Research Highlights

For the past few years, I have been involved in research that surveys the modern history of the world, and in particular East Asia, through the lens of Chinese cuisine.

Many countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, and Japan, are developing aggressive cultural diplomacy initiatives to brand their national cuisine and expand their share of the global market in the 21st century. Some of the foods commonly regarded as the “national cuisine” of East and Southeast Asian countries, however—including ramen in Japan, jajangmyeon in Korea, and pho in Vietnam—have either originated in China or have a strong Chinese influence. This is because people from these countries have incorporated the ingredients and cooking methods from different regions of China into their own distinct cuisines. The first objective of my research is to clarify the political and social climates and business environments into which governments and corporations around the world have—or haven’t—incorporated Chinese cuisine. Part of my current research, for example, investigates how pad thai has been been promoted around the world as part of the national cuisine of Thailand by the Thai nation state since the 1930s.

The second objective of my research is to look at how, and since when, Chinese cuisine has been institutionalized and promoted as a single national cuisine—the culinary system of the nation state—in mainland China. As a matter of fact, until the time of the Republic of China (1912–1949), there had been a strong tendency to replicate the traditional food culture of each region and city, which makes the beginnings of the People's Republic of China (1949–) rather important when considering the formation of a singular Chinese cuisine. In 1950s Beijing, a new type of meal gathered the quintessential cuisines of each region for national banquets that were held for foreign dignitaries and domestic leaders. The restaurant industries in Beijing and Shanghai at that time were booming as they hosted official government functions and lavish political banquets. This led to the compilation of comprehensive cookbooks that covered regional dishes from throughout the country and the standardization of national qualifications for cooks and chefs. Through concrete case studies, I am currently working to verify the state-led systematization and institutionalization of Chinese cuisine and how it is used for propaganda and political means.

The third and final objective of my research is to clarify, from a world history point of view, why the Second Sino-Japanese War led to the spread of Chinese cuisine in Japan, the United States, England, and beyond. The idea of a “Manchurian” cuisine and subsequent attempts to recreate Manchurian food culture are obvious examples of how Chinese food culture spread within the Empire of Japan as its military invaded mainland China. As the Second Sino-Japanese War escalated and China became a theater of war during World War II, there was a momentary, sharp increase in the number of Chinese restaurants in England and the U.S.—both allies of China—as well as in cities around the world where the U.S. Army was stationed. My current research investigates and compares what kind of political, economic, and social backdrops influenced the rise and decline in popularity of Chinese and Japanese restaurants in cities and countries around the world during and following World War II.