The Ecology of War in China
Henan Province, the Yellow River, and Beyond, 1938–1950

This book explores the interplay between war and the environment in Henan Province from 1938–50.

Micah S. Muscolino (Author)

9781107417595, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 May 2016

310 pages, 19 b/w illus. 9 maps 2 tables
23 x 15 x 1.8 cm, 0.47 kg

'This is a rich empirical study of a complex subject matter. It is essential for understanding the environmental impact of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the civil war on North China.' Sravani Biswas, H-War

This book explores the interplay between war and environment in Henan Province, a hotly contested frontline territory that endured massive environmental destruction and human disruption during the conflict between China and Japan during World War II. In a desperate attempt to block Japan's military advance, Chinese Nationalist armies under Chiang Kai-shek broke the Yellow River's dikes in Henan in June 1938, resulting in devastating floods that persisted until after the war's end. Greater catastrophe struck Henan in 1942–3, when famine took some two million lives and displaced millions more. Focusing on these war-induced disasters and their aftermath, this book conceptualizes the ecology of war in terms of energy flows through and between militaries, societies, and environments. Ultimately, Micah Muscolino argues that efforts to procure and exploit nature's energy in various forms shaped the choices of generals, the fates of communities, and the trajectory of environmental change in North China.

Introduction
1. A militarized river: the 1938 Yellow River flood and its aftermath
2. Stories of survival: refugee migration and ecological adaptation
3. Military metabolism and the Henan famine of 1942–3
4. Against the flow: hydraulic instability and ecological exhaustion
5. The ecology of displacement: social and environmental effects of refugee migration
6. The land needs the people, the people need the land: beginnings of postconflict recovery
7. Reconstruction and revolution
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Black & Asian studies [JFSL3], Military history [HBW], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Asian history [HBJF]