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Burnt by the Sun

by
March 2005, no. 269

The Retreat of the Elephants: An environmental history of China by Mark Elvin

Yale University Press, $89.95 hb, 595 pp

Burnt by the Sun

by
March 2005, no. 269

The elephant is now a rare beast in China, where the ox and pig reign supreme among quadrupeds. Precisely because elephants are scarce, The Retreat of the Elephants presents readers with an unforgettable metaphor for the environmental history of China. As Chapter Two of the book shows, that history featured a 3000-year struggle for habitat between elephants and humans. The victory of the humans involved a transformation of the landscape through extensive deforestation, which denuded first the vast plains of north China and then the valleys and hills of the south. The elephants were burnt by the sun.

The Retreat of the Elephants: An environmental history of China

The Retreat of the Elephants: An environmental history of China

by Mark Elvin

Yale University Press, $89.95 hb, 595 pp

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