Essay: What does the history of forests in China tell us about economic development?

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This essay explores how the history of trees are related to economic development in China in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The general relationship between forests and the Chinese economy shall be explored. I shall argue that deforestation from the nineteenth century and subsequent mismanagement of forestry resources led to humanitarian, ecological, environment, and consequently economic crises that still exist up to the present day. I shall also argue wars and China's consequent recovery after wars led to serious deforestation and subsequent economic strains. Likewise times of prosperity and industrial revolution led to deforestation and economic consequences. Mao Zedong's political relationship with trees and denuding shall be explored in relation to the twentieth century, aswell as the affects capitalist colonialism has on deforestation and economic strains.

Mark Elvin writes how the history trees, forests and wood are crucial for signifying economic development. China in the nineteenth century was dependent on wood for its energy. Without these energy resource the economy could not develop. Elvin argues that trees were vital for a stable economy. Timber was important for houses, infrastructural construction, transport means such as boats and carts and also machinery and oil wells. Logs were also needed in economic terms as an insurance policy against poverty, hardship, famine drought and natural disasters. From the nineteenth century until the late twentieth century the economy depended on heavy industry labour intensive and energy intensive use of forests. Moreover, deforestation was vital for the opening up of agricultural land for an explosive demographic trend which occurred in the nineteenth century. Elvin described this as the third stage of economic development1. He helped underline the concept that as the economy became more and more sophisticated demography rose, and therefore more deforested land was need to feed the demographic acceleration and acceleration of agricultural necessity.

The destruction of trees led to extensive soil erosion and subsequent environmental / economic Malthusian disasters. By 1978 excessive deforestation led to lack of firewood, and degrading of arable land in many areas leading to a vicious circle of poverty2. This denuding of the late nineteenth century led to in the long term a lack of sustainable economy. Indeed, in the short term China's long century of economic growth in the eighteenth century led to a long term slowing down of the economy. The shortage of trees in the late nineteenth / twentieth century is visible evidence of this. Indeed, as more and more land was cleared to support China's rising population in the nineteenth century there was a shortage of trees. This is credible as the more the population increased the more the economy could accelerate. As demography increased exponentially there was less and less trees to be cleared. In Malthusian terms the land has reached its 'fixed capacity' as it's demography was reaching its maximum potential. As demography reached its critical mass on the land there were fewer and fewer trees. This meant that the economy could not sustain itself in terms of a return on economic resources. In the short term as the economy accelerated it could not maintain its pace and consequently the environment suffered. As forests were not maintained a whole series of financial disasters could be foretold. The people had outlived the fixed resource capacity of the land and therefore there was less arable land to farm. By the twentieth century the lack of natural forestry could foretell financial disaster. Hebei Farmers told Friedman, Pickowicz and Selden,

'If people cheat the land then the land will cheat people's stomach's3'.

This is very telling for the auguring of the financial consequences of denuding on the people of China. In 1959-1961 the Great Famine meant that for three years there was a humanitarian, environment and financial disaster. This was preceded by The Great Leap Forward in which the ecological balance of many of China's agricultural regions was disrupted. From the organised economic Leap Forward came deforestation, ecological disruption, famine and starvation. Direct economic consequences came from deforestation. The extensive and long term destruction of forests in China meant that there was no insurance policy for the sustenance of the people of the PRC. Indeed, as more and more trees were denuded in order to make way for the great Leap Forward Mao did not foresee the environment impact on the economy. As nearly 10% of trees in China were cut down between in the Great Leap forward this led to serious environmental / economic consequences. Iron smelting during the great Leap forward had an especially negative affect on the environment as wood was needed to produce excessively abundant amounts of iron. The iron making campaign (1950-57) led to 1.332 million ha of productive forest being destroyed but only 241, 977 was regenerated (Ministry of Forestry 1958)4. This led to in some cases a collapse of entire ecosystems The PRC was quickly destroying common people's sustenance. The desertification of land cleared for agricultural and industrial processes meant that there was drought and famine. Various Microsystems were created by the destruction of forests such as extensive soil erosion due to the lack of soil cover and consequently degrading of soil quality meaning that rural areas could not maintain their agricultural sustenance. Moreover the lack of land cover meant that in the low lying areas around the Yellow River and the Yangtze, there was considerable stresses on the irrigation systems. This meant that as the land was denuded there was water runoff and therefore the topsoils of many regions were unstable resulting in a dense silt migration to the nearest water sources. This contributed to more violent and more frequent natural disasters from denuding. The economic stresses over these ecological and environment disasters due to denuding meant that the economy could not keep up with the constant struggle from economic pressures. This led to a constant financial struggle for the people of the PRC seen in the years of the Great Famine. Moreover as the land cover had been destroyed in the three hundred years building up to the creation of the PRC in 1949 - there was a lack of a 'buffer zone'. This meant that the natural law between man and nature had been overturned meaning that there was no option to maintenance sustenance levels by hunting, gathering and foraging. This was because the insurance policy of nature had been destroyed. Essentially this meant that the well stocked natural environment acted as a means and ways to survive in hard times. In Shapiro's Mao's War against nature she argues that Mao wanted to redefine the laws of the environment. One of his slogans was;

'Man must conquer nature (Ren Ding Sheng Tian).'

However it could be argued that Mao was less instrumental in the destruction of vital forests and consequent economical pressures as it might seem; the formation of the PRC was dependant on class struggle and many years of warfare (and recovery) which all impacted on the environment. Therefore the economic pressures on the PRC could have been influenced by civil strife reflecting on deforestation. There is a socio-economic paradigm which explains this economic stressor. The result of warfare is a new order, a new order necessitates the destruction of trees, leading to long term hardship which in turn leads to violent resistance and rebellion which results in more destruction of trees. The events leading up to the great famine of 1959-61 could fit into this paradigmatic framework. The Opium War (1839-42) Taiping Rebellion (1850-64), Boxer Rebellion (1900), Republican Revolution (1911), and Japanese Invasion (1932) Civil War (1911-49) all contributed to deforestation and consequent economic acceleration / deceleration. It could also be argued that in times when the political climate was recovering after war (and the economy was on the rise) there was a considerable amount of deforestation. Pressures on forests could be especially acute during times of infrastructural reconstruction or economic recovery following periods of warfare or the establishment of a a new and powerful new order. Moreover the destruction of forests during stable political times could be a result of maintaining commercial trade routes aswell as destroying forested land in order to flush out bandits and rebels habituating there. Therefore in times of warfare and post war reconstruction periods there is considerable deforestation which does signal economy decline (in war) and economic prosperity (post war). Therefore the military strife and recovery that went on before the establishment of the PRC led to the destruction of trees and economic strains.

Moreover the colonialist influences of pre-republic China have also affected how deforestation has led to economic fluctuations. Mao's role in the environment degradation and humanitarian economic crisis may have been of a lesser one. During the Opium Wars Britain, Belgium, Hungary and other European cultures affected deforestation in China.

Marks writes that Worster attributed colonialist imperialism with economic differentiation of exploitation of environment. Worster called this change from the time of the Opium Wars until recently a transition from subsistence-oriented agriculture to "capitalist agro ecosystem" it led to the capitalist mode of production and "radical simplification"5 of the utilisation of the environment economy. Cronon agreed with Worster stating that "capitalism and environmental degradation went hand in hand"6. This meant that from the twentieth century the attributable affects of environmental degradation to Mao's government were too simplified. Indeed the problem of the environment goes bak further than the political vilifiaction of communist policies towards the environment. Alfred Cosby developed his thesis on the success of European imperilaiism has a...ecological component"7. On a global level the exploitation of the environment in the nineteenth century by colonial powers contributed to this economic collapse of the mid-1900's. As timber resources were extracted from the periphery to act as a financial incentive for the centre the economy could not keep up with this disenfranchisement. Therefore the colonialist influences in the nineteenth century have led to the history of forests marking economic deprivation in the twentieth century.

However the economy can interact independently from the history of trees; this is seen in imports, human intervention, and new technologies in the late twentieth century. Also there is a counter argument to the Malthusian idea of a fixed resource capacity environment. The history of trees in relation to economics does not allow for new technologies. These new energies in the twentieth century included coal which led to using coal as an alternative to utilising diminishing forest resources. Between 1957-1980 energy production rose by 9% per year8. This led to a considerable impact on the global market economy. There is however again a structural inefficiency. The use of wood is no longer a feasible option for solving China's energy crisis. This is seen in imports of wood from 1979-1985. In 1979 0.58million m cubed of wood imports reached China9. In 1985 this had increased nine fold to 9.62 million m cubed10. This is evidence of the extensive deforestation of China in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as in the history of China it never had to import wood for three thousand years. And of the need to use other resources for a growing economy. Other resources which have affected the economy positively are renewable energy sources aswell as gas, nuclear energy, and especially hydropower. Moreover, the success in using these other resources in terms of the economy are notable, from 1979-1998 China has experienced double digit rates of annual GDP growth11. Therefore the impact of deforestation on the economy in the nineteenth century is dwarfed by utilisation of other energy resources which are renewable.

However in more recent time the more private nature of the PRC has entitled a considerable amount of information and numerical figures to be highly politicised and so therefore China's economic situation may be less visible to the Western world than the more publicised relationship between the economy and trees in the nineteenth century. Indeed the history of trees in the twentieth centuries does not examine the affect of foreign imports to China. The political economic macro-economics of a 'closed' state has not allowed for this type of financial analysis. Indeed the numerical evidence of imports to China are lacking and there is a paucity of evidence in regards the PRC's economic trade relationships other countries. Therefore to an extent the role forests have played in the economy have been considerably down played although to what extent the Chinese economy is dependant on other energy means has not been evidenced. Ultimately there is a crisis in terms of natural resources seen in especially the high frigid rangelands of China and its lack of sustainability12 in terms of ecosystems and forests.

In conclusion, the role of trees in the economy has changed considerably from the nineteenth to the late twentieth century. From the nineteenth century until the mid twentieth century there was considerable strains on trees from warfare, political revolution, prosperity and peace and industrial revolution. Moreover the build up to the establishment of the PRC has also led to considerable economic strains stemming from colonialist powers denuding and exploiting the land with mismanagement of sustainable forestry. Moreover Mao and the CCP have also contributed to degrading the environment via the Great Leap forward. In the short term using extensive deforestation with forestry mis-mangement for energy is a 'quick fix' which does not mean tht in the long term there is sustained energy resources. However it is in more recent times that other technologies such as using coal, renewable energy and hydropower has led to China relinquishing the need to use wood energy to fuel the economy. Therefore the Malthusian idea that the land has a fixed capacity does not take into account using other renewable sources of energy. Moroevoer Elvin does not take into account this option either. Although there had been a humanitarian crisis from disrupting the natural balance of the environment the question is can China maintain its environmental economy with alternative resources? Or will its economy outlive its other resources? Moreover will the forests grow back and does this result in the failure of the economy or will it mean that the economy has reached a flat plateau? With the more recent politicisation of China's economy only time will tell.

Legnotes

1 M. Elvin The Retreat of the Elephants p. 84
2 Weidou Ni, Energy Supply and Development in China, in Elroy Nielson, Lydon Energising China Reconciling Environmental Protection and Economic Growth (ed.), p. 99
3 Friedman et al. Chinese Village p. 234 in Shapiro's Mao's War Against nature p. 90
4 Smil., The Bad Earth p. 15
5 Marks, Tigers Rice Silk and Silt p. 338
6 Ibid., p. 339
7 Ibid., p. 339
8 Weidou Ni, Energy Supply and Development in China, in Elroy Nielson, Lydon Energising China Reconciling Environmental Protection and Economic Growth (ed.), p. 69
9 S.D Richardson Forests and Forestry in China, p. 151
10 Ibid., p. 151
11 Clem Tisdell, Boidiversity, Conservation and Sustainable Development p. 122
12 Wu Ning, Ecological Situation of High-Frigid Rangeland and its Sustainability p. 1

Bibliography

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Nicholas Menzies, Forest and Land Management in Imperial China, Basingstoke: St Martin's Press, 1994.

Anne Osborne, "Highlands and Lowlands: Economic and Ecological Interactions in the Lower Yangzi Region Under the Qing," in: Elvin/Liu, eds., Sediments of Time, 203-234.

And her dissertation (available as pdf-file on Blackboard).

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Smil, Vaclav