Trade has made us wealthy and resilient, but also vulnerable to coercion. As China’s economic power peaks, its political model may be reaching its limits.

Globalization is perhaps best explained not with statistics, but with a pair of foods beloved in China.

Consider Shenyang’s chicken racks and Wuhan’s duck necks — two dishes born directly from trade. In the 1990s, Liaoning’s poultry plants exported white-feathered chickens to Japan. Japanese consumers rejected the racks — the leftover frames stripped of meat — so they were sold cheaply to local workers in Shenyang, who turned them into a beer snack. After China’s entry to the World Trade Organization, Henan-based companies like Huaying Agricultural Group began exporting duck breasts to Europe and America. Western consumers wanted only the premium cuts, leaving the heads, wings, and necks behind. Those scraps traveled a few hours south to Wuhan, where they became the foundation of a local culinary culture. Today, duck neck is to Wuhan what barbecue is to Memphis. Globalization, and the preferences of distant consumers, made this transformation possible. The opening of markets allowed individuals from all across the world to become aware of a much under-appreciated Chinese cuisine, and the resulting demand transformed the cuisine in return. In a way, it is diplomacy through the stomach.

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