Richard Louis Edmonds – författare

This book testifies to the accomplishments of Republican studies during the 1980s and early 1990s. Reviewing many aspects of contemporary research, it covers the transition from the late Qing dynasty to the Republic; agricultural development from the mid-1890s to 1937; the political aspects of twentieth century Chinese urban history; the problems of capacity building for Republican era governments; political party organization, finance, and military matters; Shanghai's modernization process; the politics of the Kuomintang during the Nanjing decade and its relationship with fascism; and Republican-era diplomacy.

In the coming decades environmental issues will play an increasing role in China's economic development drive, internal politics, legal development, international relations, and regional development issues. While several books have appeared in the 1990s which describe tangible aspects of China's environmental degradation, this book concentrates its attention on management of China's environment within various contexts and represents the state of thinking on the subject by some of the world's key social scientists in this field. It contains an international perspective of environmental problems in China often lacking in books about the Chinese environment. Chapters discuss environmental degradation in Chinese history, organisation of China's environmental protection network, the legal framework for environmental protection, agricultural land issues, water issues, biodiversity, energy, pollution, public health, and business opportunities for foreign firms. While this book shows that there is lots of room for optimism, it also indicates that many environmental problems remain intractable and some are worsening.

Leading scholars in various fields give their views of development in the People's Republic of China since 1949, with emphasis on recent decades. After a broad overview of progress and setbacks, specific topics covered include national political reform, the Chinese Communist Party in power, the economy, rural reform, urban systems, the environment, foreign relations, the People's Liberation Army, the legal system, social welfare reform, intellectuals, art, and literature. Overall the volume presents a picture of the PRC that is not as healthy as optimists maintain nor in such a disastrous state as many pessimists have put forward. Increasingly, external developments will be shaping the pace of change in the People's Republic. The ability of the government to continue to respond in a measured fashion to change will be necessary if the PRC is to thrive in the twenty-first century.

The pace of environmental degradation in China has intensified in recent decades. With rapid demographic and economic growth, the current state of degradation has antecedents beginning hundreds of years ago. Patterns of China's Lost Harmony combines historical documentation with contemporary assessment to determine the degree of human impact upon the country's vegetation, soils, water, air and wildlife.This will serve as an important reference tool for understanding the historical scope of environmental degradation and for assessing attempts to control environmental degradation since the 1980s.