HIS 295-01 - Special Topic: Kungfu and Pandas: Chinese Environmental History

4 credits (Fall)

Pandas might not be able to fight back with martial arts (Kungfu), but humans, with sustained effort (Kungfu), might just be able to save them all. The human toll, political challenges, and global impacts created by environmental degradation in contemporary China have attracted widespread attention. But because most discussions of China’s environmental problems attribute them to the country’s post-1979 economic growth, they tend to overlook processes with deep roots in China’s past. To gain a fuller understanding of China’s environmental dilemmas, this class investigates key topics in contemporary as well as pre-modern Chinese environmental history.

Prerequisite: HIS 100 with grade S, C, or better, or second year standing.
Instructor: Luo