A local news report revealing that high prices for donkey meat were forcing some restaurants in Henan province to switch to horse meat in their soup went viral on Chinese social media a few weeks ago. Reportedly, some soup joints in Zhengzhou had even added the character for “horse” beside “donkey” on their shopfronts, showing that they expect this to be a permanent change. Prices have jumped by as much as 50 percent since last year—now reaching roughly twice the price of beef—after food safety