People | 19 Chinese public figures who advocate plant-based diets
This article originally appeared on our Chinese WeChat account. See the original Chinese article in WeChat.
China's vegan movement is rich with stories from the thinkers, public figures, educators, political leaders, entrepreneurs, and creatives who contributed to it. We've compiled a list of 19 Chinese public figures from different eras and backgrounds who personally pursue a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle "behind the scenes" and/or have publicly advocated consuming fewer animals and more plants.
The list is in no particular order. Click the link below each brief introduction to view an in-depth Chinese WeChat article about each person from various well-known Chinese vegan media platforms.
01. 孔子 Confucius
"Food can never be too clean, and meat can never be sliced too thin." — Confucius
China's most important and influential philosopher, Confucius proposed a comprehensive set of dietary rules and principles, including several restricting the intake of meat.
—素食星球
02. 梁武帝 Emperor Wu of Liang
Emperor Wu reigned from 502–549 CE. He embraced Buddhism, followed a vegetarian diet, and ordered that ceremonial food offerings to imperial ancestors stop including meat.
—德仁心
03. 王维 Wang Wei
Wang Wei was a famous and influential poet and politician during the Tang Dynasty. As a practitioner of Zen Buddhism, he followed a vegetarian diet.
—自在书轩读书会
04. 陆游 Lu You
Lu You was a famous poet in the Southern Song Dynasty. He is known for opposing the common theory that eating meat was key to health and wrote poems extolling the virtues of simple vegetarian food.
—壹素界
05. 蔡元培 Cai Yuanpei
Cai Yuanpei served as president of Peking University and founded the Academia Sinica. He was known to follow a vegetarian diet and advocated vegetarianism as hygienic, frugal, and compassionate. In 1917, a PKU student wrote him an open letter urging the university to open a vegetarian restaurant on campus, and Cai responded by encouraging other students to sign the request.
—素食星球
06. 孙中山 Sun Yat-Sen
Sun Yat-Sen was a politician and philosopher best known for founding the Republic of China. He advocated for limiting meat consumption, stating that “a vegetarian diet is a magic tool for prolonging lifespan, which has already been acknowledged by scientists, medical scholars, physiologists and doctors." [1]
—素食街
07. 林森 Lin Sen
Zhao Puchu was a public figure, philanthropist, president of the Buddhist Association of China, and renowned calligrapher. He promoted cultural progress and religious tolerance. He also advocated vegetarianism as a frugal lifestyle that could free up funds for philanthropy and public service.
这位素龄70年的修行者，毕生致力于慈善事业，还被总理誉为“国宝”！
—壹素界
09. 王菲 Faye Wong
Known as one of Asia's biggest pop stars, Faye Wong is an award-winning singer-songwriter and actress. She's also one of China's most famous vegetarians (she even chose the handle "veggieg" for her Weibo account), as well as the winner of PETA's 2008 "World's Sexiest Vegetarians" award.
—壹素界
10. 吕颂贤 Jackie Lui
Jackie Lui is a popular film and television actor, and is also one of China's most famous vegetarians. He even starred in a drama series called The Vegetarian's Story.
—素食星球
11. 曾黎 Zeng Li
Zeng Li is a film and television actress who's been vegetarian for more than 15 years. During the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic in the winter of 2020, she posted on social media urging the public to "eat vegetarian more" and protect humanity from disease by "changing our diets, changing our consciousness, and changing our planet's environment".
—素食营养师
12. 潘时七 Sookie
Sookie (Pan Shiqi) is an actress and vegan public figure. She is also the only China brand ambassador of dedicated cruelty-free German beauty brand Lavera. On her social media accounts, Sookie encourages fans to try vegan food and participate in Meatless Monday.
—素食营养师
13. 朱信宗 Daniel Zhu
Daniel Zhu is a pop singer and actor from Taiwan. He advocates veganism on his own social media channels, and also makes guest appearances in advocacy campaigns and vegan media channels.
—地宝Radio
14. 黄俊鹏 Huang Junpeng
Huang Junpeng is an actor and public figure. In interviews, he's shared his story of going vegetarian overnight, and he often posts about the benefits of veganism on his social media and encourages his fans to go vegan.
—营养素食
15. 陶虹 Tao Hong
Tao Hong is an actress, philanthropist and former national champion synchronized swimmer. She's shared about her journey to vegetarianism in interviews.
—壹素界
16. 张思 Hazel Zhang
Hazel Zhang is the founder and CEO of VegPlanet (素食星球), China's most popular vegan social media platform. A longtime vegan, Hazel dedicated her career to making veganism mainstream in China through interesting stories, useful information, and appealing media presentation.
—壹素界
17. 张毅 Zhang Yi
Zhang Yi is the founder and CEO of Yi Su Jie (壹素界), a popular and influential vegan media platform.
—壹素界
18. 阮义忠 Ruan Yizhong
Taiwanese photographer Ruan Yizhong is known as a master of candid humanistic photography. He was editor of Photographers International magazine and has also been credited for building bridges between Chinese and western photography. On social media, he has shared about his vegetarian diet and how it makes him feel healthier and clear-minded.
吃素20年的“中国当代摄影教父”，用镜头和素食传播世间美好！
—壹素界
19. 卢靖姗 Celina Jade
Celina Jade is a Hong Kong-born actress, singer, model, martial artist, vegetarian, and sustainability advocate. She once co-founded a plant-based restaurant in Hong Kong to promote healthy and sustainable living.
—壹素界
[1] Yi, Jian (2020). 2020 Good Food Report, “Eating as an Act of Civility”.
*Images sourced online