Great Northern Wilderness'-style environmentalism
Nature preservation and the legacies of Mao-era land reclamation in China's northeast borderland
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3611267 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Martin T Fromm (0000-0001-9387-8274, Worcester State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1198-1218 |
| Publication date | 2023-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Modern Asian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0026749x22000543 |
| OpenAlex | W4360615961 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 20 |
One of the epic national narratives of modernization and development in China is the story of Beidahuang ('Great Northern Wilderness') in the country's northeast. The term 'Beidahuang' refers originally to state-sponsored campaigns, starting in the 1950s, that involved the enlistment of tens of thousands of People's Liberation Army soldiers, educated youth, and Communist Party cadres. Their task was to transform the vast northeast 'wasteland' into productive farmland that would feed the nation while securing the nation's borders with Russia. This article examines the significance of Beidahuang as a feature of the environmental discourse in China's northeast borderlands, focusing on the first decade of the twenty-first century when the Chinese state was establishing more systematic measures for addressing environmental concerns. In the context of the northeast borderland, the massive deforestation that resulted from the socialist campaigns to transform 'wasteland' into productive farmland has left a controversial legacy for regional elites grappling with the Party leadership's turn towards environmental conservation as an emerging political priority. This article suggests that the ongoing importance of the 'Great Northern Wilderness' in the Chinese cultural imagination has shaped the ways in which regional elites frame environmental issues in relation to economic development, nationalism, and border relations with Russia
Archaeology · China · Communism · Context (archaeology · Environmentalism · Geography · Legitimacy · Modernization theory · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · State (computer science · Wilderness · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
A Modernity Set to a Pre-Modern Tune
Borderland Memories
“We’re NotthatKind of Developing Country”
Across Forest, Steppe, and Mountain
Rethinking China's Provinces
Banished to the Great Northern Wilderness
Mao's War against Nature
The People vs. Pollution
Urbanization in remote areas
Women’s Same-Sex Love in Two Fictional Memoirs of the Chinese Cultural Revolution
Green Politics in China
Seeing Like a State
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |