科技、现代性与近代中国饮食习惯的变迁——可口可乐在中国早期发展历程的分析

Science, Technology, Modernity, and the Change of the Eating Habits in Modern China: An Analysis of Coca-Cola’s Early Development in China

由于中西方自然科学体系不同造成的饮食习惯差异,可口可乐早期进入中国时并没有被中国消费者广泛接受。但是,随着二战以来可口可乐公司加强以科技和现代性为主题的营销宣传,可口可乐被包装成了科技和现代性的物质呈现,逐渐受到中国民众的欢迎。在二十世纪初的现代化语境中,可口可乐公司的宣传不仅影响了近代中国人对科技和现代性的理解,而且把可口可乐塑造成了消费者渴求的现代性的符号。本文以可口可乐在二十世纪上半叶的中国的曲折发展为例,从科技的视角出发,剖析了可口可乐从遭受冷遇到受到欢迎的科技层面的原因,揭示出科技是可口可乐商业推广中的一个重要元素,并在推动大众饮食习惯的变化中起了重要作用。

Because of the different scientific and technological systems,China and the western world developed very different eating habits and food culture.As a result,when Coca-Cola was first introduced to China,it was not well received by the Chinese society.However,after WWII when the Coca-Cola company put more emphasis on marketing Coca-Cola by focusing on science,technology,and modernity,the drink became a symbol of modern lifestyle,rightfully catering to the psychology of Chinese consumers who were in pursuit of modernity.Focusing on the winding course of Coca-Cola’s early development in China,this article shows that in the first half of the twentieth century,science and technology were a focusing point in Coca-Cola’s marketing in China,and played an important role in changing people’s dieting habit and consumer culture.