[seanmcdirmid]

Xi'an isn't a province, you probably mean Shaanxi (as opposed to Shanxi). Also Xinjiang doesn't have a Starbucks. Xi'an of course has a lot of them.

Non-muslim Chinese love pork, it is by far the most commonly eaten meat in the country.

[sealeck]

> Non-muslim Chinese love pork, it is by far the most commonly eaten meat in the country.

In fact so much so that the meat has an outsized role in Chinese inflation. For example outbreaks of diseases among pigs can cause inflation to skyrocket and collapses in prices can bring similar problems. See e.g. https://www.ft.com/content/058df2fe-ae7a-4be8-93c6-ca9cb46d3... or https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-03/china-eco...

[seanmcdirmid]

Chinese government has a pork reserve like the American government has an oil reserve.

[papertokyo]

Like the Canadian government has a maple syrup reserve.

[sealeck]

I did not know that, that's really interesting!