Historians customarily treat animals as instrumental figures whose significance derives from their roles as tools, symbols, pets, property, pests, or food for humans. Steering clear of the dreaded labels of anthropomorphism or sentimentality, this analytical approach yields a “just-the-facts” account of human-nonhuman relationships. Many of the contributors to this volume, edited by Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer, adopt this perspective, offering insights on changes over several millennia in human beliefs and practices involving animals. If we understand “Chinese history” to mean the history of Homo sapiens in the geographic entity called China, this anthropocentric approach is appropriate.
It is increasingly clear, however, that many animals are sentient, social, actors capable of pleasure, pain, fear, contentment, loneliness, boredom, and excitement. When historians overlook this mental complexity, they risk a distorted view of the past that reinforces hierarchies of dominance and exploitation by effacing the suffering and delight of nonhuman...
