Song Yuan-po, who was posted to Shanghai by a real estate company ten years ago, became a vegetarian after his mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2000. But it was very difficult to find a suitable restaurant anywhere in the PRC back then, so Song decided to open his first Zaozishu, whose pronunciation in Chinese is homophonous for the expression "the sooner you start eating vegetarian, the better."
早在十年前被房地產公司派來上海工作的宋淵博，在九八年母親罹患癌症之後開始茹素，然而在當時的大陸，素食餐廳非常難尋，心想既然自己吃得如此不便，他也就在母親過世後，開設第一家「棗子樹」，意思是鼓勵大家「早吃素」。