Commodifying Chinese Nationalism

The next time you leave a Chinese restaurant with the telltale signs of “Chinese restaurant syndrome,” instead of cursing MSG and its byproducts—hypersalivation, facial pressure, and a burning sensation in your head and upper body—consider this flavor-enhancing condiment’s role in China’s “national salvation” (jiuguo), its battle to break free from imperialist control during the decades before the Communist revolution in 1949. ¹ The history of China’s struggle to manufacture and market a domestic substitute for imported MSG was part of an ambitious attempt to popularize an alternative form of commodification early in the twentieth century. This form of commodification, which I term nationalistic commodification, demanded that consumers, manufacturers, and everyone in between define and exchange goods and services primarily based on modern notions of nationality. In nationalistic commodification, the value of a commodity was not solely determined by the price mechanism operating within market exchange but rather depended more on nationality.