Podcast Summary:
New Books Network
Episode: Micah S. Muscolino, Remaking the Earth, Exhausting the People: The Burden of Conservation in Modern China (U Washington Press, 2025)
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Dr. Micah S. Muscolino
Date: November 25, 2025
Main Theme
This episode delves into Dr. Micah Muscolino’s new book, which explores the on-the-ground realities of state-led soil and water conservation in rural China from the 1940s through the Mao era. Dr. Muscolino traces the evolution, implementation, and consequences—environmental, political, social, and economic—of conservation policies. Central to the discussion is how these initiatives, conceived by central authorities, affected local communities differently, and how the burden of conservation was distributed among China's rural population.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Book Origins & Author’s Perspective
[03:38]
- Dr. Muscolino’s interest began while researching his earlier book on the ecology of war in China, which examined refugee migration and soil erosion during WWII.
- He discovered continuities between Nationalist and Communist soil and water conservation programs from the 1940s into the 1950s, with policies and personnel bridging both regimes.
- Quote:
“One of the central questions that I'm asking is who had a choice in the decision to conserve what and how? … I look at the distribution of the costs and benefits of both environmental degradation and conservation.”
—Dr. Micah Muscolino [06:38]
2. Research Methods & Sources
[08:50]
- Pre-COVID fieldwork enabled Dr. Muscolino to conduct oral histories with villagers who experienced conservation campaigns firsthand, as well as to access archives with government reports, newspapers, and meeting minutes.
- He highlights the richness that came from engaging with both documentary sources and lived memories, sometimes even locating individuals named in archival documents.
3. Historical Background & Early Conservation Efforts
[12:14]
- The first major state-led conservation campaign originated in 1942 during WWII, as part of China’s efforts to harness the northwest’s resources after losing coastal regions to Japanese occupation.
- International influences, especially the global response to the Dust Bowl and the involvement of U.S. soil scientist Walter C. Lowdermilk, played a significant role.
- Local wartime conditions and the need to sustain agriculture drove domestic policy.
- Quote:
“From the very beginning, this project has a transnational dimension … but it also has specific domestic origins that relate to what is going on in China during wartime.”
—Dr. Muscolino [13:50]
4. Successes and Failures—Local Realities
[16:18]
- Results were mixed; large-scale plans often failed due to local socioeconomic and environmental constraints.
- However, programs promoting tree and grass planting aligned with local needs (fuel, fodder, fertilizer), receiving enthusiastic endorsement and achieving genuine success.
- The contrast between national ambition and local needs is recurrent.
5. Local Responses: Continuities and Transformations
[21:34]
- Villagers’ reactions ranged from enthusiasm to passive resistance and even open hostility.
- Core concerns included skepticism over unproven techniques, fear of labor demands interfering with farming, and doubts about the effectiveness of conservation strategies.
- After the Communist takeover, land reform weakened local elites who might resist, while CCP grassroots cadres became pivotal for mobilization.
- Quote:
“The big difference is that the PRC has the kind of organizational apparatus that extends to local society and is able to mobilize the rural populace ... in a way the Nationalists simply never could.”
—Dr. Muscolino [22:17]
6. Collectivization and Its Contradictions
[27:20]
- The 1950s introduced collectivization, fundamentally altering benefit distribution.
- State procurement of grain meant any improved yields from conservation went to the state rather than local households, deepening rural resentment.
- Conservation campaigns thus increasingly felt like uncompensated burdens on villagers.
7. The Model Village—Deng Jiabao’s Rise and Symbolism
[35:07]
- In the early 1950s, the village of Deng Jiabao was selected as a model for conservation, gaining nationwide fame through state propaganda and official visits.
- While model status brought local prestige and some pride, actual enthusiasm for conservation efforts within the village was mixed, with persistent undercurrents of resistance.
- During the Great Leap Forward, Deng Jiabao became a symbol of militarized mass mobilization and its excesses.
- Quote:
“With guidance from those state agents ... Deng Jiabao is promoted as a model, and it gains nationwide renown over the next decade as an exemplar for water and soil conservation work.”
—Dr. Muscolino [35:36]
8. Escalation to Famine
[44:47]
- Conservation increasingly required grueling labor, often at the cost of farming.
- Ambitious landscape transformation diverted resources from subsistence, contributing to famine, especially during the Great Leap Forward.
- Quote:
“By the late 1950s, conserving water and soil comes to require arduous physical labor that endangered the health and well being of rural people and had lasting effects on their bodies.”
—Dr. Muscolino [45:04]
9. Gendered Burdens and Social Impacts
[49:16]
- Conservation programs reshaped gender relations; women bore the brunt as resource shortages made their daily burdens heavier.
- Initial improvements (e.g., more fuel, water) briefly made life easier, but as campaigns intensified, women were expected to participate in heavy labor without reprieve from domestic duties, exacerbating hardship.
- Official narratives often used the “success” of conservation to tout social progress (e.g., women more willing to marry into resource-rich villages), but reality was often harsher.
- Quote:
“There are old women who say that their legs hurt all the time … one woman in particular … gave birth right in the middle of the Great Leap Forward and wasn't able to rest for a month, as would have been customary, [yet] had to go back out and engage in agricultural work [and] conservation projects and also try to find food when grain was scarce.”
—Dr. Muscolino [53:14]
10. Long-Term Legacies and Structural Inequalities
[55:41]
- By the 2010s, the infrastructure built during conservation campaigns had virtually disappeared from model villages like Deng Jiabao, and their status had faded.
- The extractive model of state-led development left rural areas impoverished, while the gains of industrialization benefited urban centers.
- China’s present-day rural–urban inequality is in part a legacy of these policies. Modern climate change exacerbates these issues, with rural poor most at risk.
- Quote:
“The campaigns to conserve water and soil … imposed heavier workloads on rural people, while those state grain procurements deprived them of control over the harvest and reduced the benefits that they got … And this cycle exacerbated the marginalization of China's countryside vis a vis its cities that persists to the present day.”
—Dr. Muscolino [57:01]
11. Reflections and Looking Forward
[62:19]
- Dr. Muscolino is currently finishing an edited volume on grassroots environmental histories in Mao-era China, emphasizing struggle, adaptation, and agency.
- While the tone of his latest work is sobering, he suggests that understanding these histories might help guide more equitable and sustainable policies in the future.
- Quote:
“Rather than a single narrative of environmental destruction ... it also tries to find some ways in which the legacies of the Mao era can be drawn upon to pursue a more sustainable and, hopefully, also more equitable future.”
—Dr. Muscolino [63:13]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On the central question:
“Who had a choice in the decision to conserve what and how?”
—Dr. Muscolino [06:38] -
On gender impacts:
“By making fuel and water more available, the conservation initiatives ... genuinely improve the lives of rural women. … But as campaigns intensified, women's lives became more and more difficult.”
—Dr. Muscolino [51:10] -
On enduring hardship:
“There are old women who say that their legs hurt all the time … traumatic experiences that she still feels the effect of in a sort of corporeal, embodied way.”
—Dr. Muscolino [53:40] -
On policy disconnect:
“Local cadres and officials are mobilizing rural people to make the landscape conform to an aesthetic ideal … crop production became a secondary concern as a result.”
—Dr. Muscolino [47:13]
Timeline of Major Segments
- [03:38] – Author’s background and book origins
- [08:50] – Research methods: oral histories & archives
- [12:14] – Origins of state conservation, WWII/Nationalist period
- [16:18] – Outcomes: successes/failures, local versus national priorities
- [21:34] – Local responses; comparison of Nationalist and CCP policies
- [27:20] – Collectivization and its impact on incentive structures
- [35:07] – The rise of Deng Jiabao as a model village and its consequences
- [44:47] – The escalation of conservation efforts into famine during the Great Leap Forward
- [49:16] – Social and gender dynamics in conservation labor
- [55:41] – Disappearance of model villages, enduring rural poverty, and inequality
- [62:19] – The future: ongoing projects and lessons for sustainability
Tone & Language
Dr. Muscolino and Dr. Melcher maintain a measured, academic tone, blending empirical rigor with empathetic storytelling. The discussion is detailed yet accessible, critically dissecting both state narratives and the lived experiences of rural Chinese communities.
Conclusion
This episode offers a compelling account of the complexities and contradictions inherent in modern China’s conservation efforts. By intertwining environmental, social, and political history, Dr. Muscolino’s research foregrounds the voices and struggles of those most affected by top-down environmental campaigns—demonstrating how local realities both shape and are shaped by national and global forces. The work ultimately raises enduring questions about environmental justice, rural inequality, and the long-term costs of development.