Earlier, Daniel Gross wrote an item for Slate asking: why are there no chocolate bars in China? As many bloggers noted, chocolate bars are EVERYWHERE in China. Any purported specialist in trade and economics, traveling through a number of large Chinese cities, who says he cannot find any chocolate bars would have to have his head in a vat. But Gross' followup article is the one that really gets me riled up. I was expecting a response along the lines of, "I was an idiot... shows that I still have a few things to learn." Instead, he wrote an article outlining nine reasons why it is hard to find a chocolate bar in China. Let us deconstruct them piece by piece.
1. I was in the wrong place
Earlier, Gross reported from Shanghai and Chongqing, two of the largest cities in the world. Chocolate bars are found in every corner of those cities. Even if he hadn't seen a chocolate bar in those cities, I guarantee you Yichang is crawling with them. I've been to Yichang, it's not a remote outpost. [Any visitors who go there, shoot us some photos... oh wait, someone already did that last February. A store full of chocolate bars... in Yichang!] Now he tells us he managed to find a "dusty" Dove bar in Beijing. Well congratulations. He must be like the Indiana Jones of the chocolate industry or something. Oh wait, others have found chocolate in Beijing before: here and here and here. Or by anyone who has every walked into a local convenience store.
2. Tourist lameness
Ring! Gross is correct on this one. Tourist blind shades.
3. Chocolate elitism
Gross must have stumbled upon a few Snickers bars recently, because he now attempts to define them out of the chocolate equation. Unpersuasive. A Snickers bar is obviously a chocolate bar, as is a Dove, Kit Kat, or any of the various Chinese brands that are easy to find.
4. Chocolate is a bourgeois Western construct
Are you kidding me? Chocolate may have bourgeois origins, but that would do little to hinder it in modern-day China. Foreign chocolate bars cost 4 to 7 kuai (60 cents to $1) and I've seen domestic brands in small Chinese towns for as little as 1 RMB (15 cents) for a full-sized bar. We're not talking about Chivas Regal here, which also manages to make it to quite a few Chinese tables. By way of comparison, a small bag of cashews or almonds costs 15-20 RMB.
5. Reverse cultural snobbery
Yes, China has plently sweets of its own, from "morning tea" snacks to ground sesame sticks. But if you go to a typical convenience store, you'll find yourself inundated with Western-style treats like potato chips, Oreo cookies and Coca Cola (albeit with Chinese characteristics... kiwi potato chips, anyone?). Chinese people love dumplings, that hasn't stopped McDonald's from taking off across the country.
6. There's no accounting for taste
We'll give a half-correct on this count. Chocolate bars are not as popular among Chinese consumers as in the west. But they're popular enough that they're easy to find. We can compare it to coffee. The average Chinese person prefers green tea to coffee. But coffee has taken off enough that you can find instant packages just about anywhere, including many small villages (and coffeeshops in any city).
7. Lactose intolerance
This could be a partial explanation for low chocolate consumption. Cheese is not very popular in China. Nor is cereal and milk. But people here consume large quantities of milk and yogurt. Or did Gross miss that section of the grocery store, too?
8. The Jungle (i.e., (melamine)
This argument fails to take into account that chocolate consumption in China is RISING.
9. Western conspiracy
Stupid joke.
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