China is experiencing rapid industrialization as the country re-integrates itself into the global economy, a process that has led not only to unprecedented rates of economic growth, but also to pervasive social and cultural changes as well as widespread environmental problems. This course provides students with a firsthand look at the historical and geographical dimensions of China’s astonishing transformation by following an environmental transect along the Yangtze Valley, from coastal Shanghai into the interior of the country at Yichang, the site of the Three Gorges Dam.
Along the transect, students will examine China’s legacy of foreign occupation, the emergence of new spaces of industrial development, the dynamics of urban growth, the modernization of agriculture and rural village life, and the refashioning of human-environmental relationships. Students will be expected to engage these issues through readings, field lectures, group discussions, and daily assignments designed to encourage the integration of travel experience with the course’s analytical themes.