Vegetarianism is not highly common in China; however, in major cities like Beijing, vegetarian restaurants are slowly being established. Although Chinese food is vegan friendly by default (without the added flesh meat), it is likely that most vegetarians in China do consume either dairy and/or milk. "Vegetarian" in Mandarin Chinese is pronounced, "Chur Su," which translates to, "Eat Vegetables." The word for MSG (monosodium glutamate) is good to know when traveling to China and other parts of Asia, because restaurants there are generally accustomed to using heavy amounts of it.  MSG is pronounced, "Wei Jiing," so you could say, "Wo bu yow wei jiing," which means, "I don't want MSG." See chart below for more key phrases to use when traveling to China.