Betel chewing in China has a long history, particularly in the southern provinces. In modern times, betel nut chewing is popular nationwide. The social debate over betel nut chewing has led the authorities to introduce some restriction policies, though almost all cities in the country still allow the production, sale and consumption of betel nut.
Betel chewing has a history of two thousand years in China. [1] The earliest sources regarding the consumption of betel nuts in China date to the second century B.C., after they were introduced to the region from South and Southeast Asia. In the centuries that followed, betel nuts became known throughout the country. [2] Betel nuts were introduced into Hunan, the biggest consumer of betel nuts, more than 300 years ago and embedded in the social culture of the region that they were listed as a provincial-level cultural heritage in 2016. [3] The Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion destabilized the national betel nut trade. Betel nut chewing would not experience a resurgence until the reform and opening-up period. [2]
Areca nuts are also a part of traditional Chinese medicine and are believed to improve the intestinal tract or help someone feel less cold. [4] Betel nut is also used as an offering used in Buddhist rituals [2] and to express love. [1]
Betel nut is grown mostly in Hainan and is processed in Hunan. [4] Hainan province is home to over 95 percent of the country's betel nut planting area, and millions of farmers rely on the industry as their main source of income. [5] China also imports betel nuts from India. [6]
| Year | Production (in 10,000 tons) |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 3.56 |
| 2005 | 6.43 |
| 2010 | 15.21 |
| 2015 | 22.92 |
| 2016 | 23.42 |
| 2017 | 25.51 |
| 2018 | 27.22 |
| 2019 | 28.70 |
| 2020 | 28.33 |
| 2021 | 27.88 |
By 2018, there were more than 60 million Chinese chewing the nuts, [8] and the nut consumers exceeded 100 million in 2021. [9] There are some 260,000 betel nut companies in China. [10] From 2011 to 2018, the output value of China's betel nut industry increased from 55.8 billion yuan to 78.1 billion yuan. [11] Chewing betel nut is most rife in more southern provinces, like Hunan, Hainan and Guizhou. A survey of 1,305 pupils and middle school students in the Hunan city of Xiangtan found that nearly 70 percent of the respondents admitted they had tried betel nuts and 8.4 percent of them said they chew them every day. [3] The chewing rate of betel nuts among residents in Hunan was 38.40 percent in 2011. [12] The value of betel nut production in Hunan was estimated at 30 billion yuan and growing. [13] According to Cao Yu, a lecturer at Jinan University, the latter-day popularity of betel nuts in China is a product of the mutual influence of three stakeholders that industry, local governments, and the public. [2]
Betel nut is an addictive stimulant. [4] The International Agency for Research, a group sponsored by the World Health Organization, has listed areca nuts and betel leaves as carcinogens causing agents. It said that long-term use can cause dental ulcers, gum degeneration and cancers of the mouth and esophagus. [13] The Kinmen coast guard intercepted 12,000 kg of betel nut being smuggled to Kinmen from China in mid-June 2004. [14] In 2021, The Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Istanbul, Turkey, announced that several Chinese travelers entering Turkey with betel nuts had been arrested, for the nut is illegal in Turkey. [3]
The city of Xiamen in Fujian banned the production, sales and consumption of the nuts in 1996. [3] In 2013, a series of special reports, collectively titled The Disfigured Face of the Betel Nut Industry, drew the public's attention toward the link between betel nuts and oral cancer. [2] The former national food and drug administration listed betel nut as a top carcinogen in 2017. [8] According to a 2019 report in The Lancet , a peer-reviewed medical journal, a study that looked back at 8,222 people with oral cancer in Hunan province found that 90 per cent of these patients chewed areca nuts. The report called on the Chinese government to use advertising restrictions as a step towards a “wider ban on the nut in the future”. [4] In the year, Ding Xiaobing, a deputy to the National People's Congress, proposed cancer warnings on packages of betel nut products. [3] Betel nuts were removed from the updated version of the food production permit catalog released by the State Administration for Market Regulation in 2020, and an advertising ban issued by the National Radio and Television Administration in 2021 that forbids all related advertisements on radio, television or online. [5] In 2022, Chinese singer Fu Song who used to claim on social media that cancer was caused by chewing betel nuts and asked the public to keep away from it, died from oral cancer by his habit of chewing betel nuts. [8] His death rekindled discussions about tightening controls on sales of the nuts. Thus, local market regulators in Zhejiang, Sichuan and Jiangxi provinces rolled out notices to ban all sales of betel nuts as a food product. [5]
The areca nut or betel nut is the fruit of the areca palm, which grows in much of the tropical Pacific, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of east Africa. It is not to be confused with betel leaves that are often used to wrap it.
Gutka, ghutka, guṭkha or betel quid is a chewing tobacco preparation made of crushed areca nut, tobacco, catechu, paraffin wax, slaked lime and sweet or savory flavourings, in India, Pakistan, other Asian countries, and North America.
A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel which is usually edible. In general usage and in a culinary sense, a wide variety of dry seeds are called nuts, but in a botanical context "nut" implies that the shell does not open to release the seed (indehiscent).
The betel, Piper betle, is a species of flowering plant in the pepper family Piperaceae, native to Southeast Asia. It is an evergreen, dioecious vine, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkins. Betel plants are cultivated for their leaves which are most commonly used as flavoring in chewing areca nut.
In Taiwan, a betel nut beauty or binlang girl is a young woman selling betel nuts and cigarettes from a brightly lit glass enclosure while wearing revealing clothing. The term in Chinese comes from Xi Shi, the legendary beauty of imperial China's Spring and Autumn period. Though betel nuts are chewed in many regions in Southeast Asia, the betel nut beauty phenomenon is distinctly Taiwanese.
Oral cancer, also known as mouth cancer, is a cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat. In the mouth, it most commonly starts as a painless white patch, that thickens, develops red patches, an ulcer, and continues to grow. When on the lips, it commonly looks like a persistent crusting ulcer that does not heal, and slowly grows. Other symptoms may include difficult or painful swallowing, new lumps or bumps in the neck, a swelling in the mouth, or a feeling of numbness in the mouth or lips.
Betel nut chewing, also called betel quid chewing or areca nut chewing, is a practice in which areca nuts are chewed together with slaked lime and betel leaves for their stimulant and narcotic effects, the primary psychoactive compound being arecoline. The practice is widespread in Southeast Asia, Micronesia, Island Melanesia, and South Asia. It is also found among both Han Chinese immigrants and indigenous peoples of Taiwan, Madagascar, and parts of southern China. It was introduced to the Caribbean in colonial times.
Chewing tobacco is a type of smokeless tobacco product that is placed between the cheek and lower gum to draw out its flavor. It consists of coarsely chopped aged tobacco that is flavored and often sweetened; it is not ground fine like dipping tobacco. Unwanted juices are then spat.
IARC group 1 Carcinogens are substances, chemical mixtures, and exposure circumstances which have been classified as carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). This category is used when there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in humans. Exceptionally, an agent may be placed in this category when evidence of carcinogenicity in humans is less than sufficient, but when there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals and strong evidence in exposed humans that the agent (mixture) acts through a relevant mechanism of carcinogenicity.
Areca catechu is a species of palm which grows in much of the tropical Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa. The palm is native to the Philippines, but is widespread in cultivation and is considered naturalized in Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Taiwan, Madagascar, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, southern China, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, parts of the Pacific Islands, and also in the West Indies.
Arecoline is a nicotinic acid-based mild parasympathomimetic stimulant alkaloid found in the areca nut, the fruit of the areca palm. It is an odourless oily liquid. It can bring a sense of enhanced alertness and energy along with mild feelings of euphoria and relaxation. The psychoactive effects are comparable to that of nicotine.
Smokeless tobacco is a tobacco product that is used by means other than smoking. Their use involves chewing, sniffing, or placing the product between gum and the cheek or lip. Smokeless tobacco products are produced in various forms, such as chewing tobacco, snuff, snus, and dissolvable tobacco products. Smokeless tobacco products typically contain over 3000 constituents. Smokeless tobacco is widely used in South Asia and this accounts for about 80% of global consumption, as per WHO data. All smokeless tobacco products contain nicotine and are therefore highly addictive. Quitting smokeless tobacco use is as challenging as smoking cessation.
Verrucous carcinoma (VC) is an uncommon variant of squamous cell carcinoma. This form of cancer is often seen in those who chew tobacco or use snuff orally, so much so that it is sometimes referred to as "Snuff dipper's cancer".
Senegalia catechu is a deciduous, thorny tree which grows up to 15 m (50 ft) in height. The plant is called khair in Hindi, and kachu in Malay; the Malay name was Latinized to "catechu" in Linnaean taxonomy, as the type-species from which the extracts cutch and catechu are derived. Other common names for it include kher, catechu, cachou, cutchtree, black cutch, and black catechu.
Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a chronic, complex, premalignant condition of the oral cavity, characterized by juxta-epithelial inflammatory reaction and progressive fibrosis of the submucosal tissues. As the disease progresses, the oral mucosa becomes fibrotic to the point that the person is unable to open the mouth. The condition is remotely linked to oral cancers and is associated with the chewing of areca nut and/or its byproducts, commonly practiced in South and South-East Asian countries. The incidence of OSF has also increased in western countries due to changing habits and population migration.
Chinese pickles or Chinese preserved vegetables consist of vegetables or fruits that have been fermented by pickling with salt and brine, or marinated in mixtures based on soy sauce or savory bean pastes. The former is usually done using high-fiber vegetables and fruits, such as Chinese cabbage, carrot, apple and pineapple, while the latter marinated group is made using a wide variety of vegetables, ranging from mustards and cucumbers to winter melon and radishes. As of now, there are more than 130 kinds of pickles.
Xiangtan is a prefecture-level city in east-central Hunan province, south-central China. The hometowns of several founding leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, including Chairman Mao Zedong, President Liu Shaoqi, and Marshal Peng Dehuai, are in Xiangtan's administration, as well as the hometowns of Qing dynasty and republic era painter Qi Baishi, scholar-general Zeng Guofan, and tennis player Peng Shuai.
Betelnut Beauty is a 2001 Taiwanese film directed by Lin Cheng-sheng. It depicts the love story between a betel nut beauty (檳榔西施) and a young man, who failed to survive in Taipei City. The film is nominated for the Golden Bear at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival. Director Lin Cheng-sheng (林正盛) won the Silver Bear for Best Director and the leading actress Angelica Lee (李心潔) won the Piper Heidsieck New Talent Award for the best young actress. In 2001, President Chen Shui-bian met the crew of Betelnut Beauty to praise their success at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival.
Betel quid chewing has always been an important part of Thai culture and tradition. In the past, betel chewing was a popular daily activity among Thais all over the country. Betel comes from the plant known as Areca catechu, which grows wild all over Thailand and is known as หมาก (maak).