Sewing the Forest like a state: Forest Management, Wildlife Conservation, and Center-Periphery Relations in Northeast China, 1949 – 1965

My research aims to counter the prevalent premise that Mao-era China (1945-1976) was devoid of environmental consciousness or concern with environmental protection, and places Chinese policy in the context of the international development of environmental consciousness during that time. It will show the ways in which early Mao-Era Chinese scientists actively participated in and were influenced by the global discussion of pollution, extinction, natural conservation, and biodiversity. It also traces incipient state-initiated conversation policies in the early 1960s. I will explore the ways in which center- periphery tensions and the role of local indigenous people reflected and altered state-initiated conversation policy, which led to a devastating loss of biodiversity in Heilongjiang province.