No other country offers the his-torian of environmental change so extended a period of written documentation or so great a variety of transformations (and degradations) as China. But actually studying that history is extraordinarily difficult. To begin with, one needs a highly competent knowledge of classical Chinese—a language with an exceedingly difficult script and ambiguous syntax—to access primary sources. The abundance of those sources dictates that a scholar probing the subject must process an enormous amount of information to ascertain with confidence the basic patterns and commonalities as well as the regional and county-specific peculiarities. The historian must also be familiar with critical concepts of modern environmental studies and, preferably, quite knowledgeable in at least one or two specific fields. And he or she must possess writing skills equal to the uncommon challenge posed by daunting integrative tasks.
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