ICS Lecture: You-Tien Hsing, "Combatting Desertification in Inner Mongolia: A Tale of a Miracle Shrub"

The Institute for Chinese Studies presents: 

"Combatting Desertification in Inner Mongolia: A Tale of a Miracle Shrub"

You-tien Hsing
University of California, Berkeley

Abstract: A shrub called Suosuo has championed China’s battle against desertification in the new millennium. Suosuo is a tall desert shrub native to western Inner Mongolia.  Drought and saline- tolerant, suosuo has been widely planted to stabilize sands and taper sandstorms.  In this talk I will tell stories about the ways in which suosuo transforms from being a humble shrub in the drylands to a miraculous solution to one of China’s key environmental challenges.  I will examine the expected and unexpected actors from the state and non-state sector, who participate in this suosuo-led green mobilization.  I will also look at what happens to the environment and society of the drylands when placed under this miracle’s rule. This talk is drawn from my forthcoming book “Conserving China’s Northwest Frontier: Nature, Culture, and Future” (Oxford University Press). 

You-tien Hsing is Professor of Geography and Inaugural Pamela P. Fong and Family Distinguished Chair in China Studies at UC Berkeley.  She is the author of Making Capitalism in China: The Taiwan Connection (Oxford University Press, 2000) and The Great Urban transformation: Politics of Land and Property in China (Oxford University Press, 2010).