Nature and Environment in China

Focuses on the late imperial period with forays into the modern area. Explores how Chinese states and people related to and shaped their environments, which, in turn, shaped China. Considers the degree to which China’s long environmental history has integrated with global trends and ponders the historical experiences and precedents we bring to today’s environmental challenges. Explores the diverse ways in which scholars study China’s environmental history and conceptions of nature, including the use of digital humanities tools for visualizing data and analyzing geography.

Related Subjects

Offered Spring 2026

Catalog	Subject	Faculty	Level	HASS
21H.152	Modern China MW 2:30-4, 3-133	Tristan Brown	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.154	Inventing the Samurai TR 9:30-11, 1-273	Hiromu Nagahara	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.156 21G.045	Global Chinese Food: A Historical Overview TR 1-2:30, 14E-310	Emma Teng	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.247	Looking East/Looking West R 2-5, E51-285	Hiromu Nagahara	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.357	South Asian Migrations W 10-1, E51-063	Sana Aiyar	Seminar	HASS-H

Not Offered This Term

Catalog	Subject	Faculty	Level	HASS	Category
21H.107 21G.043	From Yellow Peril to Model Minority: Asian American History to 1968	Emma Teng	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.151	Dynastic China	Tristan Brown	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.155	Modern Japan: 1600 to Present TR 9:30-11, 56-180	Hiromu Nagahara	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.157 STS.037	Modern South Asia MW 2:30-4, 56-191	Sana Aiyar Dwai Banerjee	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.185 12.386 STS.031	Environment and History Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Introductory	HASS-S	CI-H
21H.187	The History of US Environmental Governance	Megan A. Black	Introductory	HASS-H
21H.253 21G.075	Global Chinese Migration, 1567- Present Not offered regularly; consult department	Emma Teng	Intermediate	HASS-H
21H.352 21G.042	Three Kingdoms: From History to Fiction, Comic, Film, and Game TR 11-12:30, 14E-310	Emma Teng	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.354	World War II in Asia	Hiromu Nagahara	Seminar	HASS-H
21H.380 U 21A.411 U 21H.980 G 21A.419 G	People and Other Animals Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Graduate Seminar	HASS-S
21H.981	Seminar in Nature, Environment, and Empire Not offered regularly; consult department	Staff	Graduate
21H.989 G	Histories of Extraction and Mining T 1-4, E51-385	Megan A. Black	Graduate
21H.990 STS.432	Narrating the Anthropocene: Understanding a Multi-Species Universe	Megan A. Black Kate Brown	Graduate