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Wet markets in China

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Wet market
Seafood section of Sanqi Baihui Market in Beijing
Traditional Chinese傳統市場
Simplified Chinese传统市场
Hanyu Pinyinchuántǒng shìchǎng
Jyutpingcyun4 tung2 si5 coeng4
Literal meaningtraditional market
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinchuántǒng shìchǎng
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingcyun4 tung2 si5 coeng4
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese街市
Simplified Chinese街市
Jyutpinggaai1 si5
Literal meaningstreet market
Transcriptions
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpinggaai1 si5
IPA[kaj˥.si˩˧]

In China, wet markets are traditional markets that sell fresh meat, produce, and other perishable goods. They are the most prevalent food outlet in urban regions of China but have faced increasing competition from supermarkets. Since the 1990s, wet markets in large cities have been predominantly moved into modern indoor facilities.

Wildlife is not commonly sold in wet markets in China, but poorly-regulated wet markets have been linked to the spread of zoonotic diseases, including the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak, 2013 avian influenza outbreak, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Small-scale wildlife farming emerged in China in the 1980s and expanded in the 1990s with government support. Wildlife was banned from Chinese wet markets in 2003, with further restrictions and enforcement in 2020 following the spread of COVID-19.

Modernization

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Since the 1990s, large cities across China have moved traditional outdoor wet markets to modern indoor facilities.[1][2] In 1999, all roadside markets in Hangzhou were banned and moved indoors.[3] By 2014, all wet markets in Nanjing were moved indoors.[2]

As of 2018, wet markets remain the most prevalent food outlet in urban regions of China despite the rise of supermarket chains since the 1990s.[4] In 2016, a Meat & Livestock Australia study of imported meat consumers in 15 Chinese cities found that 39% of those consumers had purchased beef from a wet market in the preceding month, while the same proportion who had purchased beef from a supermarket in the preceding month.[5] However, wet markets have been losing ground in popularity compared to supermarkets, despite the fact they may be seen as healthier and more sustainable.[6] Reports suggest "although there are well-managed, hygienic wet markets in and near bigger cities [in China], hygiene can be spotty, especially in smaller communities."[7] During the 2010s, "smart markets" equipped with e-payment terminals emerged as traditional wet markets faced increasing competition from discount stores.[3] Wet markets also began facing competition from online grocery stores, such as Alibaba's Hema stores.[8]

Wildlife markets

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A fish stall in a wet market in Guangzhou

The trade of wildlife is not common in China, particularly in large cities,[8] and most wet markets in China do not contain live or wild animals besides fish held in tanks.[9][10][11][12][13][6][14] In the early 1980s, small-scale wildlife farming began under the Chinese economic reform.[15] It began to expand nationwide with government support in the 1990s, but was largely concentrated in the southeastern provinces.[15]

Some poorly-regulated Chinese wet markets provided outlets for the wildlife trade industry that was estimated by the Chinese Academy of Engineering to employ roughly 14 million people and to be worth more than $73 billion in 2016, of which $59 billion was for fur rather than for food or medicinal purposes.[8][9][15]

Disease outbreaks in wildlife markets

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Bans following SARS and avian influenza outbreaks

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Further information: Wildlife trade and zoonoses § SARS
The pork section of the Sanqi Baihui Market in Beijing

In 2003, wet markets across China were banned from holding wildlife after the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak, which was directly tied to such practices.[16] In 2014, live poultry was banned from all markets in Hangzhou due to the H7N9 avian influenza outbreak.[3] Several provinces in China also banned the sale of live poultry following the avian influenza outbreak.[17]

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Further information: Investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and Wildlife trade and zoonoses § COVID-19

The exact origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is yet to be confirmed as of February 2021[18] and was originally linked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan due to its early cluster of cases,[19][18] although a 2021 World Health Organization (WHO) investigation concluded that the Huanan market was unlikely to be the origin due to the existence of earlier cases.[18] Following the outbreak, epidemiology experts from China and a number of animal welfare organizations called to ban the operation of wet markets selling wild animals for human consumption.[20][21][22]

The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was shut down on 1 January 2020.[9] The Chinese government subsequently announced a temporary ban on the sale of wild animal products at wet markets on 26 January 2020,[23][24][9][10] and then a permanent ban in February 2020 with an exception for traditional Chinese medicine ingredients,[24][25] By 22 March 2020, at least 94% of the temporarily closed wet markets in China were reopened according to Chinese state-run media,[8][6] without wild animals or wild meat.[10] The reopening of wet markets led to public criticism of the Chinese government's handling of wet markets by Anthony Fauci and Lindsey Graham,[26][27][28] although their criticisms have been attributed to semantic confusion between the terms "wet market" and "wildlife market".[10][29][30][11] The WHO responded with the recommendation that wet markets only be reopened "on the condition that they conform to stringent food safety and hygiene standards."[31][32]

In April 2020, the Chinese government unveiled plans to further tighten restrictions on wildlife trade,[8][9] with instructions and financial compensation for operations that were forcibly shut down.[15] Deutsche Welle reported that by September 2020, the Chinese government had shut down almost all wildlife farms.[15]

Hong Kong

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Main article: Wet markets in Hong Kong

Markets in Hong Kong are governed by the law of Hong Kong. Since 31 December 1999, Hong Kong wet markets have been regulated by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD).[33][34]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Hu, Dong-wen; Liu, Chen-xing; Zhao, Hong-bo; Ren, Da-xi; Zheng, Xiao-dong; Chen, Wei (2019). "Systematic study of the quality and safety of chilled pork from wet markets, supermarkets, and online markets in China". Journal of Zhejiang University Science B. 20 (1): 95–104. doi:10.1631/jzus.B1800273. ISSN 1673-1581. PMC 6331336. PMID 30614233.
  2. ^ a b Zhong, Taiyang; Si, Zhenzhong; Crush, Jonathan; Scott, Steffanie; Huang, Xianjin (2019). "Achieving urban food security through a hybrid public-private food provisioning system: the case of Nanjing, China". Food Security. 11 (5): 1071–1086. doi:10.1007/s12571-019-00961-8. ISSN 1876-4517. S2CID 199492034.
  3. ^ a b c Jia, Shi (31 May 2018). "Regeneration and reinvention of Hangzhou's wet markets". Shanghai Daily. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  4. ^ Zhong, Taiyang; Si, Zhenzhong; Crush, Jonathan; Xu, Zhiying; Huang, Xianjin; Scott, Steffanie; Tang, Shuangshuang; Zhang, Xiang (2018). "The Impact of Proximity to Wet Markets and Supermarkets on Household Dietary Diversity in Nanjing City, China". Sustainability. 10 (5): 1465. doi:10.3390/su10051465. ISSN 2071-1050.
  5. ^ "Global Market Snapshot" (PDF). Meat & Livestock Australia. October 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  6. ^ a b c Fickling, David (3 April 2020). "China Is Reopening Its Wet Markets. That's Good". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020.
  7. ^ "Wuhan Is Returning to Life. So Are Its Disputed Wet Markets". Bloomberg Australia-NZ. 8 April 2020. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d e Westcott, Ben; Wang, Serenitie (15 April 2020). "China's wet markets are not what some people think they are". CNN. Archived from the original on 15 April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d e Standaert, Michael (15 April 2020). "'Mixed with prejudice': calls for ban on 'wet' markets misguided, experts argue". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  10. ^ a b c d Maron, Dina Fine (15 April 2020). "'Wet markets' likely launched the coronavirus. Here's what you need to know". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  11. ^ a b Hui, Mary (16 April 2020). "Wet markets are not wildlife markets, so stop calling for their ban". Quanta Magazine. Archived from the original on 20 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  12. ^ Suen, Thomas; Goh, Brenda (12 April 2020). "Wet markets in China's Wuhan struggle to survive coronavirus blow". Reuters. Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020. That has prompted heavy scrutiny for wet markets, a key facet of China's daily life, even though only a few sell wildlife. Some U.S. officials have called for them, and others across Asia, to be closed.
  13. ^ Lynteris, Christos; Fearnley, Lyle (2 March 2020). "Why shutting down Chinese 'wet markets' could be a terrible mistake". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 2 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  14. ^ Bossons, Matthew (2020-02-25). "No, You Won't Find "Wild Animals" in Most of China's Wet Markets". RADII. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  15. ^ a b c d e Pladson, Kristie (25 March 2021). "Coronavirus: A death sentence for China's live animal markets". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  16. ^ Yu, Sun; Liu, Xinning (2020-02-23). "Coronavirus piles pressure on China's exotic animal trade". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  17. ^ Beech, Peter (18 April 2020). "What we've got wrong about China's 'wet markets' and their link to COVID-19". World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  18. ^ a b c Fujiyama, Emily Wang; Moritsugu, Ken (11 February 2021). "EXPLAINER: What the WHO coronavirus experts learned in Wuhan". Associated Press. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  19. ^ "COVID-19: What we know so far about the 2019 novel coronavirus". Archived from the original on 5 February 2020.
  20. ^ "Wuhan coronavirus another reason to ban China's wildlife trade forever". South China Morning Post. 2020-01-29. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  21. ^ "Experts call for global ban on live animal markets, wildlife trade amidst coronavirus outbreak". CBC. February 17, 2020. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020.
  22. ^ Sarah Boseley (24 January 2020), "Calls for global ban on wild animal markets amid coronavirus outbreak", The Guardian, archived from the original on 6 February 2020, retrieved 27 January 2020
  23. ^ "China Could End the Global Trade in Wildlife". Sierra Club. 2020-03-26. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  24. ^ a b Woodward, Aylin (25 February 2020), China just banned the trade and consumption of wild animals. Experts think the coronavirus jumped from live animals to people at a market., Business Insider, archived from the original on 14 March 2020, retrieved 15 April 2020, A few weeks later, Chinese authorities temporarily banned the buying, selling, and transportation of wild animals in markets, restaurants, and online marketplaces across the country. Farms that breed and transport wildlife were also quarantined and shut down. The ban was expected to stay in place until the coronavirus epidemic ended, Xinhua News reported. But now it's permanent.
  25. ^ Gorman, James (2020-02-27). "China's Ban on Wildlife Trade a Big Step, but Has Loopholes, Conservationists Say". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  26. ^ O'reilly, Andrew (2020-04-02). "Lindsey Graham asks China to close 'all operating wet markets' after coronavirus outbreak". Fox News. Archived from the original on 4 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  27. ^ Bowden, John (2020-04-02). "Graham asks colleagues to support call for China to close wet markets". The Hill. Archived from the original on 4 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  28. ^ Forgey, Quint (3 April 2020). "'Shut down those things right away': Calls to close 'wet markets' ramp up pressure on China". Politico. Archived from the original on 4 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  29. ^ Samuel, Sigal (15 April 2020). "The coronavirus likely came from China's wet markets. They're reopening anyway". Vox. Archived from the original on 16 April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  30. ^ Yu, Verna (16 April 2020). "What is a wet market?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 April 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020. While "wet markets", where water is sloshed on produce to keep it cool and fresh, may be considered unsanitary by western standards, most do not trade in exotic or wild animals and should not be confused with "wildlife markets" – now the focus of vociferous calls for global bans.
  31. ^ "RPT-Reopening wet food markets must conform to strict standards -WHO". Reuters. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  32. ^ Santhanam, Laura (17 April 2020). "WHO chief says he's concerned about virus uptick in Africa". Archived from the original on 20 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  33. ^ "Chapter IV – Environmental Hygiene". Annual Report 2018. Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  34. ^ "Report No. 51 of the Director of Audit — Chapter 6" (PDF). Audit Commission. November 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 December 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
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