Session Name: Foodscaping Asia I: Scaping the Remote
3 - Bottled Water and Rice Wine: The Commodification of Water in the Tumen/Tuman River Region
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
11:15 – 13:00 (GMT+7)
Presentation Abstract This paper examines contingent bordering processes in the Tumen/Tuman River Region of the China–Korea borderland through two beverage commodities. Focusing on beverage production foodscapes in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China’s Jilin province, it makes a case for water as an urbanizing agent at the intersection of material and cultural. The first case study examines internationalization of Hengda Bingquan, the first Chinese mineral water to be exported overseas, the brand invoked domestic national pride whilst triggering uneasiness in South Korea by “improperly stating” the water’s source in its Chinese name Changbaishan rather than the Korean Baekdusan. The second case study focuses on the upgrading of regional water infrastructure for the production of Enni Mijiu, a brand of makgeolli (Korean traditional rice wine). To gain local government’s support for the construction of a new water pipeline connecting key nano-scapes in the beverage’s production process - the company factory and the upstream region of the Tumen River - Enni Mijiu actively participated in a China Central Television (CCTV) documentary, reconstructing the history of makgeolli using lines from the New Book of Tang, a work of Chinese official dynastic history. Through these case studies, which link nano-scapes of both production and consumption on both sides of the border, I cast new light on the role of water-related foodscapes not only in the formation of physical realities in the riparian areas created by the river, but also in the generation of conceptual relations between China, North Korea, and South Korea within the transborder region.
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