Unit 2 Readings

Readings for Unit 2: FOOD, WATER, LAND

Monday, January 12: Dietary Ecology

Read: Eugene Anderson, "Chinese Foodstuffs Today," chapter 8 in The Food of China

Vaclav Smil, "Nitrogen and Food Production: Proteins for Human Diets," Ambio Vol. 31, No. 2, March 2002.

Vaclav Smil, chapter 3, "Food," in China's Past, China's Future
Georgia S. Guldan, Paradoxes of Plenty: China's Infant- and Child-Feeding Transition in Jing Jun, ed, Feeding China's Little Emperors, 2000.

Consider, in light of these four pieces, and come to class prepared to discuss:

To what extent was the traditional diet described by Anderson ecologically dictated?
As China undergoes its dietary transition, what are likely to be the ecological effects?
As China undergoes its dietary transition, what are likely to be the political-economic effects, both internally and on the entire world food system?

Wednesday, January 14: Agricultural Technology and Production

Robert F. Ash and Richard Louis Edmonds, "China's Land Resources, Environment, and Agricultural Production," in Edmonds, Managing the Chinese Environment
Chapters 2 and 3 of Rosmarin et al., Making Green Development a Choice
Richard Sanders, "Is Ecological Agriculture Sustainable in China," in Terry Cannon, ed., China's Economic Growth: The Impact on Regions, Migration, and the Environment, 2000
You might also want to consult, if you haven't already, the Can China Feed Itself web page.

On the basis of everything you've read so far this week, come to class prepared to discuss the question, "are there limits on China's agricultural economy and population, and if so what are they?"

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