Ecological States

Front matter

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Part II

Foreword by Albert L. Park Acknowledgments

Introduction: Ecological States

ECOLOGY AND STATE POWER 1. Making Ecology Developmental 2. Botany, Beauty, Purification

ECOLOGY AND SOCIAL TRAJECTORIES 4. Ecological Migrations, Volumetric Aspirations 5. Rural Redux

6. Infrastructural Diffusion Epilogue: Global Ecological Futures

Appendix: Research Methods Notes

Index xi

195 201 219 239

Foreword

In the face of climate change and environmental crises in the twenty-first century, “ecology” has become a popular stand-in for laying out a new pathway for sustainable living. Ecology, as a scientific term, focuses on the relationship between living organisms, and as such, it has been deployed as a tool to rethink the ways humans should approach and treat nature. Governments talk about ecology as a panacea for national and global environmental issues—something to reverse the destructive pathways of modern civilization by promoting environmental protection and a more harmonious relationship with nature. Since 2012, ecology has figured prominently in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) campaign “to build a new ecological civilization.” This campaign has been a top-down drive to reconstruct landscapes, built environments, and people’s habits and culture in the pursuit of developing a more green society. Green development for ecological civilization has been imagined and articulated by the CCP as a vehicle for overcoming environmental degradation without compromising or sacrificing material prosperity for the citizens of China, but it has given way to dispossession, displacement, and rupture in both human and nonhuman worlds.

In Ecological States, Jesse Rodenbiker points out that the pursuit of ecological civilization has been a way to construct right relationships with nature. In this quest for building a new relationship with nature, who gets to define “right” relationships? That is, who has the power to determine the definition of ecology, how that definition plays out between humans and nonhumans, and the appearance and shape of ecological civilization? Ecological States carefully interrogates these questions. In so doing, it becomes a platform to shine light on the politicization of the process to build an ecological civilization in China. It draws attention to the ways in which the Chinese state has turned ecological civilization into a vehicle for governing, exercising and reinforcing state authority in people's daily lives through techno-scientific knowledge and practices. As such, Ecological States powerfully reminds readers that there is nothing “depoliticized” in ecology and that building an ecological civilization is far from a simple neutral process to save the environment.

Any top-down, state-led campaign is not a monolithic process in which people are simply bystanders. Ecological States makes this quite clear by carefully laying out how the CCP’s policies have shaped and influenced the lives of its citizens. Through ethnographic research, it highlights how people on the ground x FOREWORD have navigated these policies and demonstrates the indeterminacy of any policy regardless of the power of the state. In studying how ecological civilization as a state policy was formed and the impact this has had on the public, Ecological States is a valuable tool to historically and materially ground the meaning of ecology and its connection to state power. It makes visible the dynamics and infrastructure of authority behind drives to build ecological civilizations in order to show that it is never, and will never be, a simple process to protect the environment without domination and control.

—Albert L. Park

Acknowledgments

Making a book is a collective endeavor. My debts and gratitude for all involved in the making of this one run deep. First and foremost, I thank the people of China for sharing their insights and experiences with me. Without the generosity of those who opened doors to their homes, government offices, and research facilities, this project would not have materialized. From environmental scientists, government officials, and urban planners to everyday citizens and ecological migrants, all who participated in this project have my utmost gratitude.

Along the way, I have been fortunate to have some of the best colleagues one could wish for. At University of California, Berkeley, where this project began, mentors and colleagues provided inspiration and support. You-tien Hsing has always been a model of intellectual rigor for me. She fostered my work in geography along with generous support from Jake Kosek, Nancy Peluso, and Michael Watts. While at UC Berkeley, I benefited from writing groups and workshops, including those organized through the Center for Chinese Studies, Global Metropolitan Studies, Left Coast Political Ecology, and the Institute of East Asian Studies. I appreciate support from UC Berkeley colleagues including Alexander Arroyo, Teresa Caldeira, Phillip Campanile, Sharad Chari, Ying-fen Chen, Renee Elias, Greg Fayard, Thomas Gold, Paul Groth, Gillian Hart, Camilla Hawthorne, Adam Jadhav, Laurel Larsen, Chris Lesser, Peiting Li, Kan Liu, Yan Long, Juliet Lu, Annie Malcolm, Bridget Martin, Jeff Martin, Tim McLellan, Chris Mizes, Kevin O’Brien, Meredith Palmer, Will Payne, Nicole Rosner, Lana Salman, Ettore Santi, Kristin Sangren, Nathan Sayre, Tobias Smith, David Thompson, Alessandro Tiberio, Erin Torkelson, Shu-wei Tsai, Mollie Van Gordon, Alex Werth, Jenny Zhang, and Leonora Zoninsein, many of whom provided feedback on chapters or otherwise fueled intellectual conversations. Adam Liebman, Kristen Looney, Jean Oi, Lisa Rofel, and Tomo Sugimoto provided helpful comments and questions on chapters in progress. Geospatial librarian, Susan Powell, and Chinese collection librarian, Jianye He, helped locate archival material through means only they know. Before I arrived in Berkeley, Ina Asim, Daniel Buck, Bryna Goodman, Lionel Jensen, John Kronen, and Yizhao Yang provided guidance and encouragement.

Support for conducting fieldwork in China and concentrated writing time were instrumental to this project. At Sichuan University Department of Land Resource Management and School of Public Administration, Liu Runqiu xi xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS provided key support, as did Yu Chao, Cao Qian, and Dong Huan. For their support, I thank Hu Zhiding formerly of Yunnan Normal University School of Geography and Tourism, Yang Shuo at the Yunnan Institute of Environmental Science, Peter Edward Mortimer at the Kunming Institute of Botany, and colleagues at Tsinghua Urban Planning and Design Institute. Du Yiran assisted with transcribing interviews. Numerous institutions provided indispensable grant and fellowship support for fieldwork, including the Social Science Research Council, Fulbright-Hays Program, Confucius China Studies Program, as well as UC Berkeley’s Center for Chinese Studies and Institute of International Studies. A grant from the Chiang-Ching Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange supported the early writing stage. A Postdoctoral Research Fellowship with the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at Cornell University provided time and resources for further developing the manuscript. The Institute for Chinese Language and Culture at Renmin University supported the illustration program and Open Access publication. Portions of the book previously appeared in research articles with the Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Geoforum, and International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. I am grateful to the managing editors of these journals Kendra Strauss, Harvey Neo, and Fulong Wu, as well as anonymous reviewers, for their feedback. The American Council of Learned Societies and Henry Luce Foundation Program in China Studies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and Princeton University’s Paul and Marcia Wythes Center on Contemporary China provided fellowship support for the completion of the book manuscript.

Over the years, I have presented parts of this book at conferences, universities, and research centers. I am grateful to conference participants at annual meetings of the American Association of Geographers, Association of Asian Studies, Dimensions of Political Ecology, International Association of China Planning, Nordic Geographers Meeting, and the Royal Geographical Society- Institute of British Geographers. The arguments presented here benefited from critical and encouraging audiences at Barnard College and Columbia University (Architecture and Urban Studies), Chulalongkorn University (Cultural Studies), Cornell University (Natural Resources and the Environment), Guangzhou University (Geographical Sciences), Hohai University (National Centre for Resettlement), National University of Singapore (Geography), National University of Taiwan (Geography), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Geography), Princeton University (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public and International Affairs), Rutgers University (Geography and Human Ecology), Sichuan University (Public Administration and Land Resource Management), South China Normal University (Geography), Southwest Forestry University (Geography and Ecotourism), Stanford University (Shorenstein Asia-Pacific

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii

Research Center), State University of New York at Buffalo (Environment and Sustainability), University College London (Bartlett School of Planning), University of Pittsburgh (Institute for Chinese Studies), and University of Sydney (China Studies Centre).

I found vibrant intellectual communities at Cornell University, Princeton University, and Rutgers University. Yan Bennett, Raymond Craib, Priscilla Ferreira, Nate Gabriel, Aaron Glasserman, Jenny Goldstein, Qian He, Junming Huang, Qing Huang, David Hughes, Mazen Labban, Preetha Mani, Pamela McElwee, Robin Leichenko, Melanie McDermott, Paul O’Keefe, Victoria Ramenzoni, Asa Rennermalm, Kevon Rhiney, Louisa Schein, Laura Schneider, Mi Shih, Kevin St. Martin, Julia Teebken, David Wilcove, Willie Wright, Yu Xie, and Jerry Zee have been gracious and convivial interlocutors. I thank cartographer Mike Siegel for producing the maps and figures for the book. My deep appreciation goes to Yue Du, Clifford Kraft, D. Asher Ghertner, Paul Nadasdy, Wendy Wolford, Emily Yeh, and John Zinda, who provided critical feedback on the full manuscript during a book workshop at Cornell University.

Cornell University Press Environments of East Asia series editors Albert Park and Ann Sherif believed in this project from the beginning. They provided enthusiastic support and valuable feedback. Editor Emily Andrew saw the importance of the work and welcomed the manuscript to the press. Editor Alexis Siemon shepherded the book through production alongside Karen Laun. Scott Levine designed the cover illustration. Special thanks go to these editors and the staff at Cornell University Press, as well as Anna Ahlers and Tim Oakes who provided incisive comments on the manuscript.

Heartfelt acknowledgements are due for my family. My parents, Harold and Bonnie, offered unyielding moral support. Jake, Jordan, and Josh provided fraternal camaraderie and frequent reminders of other meaningful activities. Rain interrupted writing whenever she pleased with dog kisses.

My daughter Akira grew and changed alongside this project. She accompanied her single father for long-term fieldwork abroad—no easy task. Not only did she learn a new language during kindergarten and first grade in China, but she proved to be an indispensable research partner. Her presence kept me grounded. Her strength and creativity continue to inspire me. I dedicate this work to her, with love.

Finally, for support in all matters, from the intellectual to the mundane, I thank Andrea Marston. During fieldwork, her visits from antipodes were sources of renewal. During writing, she volunteered countless hours to read drafts, discuss the ideas that fill these pages, and offer encouragement. I am grateful for her brilliance, support, and enduring love without which this book would not have come to fruition.