Afforestation: A Facet of the Changing Landscape of Mainland China

Abstract

Afforestation: A Facet of the Changing Landscape of Mainland China Magdalen Woo* FORESTS cover only about 10 percent of China's total area, a large part of the country having been deforested over the centuries to provide for lumber and fuel needs and space for agriculture. With the exception of the extensive coniferous forests in Manchuria, large expanses of relatively undisturbed forests are found only in the less accessible parts of China: Tsinling Shan, western Szechwan, and remote regions in the southern provinces of Yunnan, Kwangsi, Kwangtung, Kweichow , and Kiangsi.1 Wood is needed for fuel and various constructional purposes . The Chinese anticipated an average annual industrial timber requirement of 150 million cubic meters for the period 1960 to 1990, at which date their timber resources will be depleted if not replenished.2 China has definite need for tree plant- * Miss Woo is a graduate student in Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles 90024. Appreciation is expressed to Professors Joseph E. Spencer, Christopher L. Salter, and Jonathan D. Sauer for their critical reading of the master's thesis which forms the nucleus of this article. 1 Yi-fu Tuan, China (Chicago: Aldine, 1969), p. 32. 2 S. D. Richardson, Forestry in Communist China (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1966), p. 14. In comparison, the United States average annual timber consumption was about 562 million cubic meters for the period 1950 to 1970, according to the Statistical Abstract of the United States (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1972), pp. 630-632. 113 114ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC COAST GEOGRAPHERS ing, which is not only an inexpensive way to beautify the landscape , but also alleviates the harsh effects of soil erosion and windstorms. And, like other Chinese land modification projects, afforestation is an outlet for surplus labor, providing a common goal toward which the masses work. Chinese newspapers and official reports use the phrase "the greening campaign" for their multipurpose tree-planting programs , ranging in scale from an individual planting a few shrubs around his house to hundreds of thousands of people involved in a massive shelterbelt planting project. All such activities are included in the general term "afforestation" to be used here. Pre-Communist Situation Forestry in the pre-Communist period is not totally a history of destruction, as the present government often claims. Roadside planting was practised as early as 1000 B.C.3 Around the third century B.C., there were officials whose duties were concerned with forest conservation.4 About 200 B.C., Ch'in Shihhuang -ti, the first emperor of China, constructed miles of highways lined with trees/ The T'ang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) for religious and conservational reasons enacted laws to control forest fires and preserve certain forests.6 However, during the Sung Dynasty (around 1000 A.D.) the industrial and household fuel demand for wood and charcoal had become too great and coal was increasingly used as a substitute.7 By then, deforestation had already led to widespread erosion. Expanding mountain cultivation for over a century had caused so much damage that laws were passed in the early 1800's to stop the granting of leases to tenant maize farmers in the lower Yangtze provinces and to decree that mountain slopes be used for the 3 Richardson, p. 151. 4 Tuan, p. 34. 5 Richardson, p. 151. " E. H. Schäfer, "The Conservation of Nature under the T'ang Dynasty," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, V, Part III (December 1962), pp. 279-308. 7 Tuan, p. 39. YEARBOOK · VOLUME 36 · 1974115 planting of tea or China-fir.8 In the same century, under German supervision, forests were planted north of Tsingtao, in Shantung ." Although its programs failed because of insufficient control of the country and lack of experience in afforestation, the Kuomintang government (1911-1949) set the stage for a modern forestry movement: forestry training and research were carried out,10 Arbor Day was instituted, and the value of trees was taught in some schools.11 In addition to these mostly nominal government encouragements, people planted trees on their own initiative for both practical and esthetic purposes. Bonsai and the cultivation of tree groves around temples, graveyards , palaces, and memorial...