Chris Coggins

The Tiger and the Pangolin: Nature, Culture, and Conservation in China

This original and wide-ranging work examines historical perceptions of nature in China and the relationship between insider and outsider, state and village, top-down conservation policy and community autonomy. After an introduction to the history of wildlife conservation and nature reserve management in China, the book places recent tiger conservation efforts in the context of a two-thousand-year gazetteer of tiger attacks - the longest running documentation of human-wildlife encounters for any region in the world. This record offers a unique perspective on the history of the tiger as a dynamic force in the political culture of China. While the tiger has long been identified with political authority, the Chinese pangolin and its eathly magic have exerted a powerful influence in the everyday lives of those working and living in the fields and forests. Today the tiger and the pangolin, government officials and village communities; must work together closely if wildlife habitat conservation programs are to succeed. Extensive fieldwork in the Meihuashan Nature Reserve and other protected areas of western Fujian have led the author to advocate a landscape ecological approach to habitat conservation. By linking economic development to land use practices, he makes a strong case for integrating nature conservation efforts with land tenure and other socio-ecological issues in China and beyond.

THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF GEOPIETY: NATURE CONSERVATION IN TIBETAN COMMUNITIES OF NORTHWEST YUNNAN

Abstract Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (DTAP) marks the southeastern limit of the Tibetan culture region and the abode of Kawakarpo, a principal holy mountain in Tibetan Buddhism. This and other sacred landforms reinforce indigenous territorial identity but are increasingly circumscribed by state and global nature conservation schemes. Transnational NGOs attract global donors and tourists by heralding sacred geography as “stewardship of nature,” but is this representation commensurable with Tibetan geopiety? Village-based research reveals more complex traditions, as well as local re-interpretation (exegesis) of sacred landscapes that can potentially enhance community land tenure, maintain indigenous sacred space, and meet modern conservation goals.

Ferns and Fire: Village Subsistence, Landscape Change, and Nature Conservation in China's Southeast Uplands

Anthropogenic fire has shaped mountain landscapes in southern China since prehistoric times. Early Han settlers adopted periodic burning techniques from non-Han swidden agriculturalists, adapting them to suit their own cultural needs. In the early 1900s, Western observers noted the ubiquity of firing, but its historical role in village subsistence remained enigmatic. Research in western Fujian shows that in high mountain areas fire maintained montane grasslands and wet meadows within a mosaic of broadleaf forests, bamboo, and rice paddies. Meadows were prime grazing areas for cattle and provided bracken fern (Pteridiiim aquilimim) rhizomes, an important source of dietary starch in an area with low rice yields. Wildlife surveys show that grasslands, wet meadows, and other clearings are good habitats for wild ungulates, but widespread burning at lower elevations, where forest cover was sparse, often caused erosion, flooding, and ecological degradation. Following state bans on burning, beginning in the 1950s, biologically impoverished pine monocultures spread rapidly. High elevation grasslands and some wet meadows have been replaced by dense stands of short pines. Local peoples involvement with selective pine forest clearance and the protection of broadleaf and mixed forests could contribute to habitat heterogeneity, improve degraded lands, and strengthen community-based conservation practices. The history of the planet is unintelligible without the history of fire. Stephen J. Pyne, World Fire: The Culture of Fire on Earth

Commentary Response to ‘Harmonious spaces: the influence of Feng Shui on urban form and design’, by Manuela Madeddu and Xiaoqing Zhang

Manuela Madeddu and Xiaoqing Zhang’s analysis of feng shui and the production of space in urban China raises excellent questions and proposes new lines of research on a set of ancient beliefs and practices. Focusing on the habitus of feng shui, Madeddu and Zhang exhort researchers to delve more deeply into the complex sociality of a tradition that intertwines cosmology, sense of place and landscape management. China’s cities are growing and changing at unprecedented rates, and the author wisely offers a tripartite framework differentiating urban feng shui practices that prevail within domestic, commercial and public spaces. Her central query involves the extent to which government regulation promotes the broader social values inherent in feng shui belief, practice and aesthetics. As readers and researchers, we are left with the challenge of identifying and decoding both the forms that such regulations take and the broader social values embodied within feng shui. This makes the author’s provocation both exciting and daunting. Madeddu and Zhang characterize feng shui as: