Fir and Empire: The Forest Revolution in Early Modern China

From Cai Jing’s reforms to Zhang Juzheng’s “Single Whip Law,” China underwent a “forest revolution” spanning the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties. Millions of enormous trees not only created a thriving timber market, but also gave rise to the legendary Eastern navy. Did modern forestry originate in China rather than the West? The rise and fall of empires went hand in hand with the fortunes of their forests. Was this a coincidence of history, or an inevitability? This book’s answers to these questions are enough to challenge Elvin’s The Retreat of the Elephants, and are as significant as Pomeranz’s The Great Divergence.