Introduction: The flying voles of Gannan and the challenge of knowing Manchuria's natures -- Landscapes of exile: nostalgia and natural history on the journey to Ningguta -- Where the dragon arose: discovering the dragon through number and blood -- Si(gh)ting the White Mountain: locating Mount Paektu/Changbai in a sacred landscape -- Flowers along the Amur: making sense of plant diversity on the Amazon of Asia -- Fossils of empire: the Jehol Biota and the age of coal -- Plagueland: pursuing Yersinia pestis on the Manchurian-Mongolian grassland -- Scientific redemption: the flying voles of Gannan revisited -- Reclaimed: technology and embodied knowledge on the Sanjiang Plain -- Conclusion: a view from the mountain.
Summary:
"Knowing Manchuria places the creation of knowledge about nature at the center of our understanding of one of the world's most contested borderlands. At the intersection of China, Russia, Korea, and Mongolia, Manchuria is known as a site of war and environmental extremes, where projects of political control intersected with projects designed to make sense of Manchuria's multiple environments. Covering over 500,000 square miles (comparable in size to all the land east of the Mississippi) Manchuria's landscapes included temperate rain forests, deserts, prairies, cultivated plains, wetlands, and Siberian taiga. Ruth Rogaski reveals how paleontologists and indigenous shamans, and many others, made sense of the Manchurian frontier. She uncovers how natural knowledge and thus "the nature of Manchuria" itself changed over time, from a sacred "land where the dragon arose" to a global epicenter of contagious disease; from a tragic "wasteland" to an abundant granary that nurtured the hope of a nation"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.