - Volume 1: IESD},
year={2025},
pages={352-356},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013987300004912},
isbn={978-989-758-779-5},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development - Volume 1: IESD
TI - Vegetarianism and the Tofu Company: A Look at the Competition Between Chinese and Western Cultures in Early Republican China Through Dietary Trends
SN - 978-989-758-779-5
AU - Yuan M.
PY - 2025
SP - 352
EP - 356
DO - 10.5220/0013987300004912
PB - SciTePress