Grassland management and views of nature in China since 1949: regional policies and local changes in Uxin Ju, inner Mongolia

Abstract

This paper surveys grassland management in China during the socialist period that began in 1949, examining state policies and local practices as well as views of nature underlying both. The case study is set in Uxin Ju, a Mongol-dominated community in western Inner Mongolia that enjoyed a national reputation in the 1960s for its enthusiasm in the campaign to transform its sandy land. This paper adopts a historical–cultural perspective. The grassland is a historical category whose formulation by the state has changed with the political–economic ideologies of the regime. At the same time, local views of the grassland have also changed, which facilitated the adoption of aggressive grassland practices. By examining grassland management and local change as a cultural process, this paper seeks to understand a dimension of grassland change that has not attracted much study in China. In several ways this paper contributes to the study of environmental history in socialist China. First, it adds to a complex appraisal of regional environmental change during the Mao era by demonstrating both grassland improvement and degradation in Uxin Ju. Second, this paper locates the agency of the local people in both predictable and surprising ways, both in resistance to and appropriation of state policies. Third, by covering the entire socialist period from 1949, this paper lends insights into the understanding of continuities and breaks in grassland management between the Mao (1949–1976) and post-Mao (1976–present) eras.