British Inter-University China Centre and the White Rose East Asia Centre

Joint workshop

The Roots of China's Environmental Crisis

University of Bristol, 10 September 2010

CALL FOR PAPERS

The British Inter-University China Centre and the White Rose East Asia Centre are holding a workshop on The Roots of China's Environmental Crisis. It will take place at the University of Bristol on 10 September 2010. Attendance is by invitation, but we welcome expressions of interest.

The aim of the workshop is to examine China's current environmental crisis and its historical roots, focussing particularly on the nineteenth and twentieth century. Its interest spans flooding and water control, meteorology, energy use and energy politics and the impact of the environment on population and the economy through famine and famine prevention. It will cover both historical incidences of the phenomena studied and their contemporary manifestations and implications. The workshop will be of interest not only to academics working on China's social and economic history and on global environmental risks and issues, but also to people in NGOs and the government who want to acquire a deeper understanding of the massive issues facing China now.

Scholars who have agreed to attend include: Professor Peter Perdue (Yale University), Professor Zheng Yisheng (CASS), Ms Isabel Hilton (China Dialogue), Professor Eduard Vermeer (Leiden, Turku), Dr Andrea Janku (SOAS), Dr Karl Gerth (Oxford), Dr Stephen Morgan (Nottingham), and Dr Anna-Lora Wainwright (Oxford).

Expressions of interest can be sent to Professor Robert Bickers at the University of Bristol ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or to Emeritus Professor Tim Wright at the University of Sheffield ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). If you would be interested in presenting a paper, please contact us, including a title and an abstract, by 30 June 2010 at the latest. The organisers have funding to support (with UK travel and accommodation) those whose papers are accepted for presentation. If you are solely interested in attending, please contact us as soon as possible and by 31 July 2010 at the latest. We welcome contributions both on the contemporary environment and on China's environmental history.