The Effect of National Identity and Technological Advancement on Changing the Perception of Beverages in Modern Shanghai: An Examination of American Coca-Cola and Chinese Sour Plum Soup, 1928–49

Chinese intellectuals’ perception of US Coca-Cola and Chinese sour plum soup had changed over time during the Republican period. Since their introduction around the second half of the nineteenth century, urban Chinese intellectuals regarded soft drinks as sanitary and healthy beverages because of their machine-made characteristic. In this context, Coca-Cola was also acclaimed as a clean machine-made beverage, and its American origin further backed up its high quality in Chinese intellectuals’ minds. However, after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in the late 1930s, American Coca-Cola was criticized as an unclean and unhealthy beverage that would harm human health. With the rise of nationalism, intellectuals proposed sour plum soup, a domestic cold refreshment, as a cleaner beverage because it could be made by hand at home. However, the sanitary inspection of sour plum soup conflicted with the intellectuals’ fond fantasy of hand-made nationalistic drinks. Based on Shanghai newspaper sources, this paper aims to explore the change in intellectuals’ opinion about the sanitation of Coca-Cola and sour plum soup in different historical phases from the late 1920s to the 1940s. I would argue that Shanghai intellectuals announced their political views toward foreign powers by publishing their personal ideas on the cleanliness of Coca-Cola and sour plum soup. Technological advancement, national identity, and nationalist sentiment altogether decided their perspectives on the sanitation of beverages. Intellectuals did not determine a drink’s cleanliness and health by scientific test results. Instead, they judged the cleanliness of summer refreshments by the political and economic environment in China and the national identity of the beverages.