Globalisation or Localisation? A Dialogue Between Documentary Filmmakers and Food Systems Scholars
The award-winning documentary Whose Table, Whose Pasture will be screened at the Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University, this Friday (12 June 2026).
Following the trail of imported beef and mutton alongside local yak and Tibetan sheep, the filmmaker behind this documentary set out from the wholesale and retail markets in Xining, travelled to street trading markets, finishing farms, and slaughterhouses in Gonghe County, then followed cattle traders all the way to Qinghai Lake. Circling the entire lake, they interviewed herders of different ethnic groups in the surrounding pastoral areas, seeking to understand the impact on herders’ livelihoods and ways of life as local cattle and sheep prices have continued to fall and large volumes of imported frozen meat have flooded the market.
When herders on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, too, feel the impact of agricultural products from faraway Brazil, Uruguay, Australia, and New Zealand, how should we understand the food on our tables?
Can a geographical indication protect the interests of local breeds, industries, and farmers and herders?
What are the livestock farmers and slaughterhouses outside the pastoral areas experiencing?
Why do agriculture and food systems need a sustainable transition, and how can that transition be made?
What possibilities for action exist for consumers and civil society organisations?
After the screening, experts in food systems from the Department of Sociology at Zhejiang University will join us to discuss these questions.
◉ The flock of sheep belonging to Niang E Jia, one of the protagonists of Whose Table, Whose Pasture. Photo: Jiao Xiaofang
◉ Follow-up visits are an important part of community film-making. In 2025, Jiao Xiaofang returned to the filming location to screen the documentary Whose Table, Whose Pasture for the herders. Photo: Jiao Xiaofang
This Friday, 3:30–5:30 pm (12 June), Foodthink will screen the documentary Whose Table, Whose Pasture in the North Reading Room, 10 th Floor, Building 8, Chengjun Yuan, West Zone, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University. Friends in Hangzhou are welcome to come and watch together.
– Panelists–
Li Jingsong: Professor, Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University
Zhou Mujun: Tenured Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University
Sun Ruihua: PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University
Chang Tianle: Founding Editor, Foodthink (Documentary Producer)
– Film Synopsis –
Whose Table, Whose Pasture is an in-depth investigative documentary. Supported by Foodthink’s Lianhe Creative Programme, the director travelled deep into the pastoral areas around Qinghai Lake to document the impact of large volumes of imported frozen beef and mutton entering the local market.
Through visits to frozen meat wholesale markets and cold chain warehouses in Xining, as well as filming local herder households, butcher shops, and finishing farms, the film provides a truthful account of how imported meat, with its low-price advantage, has impacted local beef and mutton. This has directly led to a sharp drop in the purchase prices herders receive for their cattle and sheep, reduced income, difficulty repaying loans, and thin margins and struggling businesses for local meat traders.
The camera goes deep into Qinghai Lake’s imported beef and mutton market, pressing into a brutal reality: in the globalised meat supply chain, who is enjoying the low prices, and who is bearing the cost?
– Director Introduction –
Jiao Xiaofang | Documentary filmmaker and visual anthropology researcher, long focused on local knowledge, ecological ethics, and women’s experiences in western China and coastal Southeast Asia. Her work combines ethnographic observation with poetic expression, focusing on the relationship between people and nature and the emotional landscapes of everyday life. The documentary Whose Table, Whose Pasture (2025) was selected for the 5th World Nomad Film Festival and the 6th China Ethnographic Documentary Film Festival.
Qiong Wu · Dan Zeng | Tibetan documentary maker and community activist, long dedicated to ecological protection and film education in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau region. Previously served as coordinator of the Tibet region project of Village Eyes in Yunnan and as central region representative of the Alxa SEE Sanjiangyuan project. Currently leads the Human–Bear Conflict Project at the Xuejing Ecology Education and Communication Research Centre in Qinghai Province. Over the past decade, he has promoted herder film training and community ecology projects in Yushu, Aba, and other areas, supporting herders to document their own environments and cultures through film. His work spans film, ecology, and public education, dedicated to building understanding and coexistence between people and nature.
– How to Participate –
[Time]
12 June 2026 (Friday), 3:30–5:30 pm
[Location]
- North Reading Room, 10th Floor, Building 8, Chengjun Yuan, West Zone, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University
[Registration]
The event is free. Scan the QR code on the poster to register.
Those from outside Zhejiang University are required to provide their full name and national ID number at registration so that we can assist with registering a campus entry appointment.
*Registration closes at 8 pm on 11 June*
A quick plug 📢
Tonight at 7:30 pm, Foodthink’s Food & Agriculture Mini Film Festival will screen Wang Jue’s Wèn Dào at Mix Island · Sicilian Village. The director will also be present for a post-screening discussion.
Wèn Dào centres on the question, “Who produces our rice?” Through the life trajectories of five rice farmers, the film bears witness to the transformations in production methods, ways of life, and cultural traditions in the rural southwest of China over the past decade. Following the temporal and geographical threads in the film, we can reconsider the relationship between grain, the environment, and the countryside, and how they shape everyone’s life.
For more information about the Food & Agriculture Mini Film Festival, see 🔽
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