
Australia blocks sale of Ireland-sized chunk of land to private Chinese company - mancerayder
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/30/australia-blocks-sale-of-ireland-sized-chunk-of-land-to-private-chinese-company/?tid=pm_world_pop_b
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thaumasiotes
A couple of points here:

\- This seems to have been the sale of several different chunks of land
totaling the size of Ireland, not one huge chunk.

\- The reason given for the Chinese effort to own the land is pretty
fascinating to me:

> ever since a massive tainted milk scandal effectively shuttered China's
> domestic dairy industry in 2008, companies there have been seeking to source
> dairy products from overseas, and Pengxin has been particularly pioneering,
> if not very successful, in the endeavor.

The land being purchased is a collection of large cattle ranches.

I find this fascinating because basically 100% of Chinese are lactose
intolerant. But the local market for milk is surprisingly robust, given that
it is poisonous to the entire population. I made a minor hobby of asking
people in Shanghai why milk was so widely available there, and why I could
observe Chinese people buying it. I was never particularly satisfied with the
answers, but I learned a few things:

\- One reason given for buying milk was to feed it to infants. This is fairly
reasonable.

\- One was, it's fashionable. I find this weird, but hey, why not.

\- I also learned that the concept of lactose intolerance isn't widely
understood in China. I had one person react to my statement "I'm hungry - I'm
going to go buy some milk" with shock, assuring me that I mustn't drink milk
on an empty stomach because that causes diarrhea. When I responded "I don't
have that problem; I'm white", _I_ got a funny look from _them_.

