Cultural ecology and changes in 19th–20th century Jiangnan field landscapes

Abstract

This article analyzes the cultural power of changes in the Jiangnan region’s landscape since the nineteenth century. Historically, there were two main perspectives of evaluating landscapes. One historical perspective was the view of most traditional Chinese scholars and a few Western scholars who valued traditional culture and agriculture and believed in the value of classical landscape and traditional farming techniques. The other perspective was the Western understanding of modernization, which has been dominated by Ferdinand von Richthofen’s ideas of scientific land use and the Soviet model of unifying farm management. The grid planning in the era of collectivization and urbanization in more recent years reflects an oversimplified imitation of the West. This is one reason for the increasing chaos of farming landscapes. The future of rural landscape construction lies in combining traditional pastoral scenery and modern agricultural technology.

Keywords:

• Jiangnan
• landscape history
• land use
• modernization
• agriculture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

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2 Qian Qianyi (錢謙益), Liechao shiji (Poetry anthology), eds. Xu Yimin (許逸民) and Lin Shumin (林淑敏), vol. 9 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2007), 3337.

3 Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault, Limadou Zhongguo zhaji (Matteo Ricci’s notes on China), trans. He Gaoji (何高濟), Wang Zunzhong (王遵仲), and Li Shen (李申), ed. He Zhaowu (何兆武) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 11.

4 Xu Guangqi, “Shu yi” (Art of trees), Nongzheng quanshu (Book on agricultural governance), ed. Shi Shenghan (石聲漢), juan 27, in Zhu Weizheng (朱維錚) and Li Tiangang (李天綱) eds., Xu Guangqi quanji (Complete works of Xu Guangqi), ce 7 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2010), 2560–2561.

5 George Macartney and John Barrow, Majia’erni shituan shi Hua guangan (The Macartney Mission’s observations of China) (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2015), 69, 450.

6 Gao Shiqi (高士奇), “Jiangcun caotang ji” (River village grass shrine record), Yuan zong (Garden collection), eds. Chen Congzhou (陳從周), Jiang Qiting (蔣啟霆), Zhao Houjun (趙厚均) (Shanghai: Tongji daxue chubanshe, 2011), 59.

7 George Leonard Staunton, Ying shi yejian Qianlong jishi (Authentic account of a British embassy to Emperor Qianlong), trans. Ye Fengyi (葉篤義) (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian chubanshe, 1997), 338, 429, 451–457.

8 Aeneas Anderson, Zai Da Qing diguo de hangxing: Yingguo ren yan zhong de Qianlong shengshi (Travels in the Great Qing Empire: The golden age of Qianlong through British eyes), trans. Fei Zhendong (費振東) (Beijing: Dianzi gongye chubanshe, 2015), 182–188.

9 Macartney and Barrow, Majia’erni shituan shi Hua guangan, 422–450.

10 Staunton, Ying shi yejian Qianlong jishi, 451.

11 Qian Zai, Tuo shi zhai shiji (Poetry collection of Tuoshi studio), ed. Ding Xiaoming (丁小明), juan 7, “Niwengcun ju lu bijian jiuju ganshu” (Thoughts on the old poems on the wall of Niweng village); juan 49, “Jiufeng tang, li men” (Jiufeng Hall, bamboo fence); juan 50, “Hehua zicao tian” (Lotus and purple grass fields) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2012), 104, 831, 856.

12 Ferdinand von Richthofen, Lixihuofen Zhongguo lüxing riji (Richthofen’s China travel diary), ed. Ernst Tiessen, trans. Li Yan (李岩) et al. (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2016), 251–252.

13 Ibid., 489.

14 Naitō Konan, Riben lishi yu Riben wenhua (Japan’s history and Japanese culture), trans. Liu Keshen (劉克申) (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2015), 262.

15 Ye Mengzhu (葉夢珠), Yueshi bian (Reading the world collection), ed. Lai Xinxia (來新夏), 6 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2007), 180.

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17 Richthofen, Lixihuofen Zhongguo lüxing riji, 50–51.

18 Jiang Shi, “Fuyu tang shi lu” (Poems from Fuyu Hall), ed. Zuo Pengjun (左鵬軍), juan 8 “Idling in south Songjun city, walkable” (Songjun cheng nandi xiankuang); “Observing the water and work on the way to Yixing” (Yixing dao zhong guan shui you zuo); juan 15, “On the road to Linping” (Linping dao zhong) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2008), 145–146, 154, 298.

19 Richthofen, Lixihuofen Zhongguo lüxing riji, 256.

20 Richthofen, Lixihuofen Zhongguo lüxing riji, 49–50, 257.

21 Marc Bloch, Faguo xiangcun shi (French rural history), trans. Yu Zhongxian (余中先) (Beijing: Shangwu chubanshe, 1997), 263.

22 Ross, Bianhua zhong de Zhongguo ren, 80–81.

23 Minami Manshu¯ tetsudō kabushiki kaisha Shanhai jimusho, Kōso-shō Shōkō-ken nōson jittai chōsa (Jiangsu province Songjiang county rural situation survey), 1940.

24 Thomas Hodgson Liddell, Diguo li ying (China, its marvel and mystery), trans. Lu Jin (陸瑾), Ouyang Shaocun (歐陽少春), ed. Li Guoqing (李國慶) (Beijing: Beijing tushuguan chubanshe, 2005), 54, 70–71; English direct quotes from T. Hodgson Liddell, China, Its Marvel and Mystery (London: George Allen and Sons, 1909), 55, 73.

25 Franklin H. King, Siqian nian nongfu: Zhongguo, Chaoxian he Riben de yongxu nongye (Farmers of forty centuries, or permanent agriculture in China, Korea and Japan), trans. Cheng Cunwang (程存旺) and Shi Yan (石嫣) (Beijing: Dongfang chubanshe, 2011), 87–89.

26 Ibid., 160–188.

27 Ibid., 166–167; English quote from F.H. King, Farmers of Forty Centuries (Madison, WI: 1911), 198.

28 Ibid., 97–100.

29 Xu Qi (徐琪) et al., Zhongguo Taihu diqu shuidao tu (Rice paddy land in the Lake Tai region of China) (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1980), 44.

30 King, Siqian nian nongfu, 198–200.

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32 Chen Hengli and Wang Da (王達) eds., Bu nong shu yanjiu (Supplemental farm study) (Beijing: Nongye chubanshe, 1958), 117–119.

33 Qian Yong, “Shui xue” (Water study), Lü yuan cong hua (Garden walking conversations), ed. Zhang Wei (張偉) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979), 102–103.

34 King, Siqian nian nongfu, 60–61, 100.

35 Zhang Lüxiang, “Bie chu,” Yangyuan xiansheng quanji, 122.

36 William Barclay Parsons, Xishan luori: Yi wei Meiguo gongchengshi zai wan Qing diguo kance tielu jianwen lu (Sun sets in western mountains: An American engineer in the late Qing empire railroad survey record), trans. Yu Jingxian (余靜嫻), ed. Li Guoqing (Beijing: Guojia tushuguan chubanshe, 2011), 162.

37 Arthur Henderson Smith, Zhongguo xiangcun shenghuo (Rural life in China), trans. Wu Qing (午晴) and Tang Jun (唐軍) (Beijing: Shishi chubanshe, 1998), 29–32.

38 John Macgowan, Zhongguo ren de shenghuo fangshi (Chinese life), trans. Qin Chuan’an (秦傳安) (Beijing: Dianzi gongye chubanshe, 2012), 253–261.

39 Macartney and Barrow, Majia’erni shituan shi Hua guangan, 448–449.

40 Georg Hegel, Meixue (Aesthetics), vol. 1, trans. Zhu Guangqian (朱光潛) (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2012), 317.

41 Suzhou zhuanqu dongchun jifei yundong qingkuang (ziliao) (Documents on Suzhou administrative division’s winter and spring fertilizer collection movement), April 27, 1958, Suzhou zhuanqu gongshu fuye ju, Suzhou shi dang’anguan, H37-3-12.

42 Wu xian zhi (Wu county gazetteer), Republican period, juan 5-10-2 shang, “Fengsu yi” (First custom).

43 Jiangsu sheng Suzhou zhuanyuan gongshu nongye ju, Wujiang xian nong lin ju guanyu pingzheng tudi, gailiang turang qingkuang baogao (Report on the Wujiang county agriculture and forestry department’s ground leveling and soil improvement situation), 1959, Suzhou shi nongye ju dang’an, Suzhou shi dang’anguan, H35-3-73.

44 Kunshan xiancheng Bei gongshe Tongxin dadui, “Kunshan xiancheng Bei gongshi Tongxin dadui pojiu lixin, da gao pingzheng ditu, shixian yuantianhua de qingkuang” (Kunshan county-level city North commune Tongxin team destroy the old and establishing the new, ground leveling and field creation situation), November 11, 1959, Suzhou shi nongye ju dang’an, Suzhou dang’anguan, H35-3-73.

45 Songjiang xiancheng Dongxiang weiyuanhui, Yi Lianminshe wei zhongxin fazhan wei jiti nongzhuang de guihua cao’an (Draft on collective farm planning based on the Connected People’s Group), July 6, 1958, Songjiang xian dang’anguan, Huayangqiao xiang dang’an, 37-1-58.

46 Zhejiang sheng turang pucha tudi guihua gongzuo weiyuanhui ed., Zhejiang turang zhi (Zhejiang soil gazetteer) (Hangzhou: Zhejiang renmin chubanshe, 1964), 170.

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Wang Jian’ge

Wang Jian’ge is a professor at the Research Center of Chinese Historical Geography of Fudan University.