Controversy over the medicinal uses of wild animals in China has erupted around the ethics and efficacy of animal-based drugs, the devastating effect of animal farming on wildlife conservation, and the propensity of these practices to foster zoonotic diseases. In Mao's Bestiary, Liz P. Y. Chee traces the history of the use of medicinal animals in modern China. While animal parts and tissue have been used in Chinese medicine for centuries, Chee demonstrates that the early Communist state expanded and systematized their production and use to compensate for drug shortages, generate foreign investment in high-end animal medicines, and facilitate an ideological shift toward legitimating folk medicines. Among other topics, Chee investigates the craze for chicken blood therapy during the Cultural Revolution, the origins of deer antler farming under Mao and bear bile farming under Deng, and the crucial influence of the Soviet Union and North Korea on Chinese zootherapies. In the process, Chee shows Chinese medicine to be a realm of change rather than a timeless tradition, a hopeful conclusion given current efforts to reform its use of animals.

"“Mao's Bestiary is a brilliant revisionary cultural history, and a pioneering work on animals. Liz P. Y. Chee has written a book that is more than just a historical study; it contributes to current political debates within China as well as globally. This will be a wonderful book to teach, not only in classes on contemporary China, but also on ethnography, history, social theory, environment and sustainability, and science studies.”" - Anthropology in the Meantime: Experimental Ethnography, Theory, and Method for the Twenty-First Cent

"“What a daring endeavor indeed to tackle the question that many have asked with urgency even before Covid-19: Why do Chinese people use parts of wild animals for health benefits? Uncovering the little-known creation of an animal drug industry in Mao’s China, which involved surprising actors from around the globe, Liz P. Y. Chee’s groundbreaking book exemplifies how history at its best can address our deep concern about animals and the troubled world we share with them.”" - Neither Donkey nor Horse: Medicine in the Struggle over China’s Modernity

"“Chee’s richly evidenced work enhances our understanding of the interrelationship between the state, the market and individual actors.... [Mao's Bestiary] will be a most valuable read for historians of medicine and, in particular, for those who are devoted to wildlife and biodiversity conservation and who have the propensity of fostering zoonotic diseases.”" - Social History of Medicine

"“Useful and timely. . . . While the tension between multispecies ethics, public health, and techno-scientific innovation is at the heart of this fascinating and accurate investigation, [Mao’s Bestiary] also raises ontological questions about the borders between humans and nonhumans.”" - Journal of Asian Studies

"“All students, scholars, and practitioners of Chinese medicine need to read this book. . . . Additionally, anyone interested in China, including a general audience, will gain insight into the ways that supposed traditional Chinese practices have often been reconstituted for purposes other than therapy.”" - Asian Ethnology

"“Mao’s Bestiary is the first comprehensive inquiry into the historical position and significance of animal-based drugs in modern Chinese medicine. At a time when the field of modern Chinese history, PRC history in particular, is grappling with limited access to local archives and travel restrictions, this book is an exemplary work that shows how China scholars can produce inspirational work even under unfavourable conditions.”" - History

"“Mao’s Bestiary is a timely contribution to the scholarly exploration of the human-animal relations in the People’s Republic of China. . . . The book is a valuable source of information for policy scholars, wildlife activists, teachers and students in disciplines such as East Asian politics and culture, animal studies and wildlife conservation.”
 " - Animal Studies Journal

"“Shedding light on the pharmaceutical industry in Asia, [Mao’s Bestiary] contributes to an important historiographical transition in the history of medicine and is worth the attention of historians, anthropologists and sociologists interested in this field.”" - The China Quarterly

"“Mistaking the pharmacological exploitation of animals for something intrinsic to Chinese culture reinforces anti-Chinese prejudice and impedes reform. . . . By correcting this impression, Mao’s Bestiary benefits us all: historians, practitioners, activists, policy-makers–and caged bears too.”" - Bulletin of the History of Medicine

"In her remarkable history of the medicalisation of animal-derived components in Chinese medicine over the course of the second part of the twentieth century, Liz Chee constructs a subtle, incisive and often surprising account of pharmaceutical and medical reasoning, while complicating commonly held oppositional narratives that pit ‘Western biomedicine’ against other medical traditions, traditional Chinese medicine among them." - Inner Asia

"The breadth of these sources alone commends this very thorough and fascinating study. I strongly recommend Mao’s Bestiary to Sinologists, medical historians, animal studies scholars, and Chinese medicine practitioners interested in the history of the use of animal bodies in medical contexts. However, this book is very accessible to the non-specialist and thus would be of relevance to anyone who has a general interest in twentieth-century Chinese history and Chinese medicine." - Pacific Affairs

"Mao’s Bestiary is an innovative and exciting look at a completely different side of traditional Chinese medicine far removed from the clinic or the hospital. . . . The book makes an important contribution to animal studies, science and technology studies, and history of medicine in China. Finally, Mao’s Bestiary is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the real anthropogenic ecology of 'wild' animals in China and their viral risks in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic." - Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences

"It provides nothing less than the first in-depth study of the transformation of Chinese medicine(s) into a modern pharmaceutical industry, which alone makes this book a must-read for anyone with a serious interest in Chinese medicine. . . . Mao’s Bestiary is written in an accessible and engaging style making it well suited for teaching undergraduate students, while its originality and analytical strength ensures that it will become a standard reference in scholarship on Chinese medicine and Asian medicines more broadly." - East Asian Science, Technology and Society