The Myth of Desertification at China’s Northwestern Frontier

Abstract

In imperial China, government action to rangeland at the northwestern frontier was for centuries determined by defense and what can be called “turning waste into use.” For the pacification of the region beyond the Great Wall, which frequently suffered from incursions by nomadic tribes, military colonies were established to reclaim land. The empire also set up Horse Pasturage Directorates (Mujian) under the auspices of the Imperial Stud (Taipusi) to ensure a steady provision of horses for military use. In contrast with the spatial perception of nomadic peoples, who valued the vast and open steppe, sedentary Han Chinese abhorred barren land that produced no grain. In their view, rangeland was no more than “wasteland” (huangdi) that needed to be reclaimed and cultivated. The garrisons of the Great Wall contributed to this purpose. Exiles and landless farmers who had fled from war and famine were resettled in these areas with government support. Thus, the garrisons could be strengthened while catering for military self-sufficiency in grain. In contrast to the late Qing era and the early Republican period, Chiang Kai-shek’s government integrated socioeconomic and technical aspects in land development, although the basic format remained the same: agricultural reclamation (Christiansen, 1992: 79). Years of reclamation coupled with population pressure are believed to have led to rangeland degradation with desertification as the ultimate outcome.