Commodified Wildness and Multi-Species Precarity in China’s Amphibian and Reptile Economies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24212911 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jin Qian (0000-0003-1558-8356, Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University & Research) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-25 |
| Publication date | 2026-09-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00472336.2026.2730131 |
| OpenAlex | W7214144898 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 58 |
China’s post-COVID-19 exemption of economically significant amphibians and reptiles – herps – used for food from the wildlife consumption ban has created a critical governance juncture, as market demand for these species’ associated “wildness” persists. This article asks how herp meatways navigate the ambiguous regulatory split between conservation and production agencies to realise this “wild” value. Drawing on qualitative research conducted across seven provincial-level administrative regions in China between 2023 and 2024, this paper examines three case studies: the Northeastern “forest frog,” the Chinese softshell turtle, and the Chinese giant salamander. It demonstrates that, under regulatory uncertainties, food system actors render “wildness” as animal capital through specific husbandry practices and staged market encounters. A core dynamic emerges in this process: industrial farming’s inability to fully control these species is precisely what markets monetise as “authentic” wildness. This friction generates multi-species precarity, where economic stress, compromised animal welfare, and ecological damage amplify one another. These findings recast a long-standing debate over whether farming substitutes for wild capture in China: under bifurcated governance, the two are mutually reinforcing, entangling human livelihoods, animal welfare, and ecosystem health in a shared, escalating crisis.
Animal husbandry · Animal welfare · Chinese giant salamander · Chinese softshell turtle · ecosystem damage · Food systems · wildlife trade regulation · Animal Law and Welfare · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses
Wildlife in the Anthropocene
Food systems see fish, not fisheries and aquaculture
Wildlife farming
From dirty to delicacy? Changing exploitation in China threatens the world's largest amphibians
From Gravitational Machine to Universal Habitat
Amphibious Worlds
Broad Distribution of Ranavirus in Free-Ranging Rana dybowskii in Heilongjiang, China
Mao's Bestiary
More-than-human practices in wild animal farming
Governing food systems to conserve China’s endangered wild animals
Unsettling wildness
Constructing freshness
Wild(er)ness
Becoming Salmon
Chicken from the soil
Eco-socialism and the political ecology of forest conservation in the Greater Khingan Range, China
In the wake of the China-Africa ivory trade
Lively commodities and encounter value
Ontology Matters
Life for Sale? The Politics of Lively Commodities
Following the caterpillar fungus
Tank to Table
The Mushroom at the End of the World
Do Fish Resist
Wild Goose Chase
Edible zombis
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |