Donkey Hide Gelatin, the Black Donkey, and Animal Drugs in China

Abstract The gelatin known as ejiao has been part of the Chinese apothecary for almost 2,000 years, though historically its production was limited. It was a regional specialty from Shandong Province, whose potency was thought to depend on the use of skins from a particular breed of donkey and the water from a particular well. But in China’s recent age of prosperity, donkey hide gelatin has experienced exponential growth in demand and production, leading to a severe shortage of donkeys in China and a booming import market of donkey skins from the Global South. Bluntly put, almost the entire global donkey population risks being shipped to China and turned into medicinal jelly within the next decade or two. Once a matter of small herds and artisanal workshops, the unfolding story of donkey hide gelatin instantiates the way in which the ever-growing demand for animal-based drugs in Traditional Chinese Medicine poses a threat to global biodiversity and the environment. This article traces the formation and development of discourses around donkey hide gelatin and the Shandong donkey, based on a comprehensive study of the materia medica literature from The Divine Husbandman’s Classic of Materia Medica ( c .250–200 CE ) through to entries in Republican-period pharmacopoeia.