Trees and the Making of Modern China
Date of Award
Spring 2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
East Asian Languages and Literatures
First Advisor
Tsu, Jing
Abstract
This dissertation traces the adaptation and transformation in the concept of environmentalism in modern Chinese literature and culture. Drawing on literature, film, newspapers, archives, and scientific documents, I focus on the period of 1912-2020, in which China began to make its modern shift from an agricultural to an industrial economy, as writers and intellectuals become more invested in partaking in conversationist discourse. Departing from the existing frameworks for approaching modern Chinese literature and culture, this dissertation analyzes how ideas about nature in political ideology, cultural engineering, and China’s modern developmental narrative come together, at pivotal moments throughout the twentieth century, as a powerful platform to articulate the dynamic changes as well as the complexity of China’s environmentalism.
Recommended Citation
Li, Cheng, "Trees and the Making of Modern China" (2022). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 620.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/620