CASN Bookshelf

Animals Through Chinese History, Earliest Times to 1911 edited by Roel Sterckx, Martina Siebert, and Dagmar Schäfer (University of Cambridge Press, 2018)

This edited volume provides a profound overview of topics concerning the animal throughout Chinese history. Whether exploring the literary implications of animals, the keeping of imperial horses, or the cultural history of bees, this well-compiled volume offers insights relevant to all areas of Chinese studies.

Keywords: Ritual, animal products, animal management, animal morality, medicine, cat, bee, pig, horse

Mao’s Bestiary: Medicinal Animals and Modern China by Liz P.Y. Chee (Duke University Press, 2021)

Liz P.Y. Chee explores pharmaceutical and traditional thinking about animals as part of medicinal change in Maoist China. While not strictly located within animal studies, this book opens a fascinating window into the different areas of life animals influenced in contemporary history.

Keywords: Medicine, policy, animal products, chicken, deer, bear

In the Land of Tigers and Snakes: Living with Animals in Medieval Chinese Religions by Huaiyu Chen (Columbia University Press, 2023)

This book is situated at the intersection of religious, animal, and social history. It provides fascinating insight into how religious communities competed in taming the threats of tigers, locusts, and pheasants in middle period China.

Keywords: Religions, policy, violence and eradication, tiger, snake, pheasant, locust, parrot

Insect Histories of East Asia edited by David A. Bello and Daniel Burton-Rose (University of Washington Press, 2023)

This collected volume brings overlooked creepy crawlies to the fore and covers the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of life with (and without) insects. Chapters vary in focus and approach, covering etymology, entomology, literature, and eradication campaigns.

Keywords: Policy, scientific study of animals, violence and eradication, locust, silkworm, mosquito, bee, fly