{"id":6819,"date":"2013-12-27T13:16:23","date_gmt":"2013-12-27T21:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.happycow.net\/blog\/?p=6819"},"modified":"2016-10-31T20:34:45","modified_gmt":"2016-11-01T03:34:45","slug":"being-vegan-in-china-with-long-kuan-numbers-are-set-to-skyrocket-in-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.happycow.net\/blog\/being-vegan-in-china-with-long-kuan-numbers-are-set-to-skyrocket-in-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Being Vegan in China with Long Kuan – numbers are set to skyrocket in 2014!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PRI’s The World Reporter – Mary Kay Magistad\u00a0chatting with\u00a0Long Kuan – plus other content
\n<\/strong>–\u00a0a<\/span><\/a><\/strong>\u00a05 minute audio –<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Vegan lunch: Going meatless in Beijing<\/strong><\/p>\n

China’s ‘vegan’ numbers are set to skyrocket in 2014 & beyond! <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Taiwan already has numerous vegan\u00a0businesses. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In little Hong Kong another one open every few months.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

~ In 2010, former Premier of the People’s Republic of China,\u00a0Wen Jiabao (\u6e29\u5bb6\u5b9d\u603b\u7406) proposed a nationwide campaign of “one day of vegetarianism every week” (\u6bcf\u5468\u4e00\u7d20), mainly as part of a broader environmental platform. \u00a0~(1)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"VeganLunchLongKuanEating-e1372086063669\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Credit:\u00a0Mary Kay Magistad<\/strong><\/div>\n
Vegan activist and singer Long Kuan and a friend enjoy meatless “lamb” kabobs at a Beijing restaurant.<\/div>\n
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Excerpts from the chat between Long Kuan & Mary Kay Magistad: –<\/p>\n

Vegan lunch: Going meatless in Beijing<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Reporter – Mary Kay Magistad\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

For now, just 4 or 5 percent of Chinese are thought to be vegetarian. But \u2014 that\u2019s still more than 50 million people \u2014 a whole lot more vegetarians than there are in the United States, where perhaps as many as 30 or 40 million are vegetarians to some degree or another. Long Kuan thinks China can do better.<\/p>\n

\"LongKuanFull\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Four years ago, Long Kuan was a pop singer, pixie-faced, in her late 20s, with little pig tails \u2014 bringing to mind a Chinese Bjork. A song of hers out at the time, \u201cLOHAS Queen,\u201d was an ode to LOHAS \u2013 \u201clifestyles of health and sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n

She decided to switch from just being vegetarian to being vegan, after reading a United Nations report that said that raising, slaughtering and processing livestock produces more greenhouse gases than cars. And these days, she says, it\u2019s a lot easier to be a vegetarian or vegan in China than it used to be.<\/p>\n

So these days, Long Kuan says, getting even her meat-eating friends to go to a vegan restaurant with her is an easy sell.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause after the meal they will feel energetic for the whole day, rather than feel drowsy and heavy, like they do after eating meat,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s so delicious, as well. The vegan restaurants now are not like 10 years ago, when it used to be tofu and greenies (leaves). But now, it\u2019s everything you can eat. When you look at a menu, you can see everything you can eat from a normal restaurant. There\u2019s fish. There\u2019s steaks. There\u2019s pizza. There\u2019s everything \u2014 but it\u2019s all vegan.\u201d (2)<\/p>\n

\"GingkoTree\"<\/a><\/p>\n

They were meeting at <\/strong>Gingko Tree<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/span>– the first vegan restaurant to open in Beijing (3)<\/p>\n