In Ecological States: Politics of Science and Nature in Urbanizing China, Rutgers geographer Jesse Rodenbiker examines how the Chinese state uses ecology to shape nature, people, and space, as well as how the Chinese people cope with the overbearing government. A beautifully written scholarly monograph, the book is an important addition to the rapidly growing environmental social science literature on contemporary China.
Bookended by an introduction at the front and an epilogue at the end, the monograph has six substantive chapters. Chapter 1 documents the rise of the eco-developmental logic through close readings of official documents and key texts authored by influential Chinese scholar-officials. Chapter 2 turns to examine how the eco-developmental logic mobilizes a specific set of aesthetic orthodoxies, which together shape ecological landscapes in today's China. Chapter 3 focuses on land use changes, critically engaging with the state's notions of “optimization” and “improvement.” Together, these first three...
