王的莊稼: 從農業發展到中國第一個王朝的政治生態學

Yale Agrarian Studies Series

by Brian Lander, 蔡耀緯 (Translator)

榮獲美國歷史學會詹姆斯‧亨利‧布雷斯特德獎（James Henry Breasted Prize）

第一部西方科學視角的早期中國環境史專書


國在山河破！自然生態對人類發出的深沉吶喊，

重新思索「農業」是否為人類生存最好的選擇？


人類從狩獵採集到農耕養殖，是自然演進？或人為操弄？

人類是眾多動物中的區區一種，竟發展為支配所有物種？

本書從早期中國的環境生態著手，探究地理環境、國家戰爭、社會制度，王權如何讓多元生態系轉為單一生態系？如何讓「以農立國」的概念深植人心？


農業的發展帶來政治權力的拓展？

勞動力增加促進國家集權的穩定？


本書跨足歷史、考古、環境等學科，透過發出在「農業主導中國前，中國的自然生態為何」的哉問，視角從「中國傳統農業史觀」轉向「政治是否重構環境生態」，先秦至秦朝的歷史對於理解歷朝以至現代在改造環境上的運作，有著重要的意義。早期中國從仰韶文化開始，到龍山文化、再到商、周時期，作者討論原本豐富多樣的生態系統，如何在人類社會的介入之下，轉變成單一的農耕體系。在這個過程中，王權透過馴化的動植物裡內含的能量，獲得足以支撐政治和國家運作的勞動力和資源。人類是如何建立自己的生態系統？權力團體又是如何透過改造自然環境不斷汲取資源與勞動力，從而興起並逐步壯大？

本書尤其著重秦國從邊陲小國到成為中國第一個王朝的歷程，綜合大量最新的出土文獻與科學研究，佐證國家的形成需仰賴一個能管理並擴大農業生態系統的複雜政治體系，才得以成為可能。

然，經過數千年的墾殖、掠奪，當今世界甚至化分為多個武裝敵對國家，環境與資源益發被破壞，難以建立永續發展。作者抱持對當代環境的關懷，從歷史探討人類如何轉化自身環境，進而說明政治問題與環境問題是密不可分的，這是全世界需共同反思如何改善的關鍵問題。

Genres: China, History, Environment, Nonfiction, Ecology, Agriculture, Politics

368 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2021

About the author

Brian Lander is assistant professor of history at Brown University and a fellow of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.

Reviews

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

An accessible and well written overview. The book covers the prehistoric period up to the end of the Qin empire with some hints at the implications for the Han empire and China itself as a polity.

Whilst the book has a focus on the ecological impact of 'civilisation' on the environment, it provides enough of an overview of key developments that it reads as a history of civilisation itself with a focus on the prehistoric era, looking at up to date archaeological evidence and providing interpretations. I enjoyed how the book did highlight where the evidence was interpreted to allow the reader to look into more depth if they sought to.

The book is tightly written and engaging, even without significant familiarity of the eras in question, and requiring little previous reading. Most of all, Lander provides the kind of synthesis and cohesion in narrative that binds the book into a greater whole than one might expect for this kind of book.

Overall, I would recommend this book whether you are interested in China or not, because the answers it raises about the nature of human society is itself fascinating.

[Hadrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Environmental history of pre-Imperial and early Imperial China, focusing on the natural landscape as it existed (river flows, fauna, edible plants, etc.). Subsequent chapters on the Qin State (~9th century BCE to the late 200s BCE) focus on how it managed agricultural policy, first by gathering information on granaries and warehouses, and then distributing information to local officials on maintaining and expanding the harvest. While the Qin was known for its massive projects such as pyramid building and terracotta armies, much of its attention was instead focused on one matter only - expanding agricultural productivity, which in turn gave it a resource base to survive and expand against its neighbors. To riff off of Charles Tilly, the State made grain, and grain made the State.

Fascinating study of local agricultural and animal history as well as a close reading of older sources such as the 诗经.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lander uses a broad multidisciplinary evidence base to outline how states and societies have utterly changed the environmental makeup of the earth. Early China serves as the scope of study here. Aided by a continuous string of succeeding states from first farmers to first empire, China clearly tells the story of a remaking of the world into a productive resource for exploitation.The evidence here is broad, from well-connected archaeological excavations to extremely diverse and often neurotic bureaucratic records. It makes for a compelling read that gives contemporary lessons.

[Naya]

Apparently nobody in the world of academia uses Goodreads to log their books lol

[Major Kusanagi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Environmental history of early China from the beginnings of agriculture to the fall of the Qin Dynasty in 207 BCE, incorporating archaeological data as well as documentary references. Lander asserts that the growth of early dynasties was dependent on their ability to make the most efficient use of monocropping, the construction of dams and irrigation - a built environment - and how dynasties were able to first control the Yellow River basin and eventually the rest of what would be known today as China.