This book examines the local realities and environmental changes in East Asia, and is one of a few publications in English on the subject. Contributors apply rich historical material, maps and statistical data to reveal the local environmental realities infused by global perspectives. Covering the geographical areas of Japan, North and Northwest China, the Lower Yangzi Delta and Taiwan, and the timeframe spanning the seventh century BC to the present day, the book will be of great interest to anyone studying the history of East Asia, environmental history or environmental studies.

Introduction Part I Thought and Attitude Toward Nature 1. Listening To Bamboo: The Chinese Literati's Attitude and Behavior toward Sounds of the Nature in Pre-Modern Era 2. Livestock and the "Industrious Revolution" In Tokugawa Japan, 1603-1868 Part II Case Studies of Mainland China and Taiwan 3. Water Management and the Legitimization of the Yongle Reign, 1403-1424: An Approach of Political Ecology 4. Media and the Environment in Treaty-Port China: The "Woosung Bar" Controversy in the 1870s 5. Disputes on the Expansion Project of Dahaizi Reservoir in 1950s, Xinjiang, China 6. Going Green From Industrial Dream?: Community-Ngos Cooperation Among Indigenous Communities In Hualien, Taiwan Part III Case Studies Of Japan 7. Pyroclastic Rivers: The Hôei Fuji Eruption (1707) 8. Across The Tama: Bridges and Roads, Rivers and Rocks

Ts'ui-jung Liu is an Adjunct Research Fellow at Academia Sinica, Taiwan.