Overview

I study the environmental history of China. I am particularly interested in the long term transformation of the natural ecosystems of the Yellow and Yangzi river valleys into human ecosystems, including farms, tree plantations and fish ponds. China's lowlands are now home to hundreds of millions of people, so the first step in understanding their environmental history is reconstructing their long-lost vegetation and wildlife. The next step is to understand how human societies came to dominate these regions, a process that began with the domestication of plants and animals, and continued with the growth of states and empires. As a way of exploring these issues from another angle, I have studied the history of pigs, cattle, rhinoceroses, and soybeans. I am the author of The King's Harvest: A Political Ecology of China from the First Farmers to the First Empire, and other works.

Brown Affiliations

• History
• Institute at Brown for Environment and Society

Research Areas