The past, present, and future of environmental history in contemporary China

Abstract

The development of environmental history in China has experienced several radically different phases. During a long time period after 1949 the research related to environmental history in China was confined to natural sciences while the phenomena of “lacking environmental perspective” in humanity and social science were serious. Since the 1990s, Chinese scholars have made great advances in the research on environmental history, and many new changes have appeared. The most important among them is that environmental history has been becoming an independent field separated from natural sciences and traditional historical geography, and its theoretical system of discipline has taken shape. During the process of constructing the theory of environmental history, Chinese scholars have had a broad and deep discussion on many issues of the field such as its definition, object, theory, principle, method, aim, and significance, focusing on the central theme——“what is environmental history?”. Through the discussion, Chinese scholars have recognized that environmental history has as its particular object, theory, method, and comparatively unique academic aim; thus, it is undoubtedly qualified to be an independent subject and field in history. Furthermore, as an independent field, environmental history applies a method which has typical inter-disciplinary characters, and covers various and comprehensive objects. Thus, all the aspects of the interaction between human beings and natural environment belong to the field of environmental history whose focus is on the continuum between nature and culture.