![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
Over five decades, environmental crises have spurred the study of environmental history and the field has seen immense growth. Chinese studies of environmental history have also flourished but the field is still young and needs to be developed further. Chinese environmental studies should build upon the first premise of history described in the Marxist theory of the relationship between humans and nature. Life-centered historical thinking must consider humans’ natural biological needs. To build appropriate narrative frameworks, we should learn from international methodologies and disciplines like ecology to explore the interactive and complex relationships between human systems and natural systems. With the goal of investigating Chinese “ways of life,” we must strengthen the study of environmental thought and ecological cultural history and find indigenous conceptual language to refine critical theories, improve scholarship, and highlight Chinese characteristics.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Bao Maohong (包茂宏), “Tangnade Wosite he Meiguo de huanjing shi yanjiu” (Donald Worster and American environmental history studies), Shixue lilun yanjiu (Historical Theory Research), 4 (2003).
2 According to written records, Roderick Nash seems to have first used the term “environmental history” at a 1969 meeting. He later taught courses and published his original definition of the term in a 1972 article. Roderick Nash, “The State of Environmental History,” in The State of American History, edited by Herbert J. Bass (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1970), 249–260; Roderick Nash, “American Environmental History: A New Teaching Frontier,” Pacific Historical Review 41, no. 3 (August 1972): 362–372.
3 Data from the Global Footprint Network shows that since the 1970s, the rate of consumption of natural resources has outstripped the earth’s regenerative capacity. The Global Footprint Network calculates the annual biological capacity of the earth, i.e., the amount of ecological resources the earth can supply divided by the amount humans need multiplied by 365 to estimate normal daily “consumption” (which would not harm the earth’s ecological system). Based on these numbers, it calculates the date every year when demand outstrips output. According to their calculations, 1970 was the year in which consumption became unbalanced; the “Earth overshoot day” that year was December 31. In the following fifty years, the date moved earlier each year as natural resources and ecological functions became stretched thinner and thinner. In 2018, the date when human society used up the year’s budget was July 25 and in 2019 it was July 26; the four months afterwards was an overshoot which would require 1.75 earths to maintain balance. See https://www.footprintnetwork.org/news.
4 Arnold J. Toynbee, Renlei yu dadi muqin: Yi bu xushiti shijie lishi (Mankind and Mother Earth: A narrative history of the world), trans. Xu Bo (徐波) et al. (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 2001), 513.
5 Ibid., 513.
6 Ibid., 523.
7 J. Donald Hughes, Shijie huanjing shi: Renlei zai diqiu shengming zhong de juese zhuanbian (An environmental history of the world: Humankind’s changing role in the community of life), trans. Zhao Changfeng (趙長鳳), Wang Ning (王寧), Zhang Aiping (張愛萍) (Beijing: Dianzi gongye chubanshe, 2014), 4.
8 In the mid-1980s, Hou Wenhui (侯文蕙) was one of the earliest Chinese scholars to introduce American environmental history research to China. See Hou Wenhui, “Meiguo huanjing shi guan de yanbian” (Changes in American views on environmental history), Meiguo yanjiu (American studies) 3 (1987). Zhang Zhilian (張芝聯) mentioned “ecological history” even one year earlier. See Zhang Zhilian, “Feiernan Buluodaier de shixue fangfa” (Fernand Braudel’s historical methods), Lishi yanjiu (Historical research) 2 (1986).
9 Makesi Engesi wenji (Marx and Engels collection) vol. 1 (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 2009), 519.
10 Ibid., 531.
11 Ibid., 161.
12 Ibid., 501.
13 Ibid., 209.
14 See Sean B. Carroll, Wujin zhi xing zui mei: Dongwu jianzao he yanhua de aomi (Endless forms most beautiful: The creation of animals and the secrets of evolution), trans. Wang Han (王晗) (Shanghai: Shanghai kexue jishu chubanshe 2012), 78.
15 This passage is often quoted by historians. According to the “Editor’s notes” this “handbook” deleted the passage because of historical controversies over the original intent and interpretation of this passage. Since the book discusses ideologies, it includes the following passage: “Natural history, also called natural science, will not be discussed here. What we need to study deeply is human history because all ideologies either misinterpret human history or neglect it entirely. Ideology itself is merely an aspect of this history.” Makesi Engesi wenji, vol. 1, 516, 518–519.
16 Ibid., 545.
17 Marx wrote in The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844: “History itself is a real part of natural history, i.e., a real part of the process of living as a human in the natural world. Natural science will hereafter include human science just as human science includes natural science. This will be one science.” Makesi Engesi wenji, vol. 1, 194.
18 Liu Cuirong, “Zhongguo huanjing shi yanjiu chuyi” (Proposal regarding Chinese environmental history research), Nankai xuebao zhexue shehui kexue ban (Journal of Nankai University Philosophy and Social Science edition) 2 (2006).
19 John R. McNeill, “Observation on the nature and culture of environmental history,” History and Theory 42, no. 4 (2003): 5–43.
20 Donald Worster, “Appendix: Doing Environmental History,” in The Ends of the Earth: Perspectives on Modern Environmental History, edited by Donald Worster (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 289–307.
21 Donald Worster, “Transformations of the Earth: Toward an Agroecological Perspective in History,” The Journal of American History 76, no. 4 (1990): 1087–1106.
22 J. Donald Hughes, Shenme she huanjing shi (What is environmental history), trans. Mei Xueqin (梅雪芹) (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2008), 3–6.
23 Gao Guorong (高國榮), Meiguo huanjing shixue yanjiu (American environmental history studies) (Beijing: Zhongguo shehuixue chubanshe, 2014).
24 Roderick Nash, “American Environmental History: A New Teaching Frontier,” Pacific Historical Review 41, no. 3 (1972): 362–372.
25 William McNeill and John McNeill, Renlei zhi wang: Nian kan shijie lishi (The human web: A bird’s-eye view of world history), trans. Wang Jinxin (王晉新) et. al (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2011).
26 These basic questions include the following: What did the living environments look like during different time periods? How do people observe the natural world and develop their knowledge? What methods should we adopt to utilize resources and transform the environment to meet the needs of life? How do we overcome disadvantageous environmental factors to secure health and safety? How do we incorporate natural elements into interpersonal relationships, social organizations, and political systems? How can natural matters enter people’s emotional and spiritual awareness? Wang Lihua et al., “Shanggu shengtai huanjing shi yanjiu yu chuanshi wenxian de liyong” (Ancient ecological environmental history research and the use of archives), Lishi jiaoxue wenti (Questions of historical education) 5 (2007).
27 The “four theories” include life-centered theory, community of life theory, material power foundation theory, and cooperative adaptation theory; the “four systems” refers to the life-supporting system, life-protection system, ecological awareness system, and ecological social organizational system. Wang Lihua, “Qianyi Zhongguo huanjing shixue jiangou” (Discussion of the construction of Chinese environmental history), Lishi yanjiu (Historical research) 1 (2010).
28 Makesi Engesi wenji, vol. 2, 36.
29 Arnold J. Toynbee, Renlei yu dadi muqin: Yi bu xueshi ti shijie lishi, 15.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Wang Lihua
Wang Lihua is a professor at the College of History and Institute of Ecological Civilization, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.