REVITALIZATION OF ' THE MARKETPLACE guage(the Chinese word for population. nkou, is literally translated as"pec- se s mouths), the arts, religious ceremonies, rites of passages, and business exchanges. The reverence of the Chinese to practices surrounding food con- sumption can be traced back at least 3, ooo years. 2 In the decades between 1949 and 1979, food could not occupy its tadi- tional elevated position in people's lives. The state exercised complete con- trol over the food system of China, froin the farms to the systems of distrib uton to the retail outlets. The state even dictated consumer choices to a large extenT, by controlling agricultural activity and rationing most staple prod- ucts, including oil, rice, meat, and bread. During these decades of austel ity and rationing, agricultural activity concentated on grain production and an extremely limited number of vegetables Although a small number of di- verse varieties of vegetables grown in household plots adjacent to urban ar- eas sometimes trickled into the cities, produce choice was by and large re- stricted by season and variety. During the winter season, the vegetable selection of northern residents often consisted only of potatoes, cabbage, and turnips. Reports froin this period include clains that consumers would leave their baskets in front of a food counter the night before to hold their place in line to buy a poor selection of vegetables. In a remarkably speedy turnaround, Chinese citizens today enjoy a boun- tiful variety of foods from which to choose as well as a transformed food re- tail infrastructure. It would be hard to understate the depth of these changes As Zha writes, " this is probably the most savored aspect of the current chi- nese economic prosperity: suddenly there is so much to eat! The variety and number of food retail outlets exploded during the reforms of the Igos and 19gos. The changes include greatly expanded food markets, as well as a proliferation of small private grocery stores, supermarkets, bakeries, poul- try stands, and other specialty food outlets As the retail infrastructure changes in China, so has the service that is provided In the past, few food retail outlets featured self-service. Instead con- sumers had to point to the desired products and wait for a clerk to retrieve the items. Today the newly built supermarkets and bakeries are self-service. and customers are free to roam the stores and examine the products. A ves- tige of the past. however, is that very few retailers offer credit, and consumers generally must pay for their purchases with cash. Still, automatic-teller ma- chines(ATMs) have appeared in major cities, and these cash machines, along with the pubescent credit card industry, are indicators of changes to come. 2. A number of books have described various facets of the food culture of China, includ- ng the rituals of historical dynasties, the portrayal of food in the arts, and the etiquette of food Among the most comprehensive are E. Anderson 1988: Chang 1977: and Simoons 1991 3. Tang and jenkins 1g9 995,p