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Abstract
Mark Elvin’s The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China is one of the best comprehensive works on the environmental history of China both at home and abroad, and has deservedly garnered much praise. However, the rationality of the sources it cites and the suitability of their application is quite controversial, chiefly centering on how sources in the category of poetry and literature, which are newly drawing attention, can more effectively play a role in the field of environmental history. One of Elvin’s objectives was to outline the true history of environmental development, drawing upon traditional sources from the classical Chinese canons as well as previous Chinese findings, and with respect to the interpretation of specific environmental issues, he essentially realized this vision. However, that he relied solely on interpretations of poetic and literary sources in elevating microcosmic events to macroscopic constructs seems like a stretch, and errors and misinterpretations arising from substituting psychological facts for historical facts are present as well; the addition of “overreaching” value judgments causes him to unwittingly succumb to the pitfall of the theory of linear aggravation of environmental decline. He is not the sole example of such tendencies, which are also clearly reflected in environmental histories of China written by Western scholars, as represented by Robert B. Marks, Elizabeth C. Economy, and so on, and which are in urgent need of correction. Appropriate sources are the basis for an accurate understanding of environmental issues, and objective interpretation is the premise for obtaining rational solutions. Avoiding existing malpractices, transforming the historical sources in various disciplines, and clarifying the place of the “environment” in the past, present and future are still focal points in current research on the environmental history of China.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004). For the Chinese translation, see: Mark Elvin, Daxiang de tuique: yi bu Zhongguo huanjing shi (The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China), translated by Mei Xueqin et al. (Nanjing: Jiangsu renmin chubanshe, 2014). Referred to below as The Retreat of the Elephants or “Elvin’s work.”
2 Liu Cuirong, “Zhongguo huanjing shi yanjiu chuyi” (Humble Opinions on the Study of the Environmental History of China), Nankai xuebao (Nankai Journal), no. 2 (2006); “Xu” (Preface), in Mark Elvin, Daxiang de tuique: yi bu Zhongguo huanjing shi, 19. In addition, on the basis of his existing research, the same year that the original edition of Elvin’s work was published, Bao Maohong praised it as “a work that none can circumvent, which, to a certain extent, heralds a new direction for research on Chinese history”; “Although it has certain problems, its defects do not outweigh its merits”; “This will be a classic work for a very long period of time in the future” (Bao Maohong, “Jieshi Zhongguo lishi de xin siwei: huanjing shi—pingshu Yi Maoke jiaoshou de xin zhu ‘Xiang zhi tuiyin: Zhongguo huanjing shi’” [New Thinking for the Interpretation of Chinese History: Environmental History—Commentary on Professor Mark Elvin’s new work, The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China], Zhongguo lishi dili luncong [Journal of Chinese Historical Geography], no. 3 (2004). Although Li Yuheng 李聿恆 said that Elvin’s work “is not considered to be an extraordinarily novel work,” and offered criticism and supplementation of certain views in his book review, he also argued that its defects did not outweigh its merits, and that the book “is indeed a masterpiece in understanding Chinese history under the model of interactions between humans and the environment” (Li Yuheng, “Dui Yi Maoke zhuzuo The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China de qianjian” [Humble Opinions on Mark Elvin’s work The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China], Huaiyin shifan xueyuan xuebao [Journal of Huaiyin Teachers College] no. 4 (2012). The American scholar Robert B. Marks, who, alongside Mark Elvin, can be described as the two pillars of research on the environmental history of China, praised Mark Elvin as “a highly talented scholar and an admirable historian” with “enormous influence with respect to Chinese history and the environmental history of China,” and admitted that he had “benefited from him and his knowledge” and “particularly admire[d] the inclusion of many original sources from China in the content cited in his works and papers. These original sources allow us to listen to the voices of people from different eras and places” (Zhang Chengjuan, Zhang Quan, “Huanjing shi de yanjiu ji fansi—Ma Libo [Robert B. Marks] jiaoshou xueshu fangtan lu” [Research and Reflection on Environmental History—Transcript of an Academic Interview with Professor Robert B. Marks], Shixue yuekan [Journal of Historical Science] no. 7 (2017). Furthermore, the translator Mei Xueqin and other scholars such as Zhang Qi 張琪, et cetera have all expressed admiration of Elvin to varying degrees (Zhang Qi and Bao Zhiming, “Zhongguo huanjing shi yanjiu ji qi dui dangdai de xueshu qishi—dui ‘Daxiang de tuique’ ‘Zhongguo huanjing shi’ de bijiao fenxi he yanshen sikao” [Research on the Environmental History of China and Its Contemporary Academic Inspiration—A Comparative Analysis of and Extended Reflections on The Retreat of the Elephants and China: Its Environment and History], Zhongguo dizhi daxue xuebao [Journal of China University of Geosciences] no. 1 (2018). On the whole, the praise has focused on the four areas of the sources for the research in Elvin’s work as well as his research methods, research perspective, and influence on research.
3 Bao Maohong, “Jieshi Zhongguo lishi de xin siwei: huanjing shi—pingshu Yi Maoke jiaoshou de xin zhu ‘Xiang zhi tuiyin: Zhongguo huanjing shi,’” Zhongguo lishi dili luncong no. 3 (2004).
4 “Xu,” in Mark Elvin, Daxiang de tuique: yi bu Zhongguo huanjing shi, 10–2.
5 Chen Quanli, “Zhongguo huanjing shi yanjiu de shiliao wenti—yi ‘Daxiang de tuique’ wei zhongxin” (Source Issues in Research on the Environmental History of China—Centering on The Retreat of the Elephants), Shixue lilun yanjiu (Historiography Bimonthly) no. 3 (2016).
6 Mi Shanjun, “Huanjing bianqian shijiao xia de Zhongguo lishi—‘Zhongguo huanjing shi: cong shiqian dao xiandai’ pinping” (Chinese History from the Perspective of Environmental Change—A Review of China: Its Environment and History), Kunming xueyuan xuebao (Journal of Kunming University) no. 4 (2017).
7 “Xu,” in Mark Elvin, Daxiang de tuique: yi bu Zhongguo huanjing shi, 11.
8 Chen Quanli, “Zhongguo huanjing shi yanjiu de shiliao wenti—yi ‘Daxiang de tuique’ wei zhongxin,” Shixue lilun yanjiu no. 3 (2016).
9 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, xvii, xxv.
10 [Translator’s note: The translations for these works are matched to those used in Elvin’s work, where possible.]
11 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 20, 335. For instance: “In east-central China two thousand years ago, it was still common to cut down a whole tree to make a single coffin” (Elvin, 20); “The geographer Chen Qiaoyi, who has studied the local forest history, regards the range of genera (where identifiable) of trees and mammals listed by Xie as broadly appropriate” (Elvin, 335).
12 Chen Qiaoyi, “Gudai Shaoxing diqu tianran senlin de pohuai ji qi dui nongye de yingxiang” (The Destruction in Ancient Times of the Natural Forests of Shaoxing and Its Impact on Agriculture), Dili xuebao (Acta Geographica Sinica) no. 2 (1965).
13 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 59–64. For example: “A recently excavated grave from the Warring States period used about 100 cubic meters of Machilus, some of it in the form of beams over 9 meters long” (59). In addition, Note 63 to Page 59 mistakenly gives the page number for the citation of Lin’s paper as “63” rather than “163.”
14 Lin Hongrong, “Sichuan gudai senlin de bianqian” (Changes in the Ancient Forests of Sichuan), Nongye kaogu (Agricultural Archaeology) no. 1 (1985); Lin Hongrong, “Lishi shiqi Sichuan senlin de bianqian” (Changes in the Forests of Sichuan During the Historical Period), Nongye kaogu, no. 2 (1985).
15 “Clues are frail and fugitive. Perhaps the most tantalizing is that the Shang-dynasty oracle-bone graph for ‘farming’ appears to show an activity being carried on in the midst of trees” (Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 44).
16 Zhang Juncheng, “Shang Yin lin kao” (A Study of Forests Under the Shang-Yin Dynasty), Nongye kaogu no. 1 (1985).
17 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 31, 94. For instance: “In the world of the early farmers, surrounded by forests, deer could be such a threat to growing grain that tigers were seen as beneficial animals on account of the part they played in keeping the numbers of deer down” (Elvin, 31); sea shells and clam shells were “later used as proto-money” (Elvin, 94).
18 Xu Jinxiong, Zhongguo gudai shehui: Wenzi yu renleixue de toushi (Ancient Chinese Society: From the Perspective of Writing and Anthropology) (Beijing: Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe, 2008), 46–51, 463–6.
19 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 25–6, 56. For instance: “The frequency of serious breaks in the levees [of the Yellow River] fell to one in every fifty years or less” (Elvin, 25); “During the following period of the Five Dynasties, this rose to one in every 3.6 years” (Elvin, 26); “[T]he elders created a system to protect their trees from being overexploited. They left a record of this engraved on a stele” (Elvin, 56).
20 Yuan Qinglin, Zhongguo huanjing baohu shihua (Historical Discussions on the Conservation of Nature in China) (Beijing: Zhongguo huanjing kexue chubanshe, 1990), 30, 72, 90–1, 267.
21 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 14, 46, 89, 92–3. For instance: “Elephants may have been domesticated in the Northeast in Shang times, though the evidence is thin” (Elvin, 14); there were “numerous rituals of pre-Zhou times dedicated to natural phenomena, but nothing to forests” (Elvin, 46); “The technique [of oracle bone divination] was most refined along the east coast” (Elvin, 89); “Since the population of the Shang at the start of the dynasty has been estimated to have been between 4 and 4.5 million, this would not have been an impossible operation” (Elvin, 92–3).
22 Song Zhenhao, Xia Shang shehui shenghuo shi (Social Life Under the Xia and Shang) (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1994), 107, 236–7, 244–6, 400–2, 459–97, 515–22. See also the figures at the back of the book.
23 “Special thanks, too, to Dr Wen Rongsheng, son and literary executor of the late Dr Wen Huanran, and the Chongqing Publishing House for their kind permission to use materials from the latter’s Studies on Changes in Plants and Animals in China during Historical Times (1995) on which the map of ‘The Retreat of the Elephants’ in Chapter 2 is to a great extent based” (Mark Elvin, “Permissions,” The Retreat of the Elephants, xiv).
24 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 9–16, 21–2, 26–34. For instance: “The stages of this long retreat south and west are shown in Map 2, ‘The Retreat of the Elephants’, which is based on the research of the late Wen Huanran” (Elvin, 9); “At times the private sale of the tusks was forbidden—for instance, in the Far South in the late tenth century CE—but there was a black market in them all the same” (Elvin, 15); “The Tang poet-monk Qiji, seeing a friend off on a trip to the Far South, romantically envisaged him ‘Where, among southern-barbarian blooms, lie peacocks hid, / and the rhinoceros rage through stone-strewn wilderness.’ All of which is literary imagining regarding a relatively timid and mostly nocturnal herbivore, and suggests a lack of direct experience of the animal in the wild” (Elvin, 32).
25 Wen Huanran et al., Zhongguo lishi shiqi zhiwu yu dongwu bianqian yanjiu (Studies on Changes in Plants and Animals in China During Historical Times) (Chongqing: Chongqing chubanshe, 1995), 226. See also 29, 48, 81, 119–20, 168–81, 188–98, 220–8.
26 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 30–1. For example: “In the summer, Duke Xuan fished with a net in the deep pools of Si River; Li Ge snapped his net and cast it aside….When the birds and beasts conceived their young, and the fish were growing, the Guardian of the Animals would then ban rabbit nets and bird nets…These were raised for the purpose of replenishing the temples and kitchens….On hunts, the fawns were allowed to grow….Now is when the fish leave to conceive their young; if you do not allow the fish to grow, but rather cast your nets, your greed will be without limit” (Ancient Books Collation Group of Shanghai Normal University, ed., Guoyu [The tales of the various states], vol. 4, Luyu shang [The tale of Lu I] (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1978, 178).
27 For instance: “The king traveled forth with ten hundred chariots, / Chosen soldiers on foot, and then thousand horsemen, / To go hunting—along the shores of the ocean….Dark woods rise to its north. Gigantic their trees: / Machilus and camphor, Pepper, cassia, magnolia, / Wild pear, cork tree, and poplar, / Chestnut, sour pear, date-plum, / Pomelo, and mandarin—spreading sweet fragrance” (Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 50–1).
28 For instance: “Though the soil is good, there is not enough water to use to the full its productive power. It will also be necessary to dig canals to provide water for irrigation….Wu will be conquered” (Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 111). For the Chinese source text, see: Chen Shou, Sanguo zhi (Records of the Three Kingdoms), vol. 28, Wang Guanqiu Zhuge Deng Zhong zhuan (Biographies of Wang, Guanqiu, Zhuge, Deng and Zhong) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1964), 775–6.
29 For instance: “[The southern regions are] places where the bright-positive aethers accumulate, being warm and moist…with land well suited to rice, and having numerous rhinoceroses and elephants” (Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 12). For the Chinese source text, see: He Ning, Huainan zi ji shi (Collected explications of The Book of the Prince of Huainan), vol. 4, Dixing xun (Lessons on terrain) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1998), 352. In addition, “Dixing xun” is mistakenly given as “Zhuixing xun” in Elvin’s work (Mark Elvin, “Notes,” The Retreat of the Elephants, 475).
30 For instance: “In ancient times, when someone was buried, they would swathe him thickly in firewood and inter him in waste land….Resources are squandered and farming damaged” (Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 53). For the Chinese source text, see: Wang Fu, Qianfu lun jian jiaozheng (Annotation and proofreading of Discourses of the Hidden Master), vol. 3, Fuchi (Ostentation and extravagance) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1997), 134.
31 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 102–8. For instance: “One controls the people as one controls a flood. One feeds them as one feeds domestic animals. One uses them as one uses plants and trees” (Elvin, 102). For the Chinese source text, see: Li Xiangfeng, Guanzi jiaozhu (Proofreading and annotation of Master Guan), vol. 7, Qifa (Seven laws) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2004), 111–2.
32 For instance: “Elephants have tusks that are the cause of their death, since they are offered as presents” (Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 14). For the Chinese source text, see: Yang Bojun, Chunqiu zuozhuan zhu (Annotation of the Spring and Autumn Annals and Commentary of Zuo), twenty-fourth year of Duke Xiang (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1995), 1090.
33 For instance: “[T]he nets for snaring animals and birds, and those mounted on long handles for birds, the concealment shelters for those shooting game, and the toxins used to poison animals should not be taken through the nine gates” (Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 30). For the Chinese source text, see: Yang Tianyu, Liji yizhu (Translation and annotation of the Records of Ritual Behavior), “Yueling diliu” (Monthly ordinances VI) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2004), 183.
34 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 46. For example: “The Guardian of the Mountain Forests is in charge of decrees on the mountains and forests, the boundaries for things, and the observation of prohibitions” (Yang Tianyu, Zhouli yizhu (Translation and annotation of Rites of Zhou), Offices of Earth II, Shanyu (Guardian of the Mountain Forests) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2004), 243.
35 For instance: “From Sichuan, and the middle Yangzi, come the rolls of the drums of war. / Downstream, the lower Yangzi is cruelly scarred in its plight. / In previous years, when people were poor, they could sell their sons and daughters. / This year, if a child’s for sale, there’s nowhere to find a buyer” (Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 7). For the Chinese source text, see: Shao Changheng, “Yushu xing” (Procession of elms), in Zhang Yinchang, Qing shi duo (The Qing bell of poesy) (Beiing: Zhonghua shuju, 1984), 444. In addition, the translation in Elvin’s work mistakes pi (鼙, ‘drum carried on horseback’) for sheng (声, ‘sound’; here ‘rolls’), and mistakenly renders chuangwei (瘡痏, ‘sores’) as “scarred.”
36 For instance: “The tide comes in from the east of the sea gate….The silt shoals…vanish again between sunrise and sunset. Even the captains of boats and fishermen are unable to be certain where the deeps and the shallows are” (Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 146). For the Chinese source text, see: Su Shi, Su Dongpo ji (Collected works of Su Dongpo), vol. 9 (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1939), 53.
37 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 326–7. For instance: “Turning in to Xupu—I hesitate, then pause, / Confused and still unclear as to whither I am venturing. / Darkness endlessly extends throughout the depths of forest. / This is where black monkeys, and the gibbons, have their dwellings. / So lofty are the mountain tops that the sun passes hidden, / So filled with shadows the valley depths that squalls of rain are frequent, / Sleet showers so chaotic that no boundaries are visible, / Low clouds so thick amassed they seem to extend the eaves” (Elvin, 327). For the Chinese source text, see: “Shejiang” (Fording the river), in Hong Xingzu, Chuci buzhu (Supplemental annotation of The Compositions of Chu), vol. 4 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2006), 130.
38 J. R. McNeill, “Review,” The Wilson Quarterly 28, no. 2 (Spring 2004), 126.
39 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 42.
40 Chen Quanli, “Zhongguo huanjing shi yanjiu de shiliao wenti—yi ‘Daxiang de tuique’ wei zhongxin,” Shixue lilun yanjiu, 2016, no. 3. Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 324–6. Scripture of Songs: Airs of Wei: Felling Sandalwood (詩經·魏風·伐檀 Shijing: Wei feng: Fa tan): “Chop! Chop! Felling sandalwood, / Set it by the bank of the river, / The waters of the river are clear, with ripples. / If you do not plant and do not reap, / Why would you take three hundred bundles?” Scripture of Songs: Minor Court Hymns: Chopped Tree Trunks (詩經·小雅·伐木 Shijing: Xiaoya: Fa mu): “Chopped tree trunks resound to the axes. / The birds echo back what they’re hearing. / They flee from the deep-hidden valleys / And resort to the towering trees, / Where they call and call—we are here! / And search for the cries of companions” (as quoted in Elvin’s work, 325). For the Chinese source texts, see: Zhou Zhenfu, ed., Shijing yizhu (Translation and annotation of the Scripture of Songs) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2010), 142, 221. Master Zhuang: Inner Chapters: Floating at Ease (莊子: 內篇: 逍遙游 Zhuangzi: Neipian: Xiaoyao you): “Now you, Master, have a great tree, and you worry that it is useless—why do you not plant it in the countryside, where there is naught else, or in a vast expanse of wilderness, that you might pace in idleness by its side, or lie beneath it to sleep at ease? It would not fall to the ax, and there would be nothing to harm it; how is it distressing that it can be of no use?” For the Chinese source text, see: Chen Guying, ed., Zhuangzi jinzhu jinyi (Modern Annotations and Modern Translation of Master Zhuang) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2012), 35. [Translator’s notes: 1) “Felling Sandalwood” is cited in Footnote 15 to page 325 of Elvin’s work, referred to as #112 in B. Karlgren, The Book of Odes: Chinese Text, Transcription, and Translation, Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1950. It is not directly quoted in Elvin’s work. 2) “Chopped Tree Trunks” is quoted on page 325 and cited in Footnote 14 to page 325 as #165 in Karlgren’s Odes. 3) The passage from “Floating at Ease” quoted in this footnote does not appear to be quoted in Elvin’s work. Elvin does quote another of its lines on page 351: “Xu You said: ‘The tapir drinks from the Yellow River, but only enough for a bellyful.’”]
41 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 42–8. Scripture of Songs: Major Court Hymns: August is God (詩經·大雅·皇矣 Shijing: daya: huang yi): “We uprooted the trees then! Lugged trunks aside /—Those that, dead, still stood upright, and those that had toppled. / We pruned back the branches, or flattened entirely / The stands in long lines and the thick-tangled coppices…. / We ripped out oaks whose leaves fall, and those green the year round, / Clearing spacious expanses amid pine and cypress” (as quoted in Elvin’s work, 43). Scripture of Songs: Odes of Zhou: Scything the Grasses (詩經·周頌·載芟 Shijing: Zhousong: Zaishan): “After cutting down trees, and scything the grasses, / Their plowing has scattered the soil into fragments. / [A thousand pairs of farmers weed the land, moving toward the marshes and ditches] (as quoted in Elvin’s work, 43 [New translation, C. Fletcher]). Scripture of Songs: Major Court Hymns: Unbroken (詩經·大雅·綿 Shijing: daya: mian): “He tore out both shedding and evergreen oaks / So that the highways for travel lay open. / Headlong the Gunyi barbarians fled. / Then indeed were they breathless!” (as quoted in Elvin’s work, 43). Scripture of Songs: Odes of Lu: Hidden Temple (詩經·魯頌·閟宮 Shijing: lusong: bigong): “From Mount Culai they brought the pines, / From Mount Xinfu the trunks of cypress, / Cut them according to the measure, / In fathoms and feet marked widths and lengths. / Massively thick the raftered pine, / The chamber imposingly immense” (as quoted in Elvin’s work, 47). Scripture of Songs: Major Court Hymns: Oak-Tree Thickets (詩經·大雅·棫樸 Shijing: daya: yupu): “How densely clustered the oak-tree thickets! / Fuel for the sacrificial rituals! / [Dignified is our king! To the left and right, they bend toward him] (as quoted in Elvin’s work, 47 [New translation, C. Fletcher]). For the Chinese source texts, see Zhou Zhenfu, ed., Shijing yizhu, 383, 485, 376, 505, 377. [Translator’s note: 1) “August is God” is cited in Footnote 5 to page 42 of Elvin’s work, referred to as #241 in Karlgren’s Odes. 2) “Scything the Grasses” is cited in Footnote 7 to page 43 of Elvin’s work, referred to as #290 in Karlgren’s Odes. Only the first two lines in the above passage are quoted in Elvin’s work; the latter two lines are my translation. 3) “Unbroken” is cited in Footnote 8 to page 43 of Elvin’s work, referred to as #237 in Karlgren’s Odes. 4) “Hidden Temple” is cited in Footnote 30 to page 47 of Elvin’s work, referred to as #300 in Karlgren’s Odes. 5) “Oak-Tree Thickets” is cited in Footnote 31 to page 47 of Elvin’s work, referred to as #238 in Karlgren’s Odes. Only the first two lines in the above passage are quoted in Elvin’s work; the latter two lines are my translation.]
42 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 42, 43, 45, 47.
43 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 47.
44 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 42, 46.
45 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 42, 43, 44, 47.
46 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 19. “Hardships of the Road II” (行路難·其二 Xing lu nan: qi er): “The official guardian’s axes have spread through a thousand hills, / At the Works Department’s order hacking rafter-beams and billets. / Of ten trunks cut in the woodlands’ depths, only one gets hauled away. / Ox-teams strain at their traces—till the paired yoke-shafts break…. / Timbers, not yet seasoned or used, left immature to rot; / Proud summits and deep-sunk gorges now—brief hummocks of naked rock” (as quoted in Elvin’s work, 19). For the Chinese source text, see: Liu Zongyuan, Liu Zongyuan ji (Collected works of Liu Zongyuan), vol. 43, Gujin shi (Ancient and modern poetry), Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979, 1240–1. [Translator’s note: In Footnote 1 to page 19 of Elvin’s work, the title of the poem is miswritten as “Xing nan lu.”]
47 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 21.
48 “Coal”: “When, the year before last, rainstorms and snowfalls had blocked off land-based travel, / The people of Peng were afflicted—by their shinbones splitting and cracking…. / In the southern hills, rest, and return to life, await the forests of chestnuts, / Yet iron, stubborn ore from the hills to the north, will be no trouble to smelt” (as quoted in Elvin’s work, 20–1). For the Chinese source text, see Wang Shuizhao, ed., Su Shi xuanji (Selected works of Su Shi) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1988), 118.
49 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 59.
50 The influencing technique of feeling the pulse gives rise to quoting out of context, forced interpretation, and other phenomena in the application of evidence. See Fan-sen Wang, “Xu” (Preface), Gushibian yundong de xingqi: yige sixiang shi de fenxi (The Rise of the Movement for Debates on Ancient History: an Analysis of Intellectual History) (Taipei: Yunchen wenhua shiye gufen youxian gongsi, 1987), 1; Peng Ming Hui, Yigu sixiang yu xiandai Zhongguo shixue de fazhan (Skepticism of Antiquity and the Development of Modern Chinese Historiography) (Taipei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1991), 11.
51 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 11. For instance: “After the sage-rulers Yao and Shun had passed away, the way of the sages fell into decay….As the gardens and hunting enclosures, ponds, lakes, thickets, and swamps became numerous, the birds and the beasts moved in….He drove the tigers, leopards, rhinoceroses, and elephants far away, and the world was greatly delighted” (as quoted in Elvin’s work, with Elvin’s emphasis, 11). For the Chinese source text, see Yang Bojun, ed., Mengzi yizhu (Translation and Annotation of Mencius), vol. 6, Tengwen gong zhangju xia (Duke Wen of Teng, Part I) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1988), 154–5.
52 Chen Quanli, “Zhongguo huanjing shi yanjiu de shiliao wenti—yi ‘Daxiang de tuique’ wei zhongxin,” Shixue lilun yanjiu no. 3 (2016).
53 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 324–31.
54 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 375–412.
55 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 437–53.
56 Chen Quanli, “Zhongguo huanjing shi yanjiu de shiliao wenti—yi ‘Daxiang de tuique’ wei zhongxin,” Shixue lilun yanjiu, 2016, no. 3.
57 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 335.
58 Chen Qiaoyi, “Gudai Shaoxing diqu tianran senlin de pohuai ji qi dui nongye de yingxiang,” Dili xuebao, 1965, no. 2.
59 F. A. Westbrook, “Landscape Description in the Lyric Poetry and ‘Fuh on Dwelling in the Mountains’ of Shieh Ling-yunn” (Ph.D. thesis, Yale University, 1972), 222, quoted in Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 335.
60 Chao Yuanjun, “Xie Lingyun yinren ziran de dili kongjian sixiang” (Thoughts on the Geographical Space Where Xie Lingyun Was in Accord with Nature) (Master’s thesis, Northeast Normal University, 2017). The chief representative of proponents of the “Tupu, Shengzhou” theory is Jin Xiangyin 金向銀, while the chief representative of proponents of the “Dongshan, Shangyu” theory is Sheng Honglang 盛鴻郎.
61 See Zhang Butian, “20 shiji ‘Shanhai jing’ diyu fanwei de taolun” (Discussions of the Geographical Scope of the Classic of Mountains and Seas in the 20th Century), Yiyang shizhuan xuebao (Journal of Yiyang Teachers College) no. 1 (2000).
62 He Youqi, “‘Haijing’ xintan” (A New Exploration of the Classic of Seas), Lishi yanjiu (Historical Research) no. 2 (1985); Fu Yongfa, “Cong Qingqiu guo kan ‘Shanhai jing’ dili yu Dian xi de wenhe” (The Coincidence Between the Geography of the Classic of Mountains and Seas and Western Yunnan, from the Perspective of the State of Qingqiu), Yunnan minzu xueyuan xuebao (Journal of Yunnan Nationalities Institute) no. 4 (1994).
63 Liu Zongdi, “Sihai zhinei: ‘Da huang jing’ diyu kao” (Within the Four Seas: An Examination of the Region in Classic of the Great Wilderness), Wen shi zhe (Literature, History and Philosophy) no. 6 (2018).
64 Zhang Genghua, “‘Yi shi zheng shi’ yu shishi zuoshi de fuzaxing—yi Chen Yinke ‘Yuan Bai shi jianzheng gao’ wei li” (The Complexity of “Using Poetry to Verify History” and the Confirmation of Historical Events—in the Example of Chen Yinke’s Annotated Corroboration of the Poetry of Yuan [Zhen] and Bai [Juyi]), Huadong shifan daxue xuebao (Journal of East China Normal University) no. 5 (2006).
65 See Gao Huaping, “Ye tan Chen Yinke xiansheng ‘yi shi zheng shi, yi shi shuo shi’ de zhixue fangfa—jian yu Wan Shengnan xiansheng shangque” (A Discussion of Mr. Chen Yinke’s Approach to Scholarship ‘Using Poetry to Verify History, and Using Poetry to Discuss Poetry’—and a Discussion with Mr. Wan Shengnan), Huazhong shifan daxue xuebao (Journal of Central China Normal University) no. 6 (1992); Li Hongyan, “Guanyu ‘shi shi hu zheng’—Qian Zhongshu yu Chen Yinke bijiao yanjiu zhi yi” (On ‘Mutual Verification of Poetry and History’—A Comparative Study of Qian Zhongshu and Chen Yinke, Part I), Guizhou daxue xuebao (Journal of Guizhou University) no. 4 (1996); Chen Jianhua, “Cong ‘yi shi zheng shi’ dao ‘yi shi zheng shi’—du Chen Yinke ‘Liu Rushi biezhuan’ zhaji” (From ‘Using Poetry to Verify History’ to ‘Using History to Verify Poetry’—Notes on Reading Chen Yinke’s Supplementary Biography of Liu Rushi), Fudan xuebao (Fudan Journal) no. 6 (2005); Zhang Genghua, “‘Yi shi zheng shi’ yu shishi zuoshi de fuzaxing—yi Chen Yinke ‘Yuan Bai shi jianzheng gao’ wei li,” Huadong shifan daxue xuebao no. 5 (2006); Zhou Jinbiao, “Lun Du Shi ‘shi shi’ shuo yu shi shi hu zheng” (On Du Shi’s Doctrine of “poetic history” and Mutual Verification of Poetry and History), Zhonghua wenhua luntan (Journal of Chinese Culture) no. 1 (2008).
66 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 335.
67 “Xu,” in Mark Elvin, Daxiang de tuique: yi bu Zhongguo huanjing shi, 7–8.
68 Robert B. Marks, China: Its Environment and History (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2012). For the Chinese translation, see Robert B. Marks, Zhongguo huanjing shi: cong shiqian dao xiandai (China: its environment and history), translated by Guan Yongqiang et al., Beijing: Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe, 2015. Referred to below as China: Its Environment and History or “Marks’ work.”
69 “Xu” (Preface), in Robert B. Marks, Zhongguo huanjing shi: cong shiqian dao xiandai, 2. For a comparison of the two books, see also: Zhang Qi and Bao Zhiming, “Zhongguo huanjing shi yanjiu ji qi dui dangdai de xueshu qishi—dui ‘Daxiang de tuique’ ‘Zhongguo huanjing shi’ de bijiao fenxi he yanshen sikao,” Zhongguo dizhi daxue xuebao no. 1 (2018).
70 Robert B. Marks, China: Its Environment and History, 40, 65, 66, 71–2, 90, 95–7, 125, 136, 144, 155, 180, 187–8, 218, 231.
71 Jiang Rong, Lang tuteng (Wolf totem), Wuhan: Changjiang wenyi chubanshe, 2004 [Translator’s note: Jiang Rong is mistakenly referred to as Jian Rong in Marks’ work]; Wen Huanran and He Yeheng, “Zhongguo senlin ziyuan fenbu de lishi gaikuang” (Historical Overview of the Distribution of Forest Resources in China), Ziran ziyuan (Natural Resources) no. 2 (1979) [Translator’s note: Wen Huanran is referred to as Wen Huan-Jan in Marks’ work]; Zhu Kezhen, “Zhongguo jin wu qian nian lai qihou bianqian de chubu yanjiu” (A Preliminary Study of Climatic Change in China Over the Past 5000 Years), Kaogu xuebao (Acta Archaeologica Sinica) no. 1 (1972); Song Zhenhao, “Xia Shang renkou chutan” (A Preliminary Investigation of Population Size During the Xia and Shang Dynasties), Lishi yanjiu no. 4 (1991); Zhang Juncheng, “Shang Yin lin kao” (A Study of Forests Under the Shang-Yin Dynasty), Nongye kaogu no. 1 (1985). Other citations include: Lin Hongrong “Sui Tang Wu Dai senlin shu lue” (The Extent of Forests in the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties Periods), Nongye kaogu, no. 1 (1995) [Translator’s note: Lin Hongrong is referred to as Lin Niangsong in Marks’ work]; Ma Zhongliang et al., ed., Zhongguo senlin de bianqian (Changes to China’s Forests) (Beijing: Zhongguo linye chubanshe, 1997). For the citations of said works, see Robert B. Marks, China: Its Environment and History, 15–6, 20–1, 36, 47, 76, 126, 150, 354.
72 Robert B. Marks, China: Its Environment and History, 124–5, 155. “Observing the Mo Yao Hunt in the Western Mountains of Lian Prefecture on the Eighth Day of the Twelfth Month” (連州臘日觀莫徭獵西山 Lianzhou lari guan Mo Yao lie xishan): “The woods are red, the leaves wholly changed; the plain is black, the grass newly burned” (as quoted in Marks’ work, 124). “Song of the Mo Yao” (莫徭歌 Mo Yao ge): “[The stars dwell at the mouth of the spring]; by sowing in fire they open up the spines of the mountains” [Translator’s note: Only the latter half of this line is quoted in Marks’ work, 124; the first half is my translation]. “Composition on Reclaimed Fields” (畬田作 Yutian zuo): “Where are the good reclaimed fields? They are as silk wrapped around the mountain’s belly….On the terrain arising therefrom, sound lingers within small circles.” [Translator’s note: This passage does not seem to appear in Marks’ work.] For the Chinese source texts, see: Liu Yuxi, Liu Yuxi ji (Collected works of Liu Yuxi) (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1975), 225, 239, 246–7. Another example from Collected Works of Song Mountain is: “In places where river water stagnates, not an inch of grass grows; instead, white saline is generated” (as quoted in Marks’ work, 155).
73 Robert B. Marks, China: Its Environment and History, 66. “After the sage-rulers Yao and Shun had passed away, the way of the sages fell into decay….As the gardens and hunting enclosures, ponds, lakes, thickets, and swamps became numerous, the birds and the beasts moved in….He drove the tigers, leopards, rhinoceroses, and elephants far away, and the world was greatly delighted” (as quoted in Elvin’s work, 11). For the Chinese source text, see Yang Bojun, ed., Mengzi yizhu, vol. 6, Tengwen gong zhangju xia, 154–5. [Translator’s note: Only the last line of this passage (“drove…”) is quoted in Marks’ work. This line is identical to the translation used in Elvin’s work.]
74 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 11.
75 Robert B. Marks, China: Its Environment and History, 10, 48, 66.
76 Elizabeth C. Economy, The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004), 17, 27, 55.
77 Robert B. Marks, China: Its Environment and History, 56.
78 Lan Yong, “Zhongguo huanjing shi yanjiu yu ‘ganshe xiandu chayi’ lilun jiangou” (Research on the environmental history of China and the theoretical construct of “differences in interference limits”), Renwen zazhi (The Journal of Humanities) no. 4 (2019).
79 See Lan Yong, Lishi shiqi xinan jingji kaifa yu shengtai bianqian (Economic development and Ecological Change in Southwest China in Historical Periods) (Kunming: Yunnan jiaoyu chubanshe, 1992); Wang Lihua, ed., Zhongguo lishi shang de huanjing yu shehui (The historical Chinese Environment and Society) (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2007); Wang Zijin, Qin Han shiqi shengtai huanjing yanjiu (Study of the Ecological Environment in the Qin and Han Periods) (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2007); Zhou Qiong, Qingdai Yunnan zhangqi yu shengtai bianqian yanjiu (Study of Miasmas and Ecological Change in Yunnan During the Qing Dynasty) (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2007); Xing Long, ed., Huanjing shi shiye xia de jindai Shanxi shehui (Society in modern Shanxi from the perspective of environmental history), Taiyuan: Shanxi renmin chubanshe, 2007; Wang Jiange, Chuantong shehui moqi huabei de shengtai yu shehui (The Ecology and Society of North China in the Final Stages of Traditional Society) (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2009); Yang Weibing, ed., Ming Qing yilai Yun Gui gaoyuan de huanjing yu shehui (The Environment and Society of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties) (Shanghai: Dongfang chuban zhongxin, 2010); Han Zhaoqing, Huangmo, shuixi, sanjiaozhou: Zhongguo huanjing shi de quyu yanjiu (Deserts, River Systems and Deltas: Regional Studies of the Environmental History of China) (Shanghai: Shanghai kexue jishu wenxian chubanshe, 2010); Robert B. Marks, Tigers, Rice, Silk and Silt: Environment and Economy in Late Imperial South China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998); Wang Lihua, Paihuai zai ren yu ziran zhijian—Zhongguo shengtai huanjing shi tansuo (Wavering Between Humans and Nature: An Exploration of the Ecological Environmental History of China) (Tianjin: Tianjin guji chubanshe, 2012); Wang Xingguang, Zhongguo nongshi yu huanjing shi yanjiu (Study of the Agricultural History and Environmental History of China) (Zhengzhou: Daxiang chubanshe, 2012); Wang Lihua, Ren zhu gongsheng de huanjing yu wenming (The Human-Bamboo Symbiotic Environment and Civilization) (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2013); Wang Jiange, Jiangnan huanjing shi yanjiu (Study of the Environmental History of Jiangnan) (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2016); Zhang Quanming, Liang Song shengtai huanjing bianqian shi (History of Ecological Environmental Change During the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2016); Zhang Junfeng, Quanyu shehui: dui Ming Qing Shanxi huanjing shi de yi zhong jiedu (Society of Springs: An Interpretation of the Environmental History of Shanxi During the Ming and Qing Dynasties) (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2018). See also Li Jinyu, “Zhoudai shengtai huanjing de kaogu fenxi” (An Archaeological Analysis of the Ecological Environment During the Zhou Dynasty), Zhongyuan wenwu (Cultural Relics of Central China) no. 3 (2012); Xia Yan, “Zhuan xiong wei ji: huanjing shi shiye xia de gudai xique xingxiang zai tantao” (From Fiendish to Auspicious: A Reexamination of the Image of the Magpie in Antiquity from the Perspective of Environmental History), Nankai xuebao no. 4 (2013); Zhang Qiang, “Shengtai huanjing dui Xizhou lishi jincheng yingxiang yanjiu” (Study of the Impact of the Ecological Environment on the History of the Western Zhou Dynasty) (PhD dissertation at Zhengzhou University, 2014); Nie Chuanping, “Songdai huanjing shi zhuanti yanjiu” (Monographic Study of the Environmental History of the Song Dynasty) (PhD dissertation at Shanxi Normal University, 2015); Chen Yanfeng, “Yuandai huanjing shi zhuanti yanjiu” (Monographic Study of the Environmental History of the Yuan Dynasty) (PhD dissertation at Shanxi Normal University, 2016); Zhang Quan, “Ming Qing shiqi Shaoxing diqu shui huanjing bianqian yanjiu” (Study of Changes to the Water Environment in the Shaoxing Region During the Ming and Qing Periods) (PhD dissertation at Zhejiang University, 2017); Li Zhengting, “Huanjing shi shiyu xia Yunnan jingyan shengchan yu jingchang senlin shengtai” (Salt Well Production and the Forest Ecology of Well Sites in Yunnan from the Perspective of Environmental History), Qinghai minzu daxue xuebao (Journal of Qinghai Minzu University) no. 4 (2018); Tang Shangshu, “Han Tang jian Luobubo diqu de huanjing yanbian yanjiu” (Study of Environmental Change in the Lop Nur Region During the Han and Tang Periods) (PhD dissertation at Lanzhou University, 2019).
80 See Wang Lihua, “Zhongguo shengtaixue de sixiang kuangjia yu yanjiu lilu” (The Intellectual Framework and Research Logic of Chinese Ecology), Nankai xuebao no. 2 (2006); Wang Lihua, “Qianyi Zhongguo huanjing shixue jiangou” (A Superficial Discussion of the Conceptualization of Chinese Environmental Historiography), Lishi yanjiu no. 1 (2010); Lan Yong, “Dui Zhongguo quyu huanjing shi de jidian renshi” (A Few Understandings of Chinese Regional Environmental History), Lishi yanjiu no. 1 (2010); Zhao Jiuzhou, “Lun huanjing fugu zhuyi” (On environmental revivalism), Poyang hu xuekan (Journal of Poyang Lake) no. 5 (2011); Zhao Jiuzhou, “Zhongguo huanjing shi yanjiu de renshi wuqu yu yingdui fangfa” (Misconceptions in the Understanding of Research on the Environmental History of China and Countermeasures), Xueshu yanjiu (Academic Research) no. 8 (2011); Hou Yongjian, “‘Huanjing pohuai lun’ de shengtai pingyi” (An Ecological Appraisal of the ‘Theory of Environmental Degradation’), Lishi yanjiu no. 4 (2013); Wang Lihua, “Tanxun wu tu wu min de shengming zuji—qiantan Zhongguo huanjing shi de ‘wenti’ yu ‘zhuyi’” (Seeking the Traces of Life of Our Land and People—a Superficial Discussion of ‘Problems’ and ‘Isms’ in the Environmental History of China), Lishi jiaoxue (History Teaching) no. 12 (2015); Liu Xiangyang, “Huanjing shi xushi fanxing yanbian lujing de zhuisu yu fansi” (Tracing of and Reflections on Pathways for the Evolution of Narrative Paradigms in Environmental History), Shilin (Historical Review) no. 2 (2017); Xing Long, “Huanjing shi yu shehui shi” (Environmental history and social history), Shehui shi yanjiu (Studies of Social History) no. 1 (2018).
81 “Xu,” in Robert B. Marks, Zhongguo huanjing shi: cong shiqian dao xiandai, 3; “Yizhe qianyan” (Translator’s foreword), in Robert B. Marks, Zhongguo huanjing shi: cong shiqian dao xiandai, 2.
82 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 43, 25.
83 Mark Elvin, The Retreat of the Elephants, 20.
84 “Xu” (Preface), in Iwasa Shigeru, Huanjing de sixiang—huanjing baohu yu makesi zhuyi de jiehechu (Environmental thought—the point of integration between environmental protection and Marxism), translated by Han Lixin et al. (Beijing: Zhongyang bianyi chubanshe, 1997), 1.
85 Chao Xiaohong, “Wenxian yu huanjing shi yanjiu” (Sources and Research on Environmental History), Lishi yanjiu no. 1 (2010); Wang Lihua, “Shengtai shi de shishi fajue yu shishi panduan” (Fact mining and factual judgments in ecological history), Lishi yanjiu no. 3 (2013); Peter C. Perdue, Wanwu bingzuo: Zhong xifang huanjing shi de qiyuan yu zhanwang (Environmental history: its origins and prospects), translated by Han Zhaoqing (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2018). See also Wu Huan, “Zhongguo huanjing shi wenxian de fenlei wenti chutan” (A preliminary discussion of issues in the categorization of sources for the environmental history of China), Baoshan xueyuan xuebao (Journal of Baoshan University) no. 6 (2014); Nie Xuanhua, “Zhongguo huanjing wenxian tedian tanxi” (Exploration and Analysis of the Characteristics of Sources on the Chinese Environment), Baoshan xueyuan xuebao no. 6 (2014); Wang Tong, “Xianqin wenxian zhong huanjing shi shiliao jiazhi tanxi” (Exploration and Analysis of the Value of Materials on envIronmental History Among Pre-Qin Sources), Baoshan xueyuan xuebao no. 6 (2014); Li Mingkui, “Jin sishi nian lai Zhongguo huanjing shi shiliao yanjiu de huigu yu sikao” (A Review of and Reflections on Research on Sources for the Environmental History of China in the Past Forty Years), Poyang hu xuekan no. 4 (2017).
86 Zou Yilin et al., eds., Zhongguo lishi ziran dili (Historical Natural Geography of China) (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2013), 3–27.
87 Shen Changyun, ed., Zhongguo da tongshi (Comprehensive History of China), bk. 2, Xia Shang Xizhou (Xia, Shang and Western Zhou) (Beijing: Xueyuan chubanshe, 2018), 159–60.
88 Wang Lihua, Ren zhu gongsheng de huanjing yu wenming (The Environment and Civilization of Human-Bamboo Symbiosis) (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2013).
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Fan Jingjing
Fan Jingjing is a postdoctoral fellow at the History Department, Qinghua University. At the time she wrote this essay, she was a doctoral student at the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies at Shandong University.