Abstract
Throughout the imperial era the Chinese state took an active role in promoting the livelihood of farmers. Here I focus on the diffusion of an iconic wet-rice landscape (figure 10.1) to ask how the fundamental values of governance characteristic of the Chinese state, in conjunction with administrative techniques, relations with commerce, and the geographical scale of the territories under state control, affected the growth of rural economies and the exploitation of key natural resources. I shall concentrate mainly on the period between 1500 and 1800 when China’s economy and population were in more or less steady expansion, thus increasing the pressure on environment and natural resources.
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© 2007 Greg Bankoff and Peter Boomgaard
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Bray, F. (2007). Instructive and Nourishing Landscapes. In: Bankoff, G., Boomgaard, P. (eds) A History of Natural Resources in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230607538_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230607538_11
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