Screenshot from the YouTube channel of a mainland Chinese eating broadcaster, “Xiao He with a round face.” Fair Use

The popular Chinese saying, “To people, food is heaven” (民以食为天), reflects the significance of food and eating in the everyday life of Chinese people. Hence, at a typical Chinese banquet, the host usually orders an abundance of dishes as a demonstration of their social status, generosity, and hospitality. This inevitably results in a lot of leftovers.

At the same time, as China’s middle class has continued to expand over the past few decades and shifted from a grain-oriented to a meat-heavy diet, the country’s food consumption culture is creating a sustainability challenge. 

In 2015, researchers estimated that in China's restaurants, people discarded 17–18 million tons of food annually, roughly 93 grams per person per meal, with over a third of banquet dishes going uneaten. Meanwhile, per capita meat consumption in China has also soared since the 1970s, rising from under 10 kilograms annually to approximately 70 kg per person by 2022. This worsens the consequences of food waste as meat takes a higher environmental toll than plant-based meals.

And this issue isn't isolated to restaurants. Of the total food waste from households, retail establishments, and the food service industry, 931 million tons annually, 61 percent of this occurs in people's homes.

These trends underscore the urgent need to address the food waste challenge.

Empty the Plate Campaign

The sustainability challenge was first addressed by Chinese citizens back in 2012, before the government tightened restrictions on free speech, when citizens were eager to speak out for social change. On April 22, 2012, Earth Day, environmentalist Xu Zhijun, along with other members of a civic group called N_33, began posting images of their empty plates on Weibo, urging others to take action against food waste. Their online call later evolved into a nationwide “Empty the Plate Campaign” (光盤行動), which was widely reported by many media outlets, including the state-funded People’s Daily. 

This move went viral in 2013 and gained traction, especially among younger generations who had long felt discomfort with the excesses of Chinese meal culture. This grassroots movement gradually influenced the food service industry, prompting many restaurants to introduce smaller portion options and provide takeaway containers as a standard. The campaign also helped normalize a more mindful dining style: ordering modestly and adding more only if necessary. Over time, a new social value took root — leaving food uneaten came to be seen as shameful, while finishing one’s plate was regarded as a responsible and even admirable act.

Legal tools against waste

The Chinese government also took action to address sustainability challenges, framing it as a food security issue. In 2021, it enacted the Anti-Food Waste Law, marking a shift from moral to legal governance in addressing food waste.

Under the law, restaurants and food content creators can be fined if they encourage excessive ordering or promote binge-eating. Businesses are required to provide reminders against food waste, while media platforms face penalties for hosting videos that glorify overconsumption.

Soon after the enactment of the Anti-Food Waste Law, the civic-led Empty Plate Campaign was taken over by the China Guanghua Technology Foundation, a branch of the Communist Youth League of China, to promote a sustainable food consumption culture. The campaign was widely reported and promoted on social media platforms between 2022 and 2023.

However, the efficiency of the official-led anti-food waste initiative has been questioned. As pointed out by researchers, since China’s Anti-Food Waste Law primarily regulates activities related to promoting and catering, which are at the consumption end of the food supply chain, the law mostly oversees and punishes the catering and media sectors with fines for misleading consumers or promoting food waste, rather than addressing waste at the production end of the process.

“Eating broadcasts,” a video trend where people post videos of themselves eating (吃播 or Mukbang in Korean), have, hence, become the law’s key crackdown target.

The hosts of eating broadcasts typically consume large quantities of food while interacting with viewers during livestreaming. The video genre is widely popular across Asia, including China, attracting millions of viewers for entertainment and fulfilling a vicarious, primal desire for food. 

Months before the enactment of the Anti-Food Waste Law, Chinese authorities had issued a warning to social media platforms, urging them to remove content that promotes food waste. After the law was passed, broadcasters, platforms, or responsible executives face a fine between RMB 10,000 and 100,000 (approximately USD 1,500–15,000) if the violations are serious.

In response, social platforms began removing eating broadcasts. Some creators deleted their content or pivoted to other food-related topics, such as restaurant reviews or cooking tutorials. Others migrated their videos to platforms outside China’s regulatory reach, such as YouTube, then re-uploaded edited versions domestically to circumvent the rules. A few continue testing the food waste redline by live-streaming at midnight, finishing all their food, and adding a warning message.

When searching “Eating broadcast” (吃播) on Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok), a reminder pops up: “Cherish food. Say no to waste. Reasonable diet. Healthy life.” Screenshot. Fair Use.

Food waste at the production end of the supply chain

Today, China's food waste is not merely a cultural issue, which has been addressed for over a decade now by the “Empty the Plate Campaign” and the Anti-Food Waste Law. As pointed out by socio-economists, China's food sustainability challenge is more closely related to the production end of the supply chain rather than the consumption end.

In 2022, China's annual post-harvest food losses ranged between 289 and 368 million tons, with a 14 percent loss rate, while food waste in the consumption stage was between 27 and 35 million tons, with a 5 percent loss rate. This is likely a result of the manufacturing overcapacity problem in the industrial food sector. 

To address the overproduction problem, the Chinese State Council issued a comprehensive action plan last year, aiming to reduce loss rates of grain and food during production, storage, transportation, and processing to below the international average level by 2027.