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Australia blocks sale of Ireland-sized chunk of land to private Chinese company
- thaumasiotes 11y agoA couple of points here: - This seems to have been the sale of several different chunks of land totaling the size of Ireland, not one huge chunk. - The reason given for the Chinese effort to own the land is pretty fascinating to me: > ever since a massive tainted milk scandal effectively shuttered China's domestic dairy industry in 2008, companies there have been seeking to source dairy products from overseas, and Pengxin has been particularly pioneering, if not very successful, in the endeavor. The land being purchased is a collection of large cattle ranches. I find this fascinating because basically 100% of Chinese are lactose intolerant. But the local market for milk is surprisingly robust, given that it is poisonous to the entire population. I made a minor hobby of asking people in Shanghai why milk was so widely available there, and why I could observe Chinese people buying it. I was never particularly satisfied with the answers, but I learned a few things: - One reason given for buying milk was to feed it to infants. This is fairly reasonable. - One was, it's fashionable. I find this weird, but hey, why not. - I also learned that the concept of lactose intolerance isn't widely understood in China. I had one person react to my statement "I'm hungry - I'm going to go buy some milk" with shock, assuring me that I mustn't drink milk on an empty stomach because that causes diarrhea. When I responded "I don't have that problem; I'm white", I got a funny look from them.