This book is the product of my longstanding involvement with China and more recent interest in international environmental politics. The effort to understand the Maoist attempt to “conquer” nature has provided me with unexpected pleasure as well as enormous intellectual challenges. I have revisited the familiar terrain of Mao-era China with fresh perspective and explored the new territory of environmental politics with the aid of well-known landmarks. I remain fascinated by the interconnections between human and environmental politics under Mao and am gratified now to share my work.

Observers of global environmental politics are quick to point out that no solution to the earth's environmental problems is possible without the involvement of China. China is a major force in almost every global environmental issue, be it climate change, ozone depletion, biodiversity loss, world food security, human population growth, or over-exploitation of the global commons. At the regional level, China is involved in trans-boundary air and water pollution, conflict over shared watercourses, international trade in endangered species, and cross-border fallout from nuclear weapons tests. With its enormous size, remarkable economic growth, and severe environmental degradation, China's importance to planetary health is overwhelming.