ASIA 238 - Environmental China: Nature, Culture, and Development

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as ENST 238, GEOG 238, and INTL 238) In recent decades, China has become the world’s largest manufacturing and export nation, the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, a global leader in green technology, and both a key rival and major trading partner of the United States. How did China come to occupy these seemingly contradictory roles, and what do they reveal about its position in the global environment? This course examines China as a vast and diverse land where one of the world’s oldest civilizations continues to evolve. As the most populous nation on earth, China has long adapted to and transformed its environment, developing enduring cultural traditions regarding nature—some reemerging amid rapid modernization. Employing a political-ecological approach, the course investigates the roots of China’s environmental challenges as shaped by historical, cultural, political, economic, and social forces, both internal and external to the country, and by the global movements of socialism and capitalism over the past 150 years. It also explores emerging solutions and the broader lessons China’s experience offers for a more sustainable world. Yu Zhou.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS