This deeply informed and clearly written text provides a comprehensive history of China from prehistory to the present. Now updated to include recent political events and scientific research, the book focuses on the interaction of humans and their environment, tracing changes in the physical and cultural world that is home to a fifth of humankind.

Robert B. Marks wears many hats, only one of which is a Stetson - he is a writer, editor, researcher, publisher, independent historian, and teacher. He has degrees in Mediaeval Studies, English Literature, and War Studies. He is the author of Diablo: Demonsbane, The EverQuest Companion, Garwulf's Corner, An Odyssey into Video Games and Pop Culture, and co-author of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Agora. In his spare time, he has done everything from make mead to historical swordfighting to rockhounding.He lives in the area of Kingston, Ontario, with his wife and two children.

List of Illustrations
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction: Problems and Perspectives
Chapter 2: China's Natural Environment and Early Human Settlement to 1000 BCE
Chapter 3: States, Wars, and Farms: Environmental Change in Ancient and Early Imperial China, 1000 BCE-300 CE
Chapter 4: Deforesting the North and Colonizing the South in the Middle Imperial Period, 300-1300 CE
Chapter 5: Empire and Environment: China's Borderlands, Islands, and Inner Peripheries in the Late Imperial Period, 1300-1800 CE
Chapter 6: Environmental Degradation in Modern China, 1800-1949
Chapter 7: "Controlling" Nature in the People's Republic of China, 1949-Present
Chapter 8: Conclusion: China and Its Environment in World Historical Perspective
Select Bibliography
Index