Cooperation, Land Use, and the Environment in Uxin Ju

Cooperation, Land Use, and the Environment in Uxin Ju: The Changing Landscape of a Mongolian-Chinese Borderland in China Author(s): Hong Jiang Source: Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 94, No. 1 (Mar., 2004), pp. 117-139 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of American Geographers Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3694071 . Accessed: 16/10/2014 15:40

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This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Cooperation,Land Use, and the Environment in Uxin Ju: The Changing Landscape of a Mongolian-ChineseBorderland in China

HongJiang DepartmentofGeography, University ofWisconsin at Madison and Institute of ResourcesScience, Beijing Normal University

Human-environmentalstudies have done much to examineenvironmental consequences of conflictualpolitics but havepaid scant attention to landscapeimplications of cooperation, especially when that cooperation is adoptedby a groupthat is seenas politically less powerful. This article examines cooperative politics and its consequences for land useand the environmentin UxinJu, a Mongol-dominatedborder area in China.Since the 1980s,in the contextof China'seconomic reform, land use in UxinJu has become more intensified, and the identification of the Mongolian culturehas shifted from land-use practices to symbolicfeatures such as language and heritage. Much of the change hasbeen influenced by the Mongols'cooperative relationship with the Chinesestate and the HanChinese people. The Mongolshave participated actively in the state'sproject of economicmodernization and have utilizedtheir accessto Chinesetechnology and laborers to theirown advantagein bringingabout land-use change that helps strengthentheir economicwell-being. This cooperativerelationship and its impacton land use have to be understoodin the historicalcontext of Uxin Ju as a Mongolian-Chineseborderland, the broadsocioeconomic transformationthat is takingplace in China,and the contemporaryexperience of Mongoliancultural change. The environmentaloutcome of suchcooperation, however, is rathermixed. On the sandydryland of UxinJu, as parts of thelandscape are improved, other parts are sandified. The entire landscape has become more homogenized spatially; thus,its regenerative capacity is compromised.This calls into question any a prioricorrespondence between forms of politicsand environmental consequences. Key Words: Politics, environmental change, Mongolian-Chinese interaction, culturalidentity, cultural and political ecology.

uman-environmentalstudies have done much cated picture than the typically reported scenario of to examineenvironmental consequences of con- degradation. flictualpolitics but have paid scant attention to Focusingon cooperationand its culturaland environ- landscapeimplications of cooperation,especially when mentalconsequences, this articleexpands upon the forms that cooperationis adoptedby a groupthat is seen as of politics in political ecological studies, notably the politicallyless powerful. This article examines cooperative commonly accepted frameworkthat privilegesconflicts politicsand its consequences for land use, culture, and the betweengroups and resistance of the weak.In refusingthe environmentin Uxin Ju, a Mongolianpastoral area assertionthat Mongols are either resistorsor victims in situatedin InnerMongolia Autonomous Region, China. managingtheir own landscape,this article promotesan Although,historically, the Mongols'relationship with the alternativetheorization, that of cooperationinitiated by Chinesehas often been conflictual,since the 1980s, the Mongols, that helps explain the most fundamental Mongolshave actively participated in the Chinesestate's changes in the landscape and related aspects of the projectof economicmodernization and have utilized their Mongolianculture. While steeringaway from resistance as accessto Chinesetechnology and laborers effectively in a particularform of environmentalpolitics, this article orderto expandtheir own economy. Mongols' cooperative builds upon the basic premiseof resistancescholarship: relationshipwith the Chinesestate and the HanChinese the active powerof human agency.I contend that when peoplehas precipitatedsignificant changes in land use, accordeda certaindegree of freedom,the groupdeemed culturalidentity, and the environmentin Uxin Ju. For less powerful,in this case the Mongols, not only may example,not only have intensiveland-use practices of cooperatewith the seeminglypowerful, in this case the enclosure,planting, and irrigationincreased on the Chinese people and state, but also can use such coopera- landscape,but culturalsignificance of landuse has also tion to empoweritself both culturallyand economically. become diluted. Environmentally,both improvement Such an empowerment,however, does not necessarily anddegradation have resulted, displaying a more compli- bringabout long-term environmental sustainability, as the

Annalsof theAssociation of AmericanGeographers, 94(1), 2004, pp. 117-139 C2004 by Association of American Geographers Initial submission,January 2001; revised submission,January 2003; final acceptance, May 2003. Publishedby BlackwellPublishing, 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, and 9600 GarsingtonRoad, Oxford OX4 2DQ, U.K.

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 118 Jiang experience in Uxin Ju demonstrates. This lack of has shown that local people have resisted changes im- correspondencebetween forms of politics and environ- posed by the government and developmentalagencies mental outcomes speaks to the complexityof regional throughstrengthening their indigenousinstitutions and human-environmentalrealities. This article calls for a practices (Richards1985; Howitt, Connell, and Hirsch seriousconsideration of cooperativepolitics and its en- 1996). vironmentalconsequences. The excellence and importance of these research To situate this study,I begin by addressingtheoretical projectshave been taken to fosterthe understandingthat issues about the relationshipamong cooperation,power, resistanceis a trademarkof criticalscholarship, a sign of and the environment.This is followedby a discussionof takingpolitics seriously. But as Bebbington(2000) warns, field researchmethods that are employedin this study. privilegingresistance runs the risk of detaching politics These theoretical and methodologicalissues are then fromlivelihood practices. The diversityand specificityof interwovenin the foursections that structuremy discus- differentlocalities and local culturescan lead to a wide sion of cultural-environmentaltransformations in Uxin array of local responses, including resistance (Peluso Ju. The first section introduces the case study area, 1992), assimilation,and cooperation(Bebbington 2000). focusing on the history of the Mongolian-Chinese Localagencies have the capacityeither to enhanceor alter relationshipand land use before 1978. A briefdiscussion structuralforces (Giddens 1984), thus creating diverse of Chinese immigrationis included.The second section social and environmentaloutcomes. Local people may examines interactions between the Mongols and the indeed cooperatewith the state and othergroups in order Chinese,in particular,how the state has helped structure to achievetheir own goalsand gain theirown power.Such the interactions,and how the interactionshave occurred cooperationcan become, at times, the primaryfeature of aroundland use. This is followedby a third section that group-group and local-state relationships.Privileging examinesthe consequencesof Mongolian-Chineseinter- resistanceruns other risks, too. It may, however unin- actions for land-use and cultural change. The fourth tentionally,help to essentializelocal cultures and thus sectionexamines the environmentalconsequences of land- undermine the importance of cultural change, which use and culturalchange throughthe analysesof remote- oftenblurs the distinctionbetween the indigenousand the sensingimages and ecological processes. In the conclusion, outside.Not onlycan localpeople direct external forces to I summarizekey findingsof this study and reflecton the their own advantageand "buildmodernity from below" politics of cooperationand its implicationfor political- (Bebbington 2000), local cultures also change when ecologicalstudy. interactingwith externalforces, exhibiting what is seen as cooperation.Globalization has madesuch cultural change commonplace.Uxin Ju, like other pastoralsocieties, has Introduction long been influenced by the outside world (Khazanov 1994), and interaction with the Chinese has long ago Cooperation, Power, and the Environment made it into a place of "mixedlife" (Lattimore1940). Thus, Uxin Ju'scontinuing transformation under external Many scholars maintain that landscapechange is a influencesis not a new phenomenonbut part of a long result of power differentials(Watts 1983; Bryant and historicalprocess of culturalchange. Bailey 1997). Globalcapitalism, state politics, and insti- Can there be a politics of cooperation?To put it tutional arrangementsoften play predominantroles in differently,since being political is often taken to be determiningthe fate of the local environment,especially conflictual, how can cooperation serve as a form of in causingdegradation (Blaikie 1985; Walker 1989). The politics?To answerthis question,first consider the original domination of state and capital is exercised through not meaning of the word "politics." Politics is derived from the only material processes but also discursive strategies (Peet Greek word polis, meaning city, or politicos, pertaining and Watts 1996). When the state and dominant groups to citizens. Politics, formal (as in state policy formation) impose unfairly on the less powerful groups or regions, or informal (as in everyday interaction among people), resistance has been an important strategy local people use helps to make a city or community viable, which requires to gain power and to maintain a livelihood (Scott 1985; considerable cooperation. Achieving economic viability is Peluso 1992). Scholarship on local resistance to hegemo- exactly what the Mongols in Uxin Ju attempt to gain by nic state discourses has highlighted the role of agency engaging in collaborative relationships with the Chinese in human-environmental processes. Empirical study in state and the Han Chinese people. Second, even when developing countries, especially in the postcolonial states politics is taken as a means to gain self-interest, political of Africa, South America, and South/Southeast Asia, scientists have long demonstrated that cooperation can

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Cooperation,Land Use, and the Environmentin Uxin Ju 119 often benefit egoists better than conflicts (see Axelrod A Note on Methodology 1984). Furthermore,in relationshipsinvolving power differentials,the powerfulgroups can onlygain power through Key methodologiesemployed in this study include cooperatingwith other members.It is inconceivableto ethnographicinterviews, site visits,and remote-sensing consider conflictual politics without the inclusion of imageanalysis. While details of the remote-sensingana- cooperation. Given its critical stance toward power lysiswill be discussedin sectionfour, this sectionbriefly relationshipsand structuralforces (such as the state), explainsthe field interviews,which were conducted however,political ecology has not paidmuch attentionto duringthe summersof 1992,1998, 1999, and 2001. Each collaborationsamong groups or between the local people summer,I interviewed about 20 Mongolianhouseholds of and the state, let alone their environmentalimplications. variouseconomic statuses in orderto understandhouse- Poststructuralpolitical ecology has opened doors to the holdeconomy, land use, and cultural change.2 Interviews explorationof a diverse set of politics (Peet and Watts wereconducted in the Mongolianlanguage with the help 1996; Moore 1999), and studies consideringenviron- of an interpreter.3Specific questions addressed the follow- mental politicsof collaborationare called for. ing topics:household sizes; types and areas of distributed This articleconsiders two kindsof cooperativerelation- pastureland;current land-use inventory; history of change ships in Uxin Ju: the Mongols' relationshipwith the witheach land-use type; origin of newland-use practices; Chinese state-their participationin the state's moder- numberof livestock;inventory of machinery;access to nizationproject-and the mutuallybeneficial relationship markets;communications with the outside world; changes with the Han Chinese people in the surroundingarea in in dietand housing; perceptions of land and views about its affectingland-use change and economicdevelopment. In change and improvements;views about government highlightingcooperation, I emphasizethat the Mongols policies, communicationswith and views about the have utilized their relationshipswith the Chinese state Chinese;and plans for the future.Given the lowlevel of and peopleto enhance theirown livelihoodand that local literacyin UxinJu, I conductedthe interviews in the form initiatives have played importantroles in defining land of conversationsrather than questionnaires. Each of the use, the economy,and the environment.Cooperation is above topicswas addressedby multiplequestions. For not a simplematrix of compliance;rather, like resistance, it example,on the "distributed pastureland" topic, I askedthe involves variousstrategies that help to benefit the local followingquestions: "What is the totalarea of pastureland communityeven when the goals of the local community that wasdistributed to yourhousehold?" "What are the and the state do not overlap.One such strategyinvolves typesof pasture?""How large is eachtype?" and "Where culturalchange, which will be discussedfurther in the arethey located?" Some of thetopics not only needed to be concludingsection. In addition,local cooperation does not brokeninto subtopics,they alsoneeded to be addressed equal land degradation,just as local resistance does indirectly.For example, on the "communicationwith the not necessarilybring about environmentalprotection. outsideworld" topic, I askedmy interviewees where/from The mixed results of environmentalimprovement and whomthey had learnedabout each of the new land-use degradationin UxinJu attest to a complicatedrelationship practices.I alsoasked them whether they read books and between society and the environment.' magazinesand if so, whatthey were; what radio stations There is a particularlyimportant reason for considering andtelevision channels they watched; whether they had the politicsof cooperationin the Chinesecontext. China anyrelatives who lived outside the areawith whom they is a state that has exercisedstrong influences on all corners talked about land use; whetherany membersof the of its territoryand all spheresof the society.While it is householdhad traveled outside the areaand if so, where importantto understandwhy certain state policies are theyhad visited and how often. Interviews usually lasted resisted, it is equally important to examine why state fromtwo to fourhours, and they were often supplemented policies have worked to produce significant impact on the by repeat visits. In addition, participant observation was local society and environment (Muldavin 2000). With conducted to supplement formal interviews. local collaboration, the effects of the state become Intensive interviews were also conducted with govern- amplified, and any positive or negative consequences will mental officials. Paying attention to influences at multiple also be multiplied (Jiang 1999). When state policies do levels (Blaikie and Brookfield 1987; Turner 1999; Vayda not suit local conditions, local collaboration heightens the 1983), I interviewed a total of 15 government officials at potential dangers of state interventions. An analysis of the banner,sum, and gacha4levels, tracing policy changes, state-local collaboration allows us to understand the linkages, and their executions at various levels. This environmental impacts of the state and local people, thus helped me to locate local land-use change in the broad offering the opportunity to be critical of both. context of regional policies.

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In recent years, ethnographicinterviews have drawn much debate (Cliffordand Marcus 1986; Behar and . Baotou Gordon 1995), focusingon the unavoidablesubjectivity S•. ..- characteristicof these interviews.To reduce the effect of my own preconceptionson shapingthe outcomes of my Dongsheng interviews,I made particulareffort to cross-check the Ih-Ju League , ? views of individuals.Although group interviews were -''l conductedon only two occasions,most householdinter- views involved an adult couple, whose views could be compared.I also consciouslymodified my own concep- tions in light of patterns, and understandingsemerged Uxin , throughinterviews. For example, with respectto the issue of local responsesto governmentpolicies, I expected to discover resistance by the local people in Uxin Ju, a Mongolianarea that is controlledby the Chinese state, r after having read the literatureespousing this position. However,the interviewsslowly taught me that such a e Inner patternwas not significantat all;instead, the oppositewas true.I then had to interview in order expandmy questions St Ih-Ju League to understandwhy the Mongolswillingly align themselves 40 0 40 Kilometers NA with the government'sagenda of economic modernization. This eventuallyled me to ask questions regarding culturalchange, shiftingviews about land-usepractices, Figure1. UxinJu and its surrounding area. and Mongoliancultural identities. As I remainedcom- mitted to reflexivityin interactiveinterviews, new questions emerged.It was throughthe new pathsforged in my Mongolsremain the dominantpopulation, at 93 percent, interviewees'responses that I came to know the richness amongthose managingthe pastureland.5For this reason, of the placeand to understandhow these people'lives and this articleconcerns mainly the Mongolpastoralists and practicesare connected with the land. their impactson land use and the environment. Historically,Uxin Ju is home to the Uxin tribe of it has Uxin Ju:A Mongolian-ChineseBorderland Mongols. Borderingwith the Chinese, however, witnessed a long historyof Mongolian-Chinesecultural Historical Appraisal interactions.The GreatWall, about 170 km to the south, was built to demarcatea boundarybetween the Chinese Tosituate Uxin Ju'shuman-environmental change in a and the northernnomads. In reality,however, interaction historicalcontext, this sectionintroduces the Mongolian- beyond the Wall, througheither trade or war,has lasted Chineserelationship and land use before 1978. UxinJu is a for over two millennia (Lattimore1940, 1962; Jagchid Mongoliansum (township), situated in Uxin bannerof Ih- andSymons 1989). As a result,Chinese technologies have JuLeague (recently renamed Ordos City), InnerMongolia long influencedUxin Ju. Forexample, in the late 1800s, Autonomous Region, China (see Figure 1). Its area is the Mongols started to adopt a semisettled life with 1,744 km.2 Physically,Uxin Ju is dry, with an annual semipermanentliving quarters made of Salixbranches and precipitation of 146 to 526 mm (during 1970-1997), mud. Drylandfarming emerged even earlier(interviews, averaging 321 mm. The soils are sandy, and moving sand 1998, 1999). In the 1930s, Lattimore(1940) foundInner dunes cover a significant portion of its landscape. Natural Mongolia a very differentplace from Outer Mongolia, vegetation includes sandy shrubs (Artemisiaordosica and owing to its close contact with and influence by the Caraganaintermedia) and lowlandgrass (Carex duriuscula Chinese. and Achnatherumsplendens). Animal husbandry constitu- By 1947 when the Chinese Communiststook over tes the main rural economy, and livestock includes mainly Inner Mongolia,while large areas of grasslandin Inner sheep, along with some goats, cattle, horses, mules (as Mongoliahad been givenover to cultivation,Uxin Ju'sdry draft animals), and pigs. Of its 5,448 registered inhabitants sandy land had not experienced much direct Chinese in 1997, 69 percent were Mongolian. The rest were influence. Significant land-use change occurred after Chinese, mostly workers in local alkali factories. The 1949. Duringthe 1950s and 1960s, the Chinese socialist

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Cooperation,Land Use, and the Environmentin Uxin Ju 121 ideology introduced Uxin Ju to intensive land-use migration from the Qing Dynasty slowly pushed the practicessuch as tree plantingand grasslandenclosures. Mongolsout of the southernpart of Uxin bannerwhere Improvementsto the landscapebrought about by these the pasturewas of the best quality,and the Mongolsnow efforts,however, could not offsetpastureland degradation are mostly settled on dry sandy land. My interview causedby the openingof grasslandduring the GreatLeap informants,however, softened the view that the Chinese Forward (1958-1960) and the Cultural Revolution were aggressiveintruders. Most Chineseimmigrants were (1966-1976). The centrally controlled economy also poor farmersfrom the Yulin area in northern Shaanxi, encouragedraising more livestock than the pastureland escaping hardship and crop failure brought about by could bear. As a result, moving sand expanded and drought and social unrest. In a desperate search for pasturelandproductivity was reduced (Jiang 1999). survival,these immigrantscame to Uxin bannerwith next to nothingand workedfor Mongolian herd owners. Some Three Geographic Scales built good relationshipswith the Mongols and were allowed to cultivate the grassland,but most grazed To understand the Mongols' relationshipwith the livestock. Only a small number of immigrantscame as Chinese and its role in land-usechange, three geographic merchantsof grain,tea, or salt. Althoughin otherparts of scales must be considered,each with its own historical Inner Mongolia,some Chinese merchantsbecame land- dimensions.The first is the relationshipat the national ownerswith considerableinfluence (Lattimore1940, 80) level. From the time of the Han Dynasty (2nd century in Uxin banner,they did not gatherenough wealth to gain BCE) the Chinese and nomadic powers exchanged similarpower. Uxin Ju,with its drysandy land unfavorable control of Inner Mongolia, making the area along the for farming,attracted only secondaryChinese migrants GreatWall, including Uxin Ju, a "contestzone" (Gaubatz who had alreadydeveloped grazingas their main liveli- 1996). Such a counterbalanceended with the Qing hood. By 1949, the Chinesepopulation accounted for only Dynasty when the Chinese empire took continuous 4 percent of the total population.During the Cultural control of the area. The Chinese people moved in, and Revolution,the localgovernment invited Chinese farmers the grasslandwas opened for cultivation (He 2001). to teach the Mongolsfarming techniques; some stayed but Under the socialistregime after 1949, this borderregion the numberwas limited. Although Chinese constitute the becameincreasingly integrated into the nationalpolitics, nationalmajority, in Uxin Ju they belong to the minority. and Chinese state policies played a significantrole in A certain degree of mutual disdain exists between the alteringits landscape.Cultural interaction between the Chinese and the Mongols, but overall, mutual influ- Mongolsand Chinese has been unbalancedand siniciza- ence has prevailed.As the Mongols started to expand tion has been predominantat the national level (Han cropping, their interaction with the Chinese became 1999). more beneficial. The second scale of the Mongolian-Chineserelation- These three scales of Mongolian-Chineserelation- shiphas been playedout regionally.Regional interactions ships renderinadequate simplified views of Mongolian- between the Mongolsand Chinese have been conducted Chinese interactions as those of the colonizers and largelyon the basis of mutual benefit. Traditionally,the colonized. As the geographicscale shifts from national Mongolsrelied on tradewith the Chinesein the south for to regionaland local, the powerof the Mongolsbecomes such goods as grain,tea, salt, and textiles (Morgan1986, morepronounced, allowing room for theirown initiatives 33-35). Grazingarrangements across the GreatWall also and actions. This is similarto Bebbington's(2000, 496) werecommon, as Chinesesheep/goat grazers in the south "room-for-maneuver,"which providesopportunities for frequentlyarranged to have theirflocks grazed in Uxin Ju. the local people to define their own lives. The term In recent years, as Uxin Ju became integrated into the "politics of cooperation" signifies such maneuvering regional economy, not only has material exchange with power of the Mongols as they interact with the Chinese the south increased, the flow of information about the state and culture in defining their own land-use practices. market and land-use technologies has also become increasingly important for Uxin Ju. In addition, short- term and sometimes long-term laborers from Northern Mongolian-Chinese Relationship Shaanxi are hired in Uxin Ju to perform cropping-related and Land Use activities. The hiring of Chinese by the Mongols reverses the typical image of Chinese domination. Against the background of a Mongolian-Chinese The third scale of the Mongolian-Chinese relationship borderland, this section examines how, since the 1980s, is local. In Uxin Ju and its surrounding areas, Chinese the Mongols' relationship with the Chinese State and the

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Han Chinese people has influencedland use in Uxin Ju. for 23.3 percentof the total cost in Ih Ju League(Liu and While the historicaltrend of strong Chinese influence Wang1998). The purchaseof seedlingsand seedsfor tree, continues, what is unique during this period is the shrub,and grassplanting have largelycome fromgovern- Mongols'cooperative engagement with the Chinesestate ment funds, while households provide labor input. and people.China's economic reform has createdinstitu- Administratively,grassland improvement has been an tionalincentives for the Mongolsto participateactively in importantpart of regionaland local governmentalfunc- the state'sproject of economicdevelopment. At the same tions. The uppergovernment designates task acreagefor time, Mongols have actively sought to increase their grasslandimprovement, along with matching funds. In accessto Chinesetechnologies in orderto bringabout new 2001, for example, Uxin Ju received 43,000 mu7 for land-usepractices that help enhancetheir economic well- improvementtasks, in additionto 126,000 mu of sandy being.6The Mongols'relationship with the Chinese has land that would be seeded using airplanes.The Uxin Ju providedthe main impetus,and the key explanation,for local governmentmakes every effort to fulfillthese tasks. land-useand relatedcultural change in Uxin Ju. Eachgovernment leader is allocatedresponsibility to help a certain numberof householdsplant trees. Each year, Land Use, Environment, and the Chinese State UxinJu has springand fall planting sprees, during which all leadersgo to their allocatedhouseholds to participatein In the 1980s, to pursueeconomic development, China planting.The governmentalso providestechnical assis- launched an economic reformthat has had a profound tance in land use. Extensionworkers from Uxin banner effect on land use. The reform was supportedby the make frequentvisits to select householdsto experiment introduction of two institutions. First, a "Household with new planting and cropping techniques. These ResponsibilitySystem" was establishedin the early1980s, techniques, once successful, quickly spread to other which effectivelyprivatized resource use and production. households. In InnerMongolia, a two-tierresponsibility system was set Mongols in Uxin Ju have responded with active up, distributingboth livestockand pastureland, previously engagement to the state's economic project. Not only owned by the communes, to households. In Uxin Ju, have they participatedin the land-improvementpro- livestock was distributedin 1982. The distributionof grams,they have also embracedit as their own goal to pasturelandfirst occurredin 1983; it was adjustedand improve the grasslandin order to develop household reaffirmedin 1986 and againin 1997. Second, in keeping economy.Take pasture enclosure, for example.After the with resource privatization, a market economy was grasslandwas distributedin 1983, householdsstarted to introducedin the late 1980s. The Chinese government buildenclosures in orderto protecttheir own pastures.By slowlyloosened control of pastoralproduction, allowing 2000, some households, such as Bayinsongbuer's,had the market to regulate supply, demand, and price spent an accumulationof over 20,000 yuan (approxi- (Longworthand Williamson1993). Flexible prices and matelyUS $2,500) on fences,an impressivesum given the the privateprocurement of wool and meat broughtUxin net per-capitaincome of about 2,000 yuan (US $250) in Juincreased exposure to nationaland even globalmarkets 2000. The households'active pursuitof havingtheir own (Zhang 1990). Meanwhile, producing for the market pasturesseeded has made the fulfillmentof the govern- became the main goal of pastoral production in the ment quotain airplanesowing easy. All householdsdesire household. Both privatizationand the marketeconomy to be chosen for government programs-such as the have directimplications for land use and the environment Family Pasture (a highly integrative pasturelandand since both have encouragedintensive management of the pastoraldevelopment program, which I will discusslater), grassland. IrrigationDevelopment, and SpecializedAnimal Hus- The state has also exerted direct influences on the bandry (of sheep and cattle)-not only because all landscape through financial and administrative means. programs come with fiscal incentives in the form of The government has provided fiscal incentives for financial aid or interest-free loans but also because they all intensive land use. For example, after usable pastureland help improve household economy. Intensive land use such was distributed, the sandy "wasteland" was contracted to as tree planting and crop irrigationhas become the central households in the 1990s, with the government stipulation part of future planning in the household (interviews, that reclaimed wasteland would be awarded as additional 1998, 1999, 2001). tax-free pasture to the households that improved it. To The Mongols' cooperative response to the state can be encourage irrigation, the government exempted tax on better understood through their changing views about the irrigated cropland (until 2001). From 1978 to 1996, environment. As the market came to affect household government investment in pasture enclosure accounted economy, Mongols began to see that producing for the

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Cooperation,Land Use, and the Environmentin Uxin Ju 123 marketis the best way to improvetheir livelihood.To the and modernagricultural techniques beyond those of their traditionalview of nature-cultureunity (seeTseren 1996) immediateneighborhoods. has been addeda varietyof pragmaticmarket influences, The expansionof new land-usepractices can be traced and the environmentis increasinglyseen as a means for to Chineseinfluences, both in ideologyand in techniques. marketproduction. The goal of the state (i.e., economic Among the new practicesthat were borrowedfrom the development), therefore,is largely consistent with the Chinese, irrigationand corn cultivation are probably desire of the Mongols to improvetheir livelihood;both the most conspicuous.Irrigation first emerged in Uxin Ju relyon intensive use of the grassland. in the 1960s and relied mainlyon naturalspring water. Not only have the Mongolsengaged actively with the Followingspring-water irrigation, open pits were used to state's economic programs,they have also interacted gather groundwaterfor irrigation.Even drinkingwater closely with the Chinese, either to gain new skills in was storedin bigholes duginto the groundand coveredby land use or to access Chinese laborersto help in land Salixbranches. The first drinkingwell was dug in 1983, improvements.While the state has offered incentive with water raised by an air pump. Irrigationwells first structuresfor the Mongols to reach for the Chinese appearedin Uxin Ju in 1986 after such techniques had technologies,ultimately, it is the Mongolsthemselves who been used by the Chinese in the south. These wells use define their land use and shape their environment. diesel engines for powerto drawwater from the ground Mongolian-Chineseinteraction provides the key to under- into a white plasticpipe called "the little white dragon." standingthe processesof such definingand shaping. With governmentencouragement, irrigation has expanded quickly since the 1980s. By 1999, most families I interviewed had one or two irrigationwells equipped Mongolian-Chinese Interaction with diesel engines, enablingthem to water their 15 mu of cropfields. Since 1947, Mongolian-Chineseinteractions have Even someof the techniquesin animalhusbandry have increasedowing to two factors.The firstis the increased been transferredfrom the Chinese to the Mongols.One size of the Chinese population in Uxin Ju and the exampleis sheep shearing.Before 1949, sheep shearingin surroundingareas. In 1958, of the total populationof Uxin Juwas performed by Chinesemerchants rather than 2,305, only 4 percentwere Chinese whose ancestorshad Mongolianpastoralists. At winter'send these merchants immigratedto the regionin the late 1800s and the early arrivedon horsesor donkeyswith tea, salt, grains,cloth, 1900s. Pasturelandreclamation policies during the 1950s householdgoods such as bowls and food containers,and and 1960s encourageda new wave of Chinese immigra- luxuries such as cakes and candies to trade with the tion, under which the Uxin Ju government invited Mongols.Huhelao, one of the interviewees,recalled that Chinese farmersto move in to farm. Chinese farmers 18 cakeswere tradedfor one sheep. They also contracted became the actual executors of the reclamationpolicy. with the Mongolsto sheartheir sheep: five cakesand some This led to a spikein the Chinesepopulation in the 1970s, drydates were exchanged for shearing all the sheepfor one when it rangedfrom 16.6 (1970) to 13.8 percent (1979) family. The work was then performed the following (Uxin Ju Statistics 1998). Even though the reclamation summer.To the Mongols, this was a needed service, so policy was corrected after the 1970s, some Chinese they readilyallowed the merchantsto take awaythe wool, farmersstayed to live the pastorallife of the Mongols.The whichwas tradedin the wool marketin Baotouand other most recent wave of Chinese immigrationstarted with majorcities. In the 1950s,animal grazing was collectivized the establishmentof the town of Chahanmiaoin 1996, and a wool quota was imposedby the Chinese govern- which led to a second spike in the Chinese population. ment. To learnsheep shearing themselves, the Mongolsin About three-quarter of Chahanmiao'spopulation of Uxin Ju invited 63 Chinese teachers from Yulin. 10,000 is Chinese, who come from the north (especially Close interaction between pastoralists and agricultur- Dongsheng), the west (especially Wuhai), and the south alists is certainly not unique to Uxin Ju (see Galaty and (Shaanxi Province) (interviews, 1998, 1999). The Chi- Johnson 1990; Khazanov 1994). In Africa and India, for nese population brought with it techniques in land use as example, farmers' fallow fields were used by pastoralists well as ideas from the larger Chinese society. Through during winter seasons (Agrawal 1998; Bassett 1988). their interactions, the Mongols and Chinese each mod- Increasingly, this relationship is affected by increased ified their own cultural practices. The second factor that influences from the outside world, such as the market. In enhanced Mongolian-Chinese interactions was improved Rajasthan, India, the relationship between pastoralists communication, that is, improved transportation and and agriculturalists was mutually beneficial, for it meant media, which exposed the Mongols to Chinese culture forage for the former and sheep manure for the latter.

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However, intensificationof land use, with the help of UxinJu,I have investigatedmany individual cases, each of irrigation, attenuated this linkage as agriculturalists which underscoresthe importantrole of director indirect startedto till their land more than once a year (Agrawal communicationwith the Chinese. Typically,the pastor- 1998, 14). A unique aspect of Uxin Ju is that land-use alists who have better access to Chinese technologies intensificationoccurred among both the Chineseand the start experimentingwith certain new practices,which, Mongols.As the Mongolsadded more "Chinese" practices if deemed economicallypromising by the local people in land cultivation and management,their relationship and the local government,are then spread,often with with the Chinese intensifiedrather than attenuated,and governmentfinancial support. the web of connectionbetween the Mongolsand Chinese Communicationis, firstof all, direct.The Mongolsare becameeven more intricateand pervasive.8 in touch with the Chinesewho live in the area.The Uxin It is importantto acknowledgethe complexityof the JuSand Control Station, set upby the governmentin 1959 Mongols' relationshipwith the Chinese, as has been to experimentwith sand control techniques,was closed indicated earlier.Historically, the Mongols'connection afterthe 1980s,but its workers,mostly Chinese, remained with the Chinesebrought both lossesand gains.Since the and oftentimesare pioneersin experimentingwith farm- 1980s,the Mongolshave usedtheir easy access to Chinese ing techniques.The pastoralistsonly have to visit these practicesto their own benefit. With increasingaccess to Chineseto knowwhat is new.They also travelto Shaanxi the market,they seek to expandtheir land-use practices in to learn specific techniques. For example, well digging order to enhance their economy and meet the market facilitatedthe expansionof irrigation.Barlaji and his wife demand.Their active participationin adoptingnew land- Arlateng,who wereamong the firstto use wells,recounted use practicesmakes it erroneousto claimthat the Chinese their experience: and the governmenthave forced the change. My inter- We learnedabout irrigation wells from Ordos Daily in 1986 viewees stressedtheir own ingenuityand initiation.One and learnedthe skill [of well digging]from the Chinese intervieweesaid, "We startedgrassland enclosure in the farmersaround here. We were also the firstto dig drinking 1960s ourselves." Another, Huhelao, considered by wellsin 1983.I [Barlaji]went to Shaanxiand learned the the to be Mongolian-Chinese relationship "mutually skill,and then cameback to dig drinkingwells for people beneficial."He added, "The Chinese bringfarming and aroundhere. other techniquesto the Mongols,and the Mongolshelp the Chinese in making diary products." Even the Not only do the Mongols travel south to learn new merchant-Mongolrelationship is viewed from quite a techniques, the Chinese also travel to Uxin Ju as differentangle. After the wool marketwas opened,it was temporarylaborers. Chinese immigrationinto ruralUxin largely the outside (mostly Chinese) merchants who Ju has stopped since the 1980s, but seasonal migrant collected wool and cashmere from the locals and sold laborersfrom Northern Shaanxi are common. Farmers them at a higher price. When I interviewedCaidang, a therehave less arableland, and theireconomic life is often local leaderin Uxin Ju, however,he said one of the local difficult.Extra laborers often flowto the Mongolianareas, strategiesfor economic developmentwas to "encourage workingas hiredlaborers in Mongolianhouseholds. They outsidemerchants to come andplay a keyrole in openinga typicallyundertake land flattening, cropping,and tree marketchannel." In fact, one key taskof the government planting-tasks that requirefarming-related skills. Some secretaryZhangga is to visit outside places to locate also come as small merchants, collecting wool and possiblenew marketsfor the sale of wool and cashmere. cashmere,or as skilled laborersin repair,construction, Chinese merchantsare thus seen as playinga beneficial and handcrafts.In 1999, about 20 percentof households role in the economyof Uxin Ju. in Uxin Ju hired short-termChinese laborers,spending about 500-1,000 yuan a year, at 15-20 yuan per day, and Land Use and Changing Mode of Mongolian-Chinese providing them with room and board. Communication Connection with the Yulin area, familiarly known as "the south," has been particularlyimportant for Uxin Ju. Whether invented locally (such as grasslandenclosure) In conversations with the pastoralists, Yulin is mentioned or coming from outside the area, all intensive land-use more often than any other place. Many people, especially practices are supported by a conception of reforming the male heads of households, have traveled to Yulin City. nature that originated in the Chinese farming tradition Even those who have not been there have had close and is advocated by the Chinese state. Communication contact with the people from Yulin, the ancestral home with the Chinese reinforces this conception. To under- of most Chinese who now live in the area. Although the stand how a new land-use practice enters and spreads in administrative center of the area-Dongsheng-is in

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Cooperation,Land Use, and the Environmentin Uxin Ju 125 the north, most people prefer to go to Yulin to buy soldierfor five years,came back home, bringinginforma- equipment,seeds, and other agricultural supplies, since the tion about irrigationwells. They also started to plant a pricesof suppliestend to be lowerthere than in the local high-yield corn variety introducedfrom outside in the area.Yulin also providesinformation about new land-use same year.Songbuer's story is even more telling.He used technologiesand the market.It seemsaccurate to saythat, to work at the government supply store during the fora longtime, Yulin has been the outsideworld for Uxin Ju. collective era, and, therefore,was exposed to the outside After contact with Chinese farmersover time, new world. In 1997 he organized seven households, all farmingtechniques are more easily undertakenby the neighborsand relatives, to invest in the cultivation of Mongols.9Badarihu is a local exemplarin tree planting Ephedrasinica, a medicinalherb that is assessedto have a and, accordingto the local regulations,has been awarded sizabledemand in the Chinesemarket. Ephedra is nativeto additionalpastureland that he had improvedfrom sandy Uxin Ju'ssandy land; however, its naturalproduction has land. In 1983, when pasturelandwas distributedto his dwindleddue to overcutting(Jiang 1999). Supportedby family,it wastreeless. Since then he has led his familyof six the government as yet another viable experiment, to plantmore than 10,000 treesand 350 mu of shrubs.At Songbuerand his team received 100,000 yuan in a loan age 78, he was still strongand spokewith greatclarity and and 300 muof continuouspastureland. They immediately certainty: flattened the land, installed irrigationequipment, and started nursing Ephedraseedlings. It is estimated that Plantingtree is good-the countryhas one less piece of sand Ephedra'sleaves can be harvestedin three years,bringing andwe ourselveshave one more piece of green.When I first in about 1,500 yuan permu of income. Respondingto my startedplanting trees, neighbors did not understandand aboutthe of his idea, said, askedme, "What are you doing with the sand, old man?" . question origin Songbuer Treesare in the air-leaves are pasture goodforage. I hadthe ideaof cultivatingEphedra for quite a fewyears. I heardthat in Taolisome Chinese went thereto cultivate When I asked him how he learned to plant trees, he Ephedra,and the banner gave special permission and land for answeredmatter-of-factly: it. It was successful.Then the governmentsupported its I amcarrying the techniquewith me. I amfrom Ejin Horo expansion.In 1995 I went to Otog with local leadersto [a bannernortheast of Uxin Ju] and lived with the observeEphedra cultivation and spray-styleirrigation. I Chinese.Life was difficult there, and I couldnot raisemy thoughtI wouldhelp others cultivate it, but therewas not fourchildren. We had relatives here so we moved-it'sbeen muchinterest. Now I haveto do it myself. 32 years.There I farmed-I ama farmernot a herder. Pioneerslike Songbuerenjoy maximumoutside con- With the improvedeconomy, the pastoralistsof Uxin Ju tact. If their experimentsturn out to be successful,they have expanded their connection to the outside world easilysecure government support. Their influence spreads throughcommunication media: books, magazines, news- to bringabout significant changes in Uxin Ju. papers,and radio and televisionprograms-most of which Languageplays an importantrole in the Mongolian- are in the Chinese language.Contact with the Chinese Chinese connection. Most Mongols know Chinese at goes beyondthe Yulinarea, and indirectcommunication variouslevels of proficiency.Daily language spoken in the has become increasingly important. Among the 70 areais Mongolian.Most people can speaksome Chinese, percentof the householdsthat own a televisionset, about however,and a majorityof the high-schoolgraduates can one-third have installed extended antennas to receive readChinese. Uxin Juhas one primaryschool, and classes over20 televisionstations beyond the localarea. Moreover, are taught in Mongolian, but students start to learn technical books on the use of machinery and other Chinese in third grade.The bannerhas both Mongolian equipment, as well as on farming and grazing techniques, and Chinese high schools, and some Mongolian families are mostly in Chinese. The majority of the interviewees have started to send their children to Chinese high schools considered Chinese technical books an important source for better opportunities in the national entrance exam, as of information on farming, livestock breed improvement, well as for better job opportunities. When Barlaji and crop variety selection, and forage and feed processing. Arlateng bought a four-wheeler, they could not read the Willingness to take risks in experimenting with new Chinese instructions. They began to realize the impor- practices increases with widened contact. Although it is tance of Chinese language and started teaching them- not the influence of the Chinese per se, the mere fact of selves through reading dictionaries. Later on, as they openness to the outside ideas has brought about changes became involved in sheep breed improvement, corn in Uxin Ju. Aotuogen's family was among the first to dig cultivation, and corn-stalk storage, they relied more and irrigation wells. In 1988, his brother, after serving as a more on their ability to read Chinese. Using the Chinese

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 126 Jiang languageis an indicationof Mongolianassimilation, but it relatedfactors including government policies, economics, is, to an extent, reciprocatedby the Chinese. Most and the market,I arguethat the Mongols'participation Chinese I interviewedeither speakor understandMon- in the state'seconomic project and their interactionwith golian. However,Mongolian and Chinese languagesare the Chinese people around the area have been the not used equallyin Inner Mongolia,especially in urban main direct impetusfor lasting changes in land use and areas.As a whole, InnerMongolia, although a Mongolian culturalidentities. AutonomousRegion, has more Chinese (80.6 percent) than The Mongols (15.7 percent). Mongolianlanguage Changes in Land Use and Pastoral Economy programshave been found extremelylacking, leading to whatBilik (1996, 1998) callsthe demiseof the Mongolian Intensive land use has become the backbone of culture. Mongolianis for family and local use, whereas householdeconomy. Table 1 shows a summaryof house- Chinese is for outside communication.This explainsthe hold land use derivedfrom interviews in 1999 and 2001. lack of Mongolian publicationsand the overwhelming The size of householdsranges from one to ten persons.In need for the Mongolsto learnChinese. an average household of four persons, all allocated The effect of Mongolian-Chinese communication pasturelandhas been enclosedby fences, over 40 percent follows geographicalpatterns. The Chinese influence of sandy land has been improved through planting or comes mostlyfrom the south, so the transferof ideas and seeding, irrigatedcropland has increasedfrom 3 mu in technologiesalso follows the route from south to north. 1980 to the current 15 mu, and the numberof planted Manduhu,a governmentstaff at Uxin banner,informed trees has increasedfrom less than 200 to an averageof me in 1998 that "ifyou want to see the futureof Uxin Juin 2,551 duringthe same period. 10 years,go to see Taoli(in the south) today.Taoli follows All of the intensive land use practicesfollow a general Henan (which is furthersouth)."'o This south-to-north pattern of initiation in the 1950s and 1960s under the transferof Chinese technologiesis furtherenhanced by a earlysocialist regime and rapidexpansion since the 1980s. leader-swappingprogram established by Uxin banner.In Pasture enclosure was first used in the 1960s, but its that program, government leaders in Uxin Ju were applicationwas limited. After pastureland was distributed swappedwith those of Taolifor two to three years, thus to households in 1983-1986, grasslandfenced in by allowing economic strategies and techniques from the barbedwires became importantnot only for rotational south to infiltratethe area. grazingbut also to protect pasturelandfrom being used by other households. By the early 1990s, most usable Land-Useand CulturalChange pasturelandwas enclosed (Jiang, forthcoming).In general,each householdhas five to seven enclosures,divided Mongols'active engagementwith the Chinese state accordingto seasonal uses, following a two- or three- and peoplehas broughtabout significant changes in land seasongrazing system: lowland grass as cold seasonpasture use and culturalidentities. In arguingfor the importance and sandyshrub as warmseason pasture; or lowlandgrass of Mongolian-Chineseinteractions in manifestingthese for spring and autumn grazing,sand-dune pasture for changes, I shall remindthe readerthat culturalinterac- wintergrazing, and uplandpasture for summergrazing. tionsdo not operatein isolationbut have to be understood Tree,shrub, and grass planting has increasedrapidly. As in the broadcontext of the socioeconomictransformation a result,the numberof treesincreased from 94 in 1958, all that is taking place in China. While human-environ- of which were aroundthe Uxin Ju Temple,to 376,800 in mental change has been influencedby a suite of inter- 1992 (UxinJu Statistics 1998). In 1999 and 2001, about

Table 1. HouseholdLand Use (SampleSize: 40) Standard Standard Actual Sandyland Irrigated Planted Numberof Statistics SheepUnita Pastureb(mu) Pasture(mu) Improved(mu) Cropland(mu) Grass(mu) PlantedTrees Average 119 431 1,508 631 15 17 2,551 Min 27 100 270 0 0 0 30 Max 300 1,060 5,400 3,000 40 300 10,000 Standarddeviation 65 192 1,435 839 9 14 2,955 a Eachsheep equals 0.9 standardsheep units, each cattle 6 units,and each pig 0.9 units. b The qualityof pasturelandvaries greatly based on location.In grasslanddistribution, a standard pasture unit is used:1 standardmu is equivalentto 100kg of estimateddry biomass.

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Cooperation,Land Use, and the Environmentin Uxin Ju 127 two-thirdsof the householdsI interviewedhad morethan 35,000 1,000 trees.The treespecies planted most frequently is the 30,000 willow(Salix matsudana) . When theyreach a heightof two Total Cropland 25,000 --- to three meters, their branches are repeatedlycut to -2Irrigable Cropland the of new branchesand tenderleaves 20,000 encourage growth = for forage.Shrubs are plantedto improvethe sandyland 15,000 such as Salix (Figure2). Species psammophila,Hedysarum 10,000 mongolicum,Artemisia ordosica, and Caraganaspp. are 5,000 transplantedor seeded by airplanes.My interviewees indicatedthat land from 0- improvedsandy ranges 0-3,000 1958 1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 mu for each household, depending on various factors, Year includinghow much sandyland is allocated.Overall, 48 3. in and percent of allocatedsandy land has been improved(see Figure Change cropland irrigation. Jiang,forthcoming).1" The leaves of these planted trees and shrubshave become an importantsource of high- qualityforage for sheep and goats; thus treesare also called ment, caused the sand to expand. Since the 1980s, with "pasturein the air."The dry branchesserve as fuel to the introductionof well-diggingtechniques and made supplementcoal. With the help of plantedvegetation and possible by the abundance of groundwater,irrigable an enhancedeconomy, local peoplehave stoppedcutting croplandhas increased rapidly.Crop varieties also ex- naturalshrubs for fuel, a commonoccurrence during the pandedfrom the traditionalcrop of broomcornmillet to 1960sand 1970sthat led to vegetationdegradation. Grass corn, potatoes, sunflowers,and vegetables (interviews, has been plantedin two ways:seeded together with shrubs 1999, 2001).13 throughairplane seeding or plantedon well-preparedlow- These new land-usepractices discussed above form the lying(sometimes even irrigated)sandy land and harvested basis of "familypasture," a model of the new pastoral as winterforage. The speciesused includeMelilotus albus, economythat has been promotedin InnerMongolia since M. sativa,M. suaveolons,and Astragalusadsurgens. the 1990s. Familypasture is householdbased and market Croppingexisted in Uxin Ju long before 1949, but oriented.It includesfive elements:fodder cultivation with irrigation is relatively new. In 1969, irrigated fields irrigation,pasture improvement,vegetation protection, comprisedonly 4 percentof the total cropland.By 1997, forageprocessing, and the use of mechanizedequipment the irrigatedacreage reached 10,207 mu out of a total such as diesel engines and tractors.These elements form croplandof 11,100mu. In 2001, irrigationaveraged 15 mu the basisof highlyproductive and hazard-resistantanimal per household.12 As Figure 3 shows, the reduction of husbandry.According to the standard set by Inner drylandfarming and an increasein irrigationwent handin Mongolia Autonomous Region, a family pasture unit hand,indicating a moreintensified use. Priorto the 1970s, should have 30 mu of forage cultivation and 9 mu of drylandfarming served as the main croppingpractice, planted grass (both irrigated),5,000-15,000 kg of green which, facilitatedby the dry,windy, and sandy environ- forageper year, 3,000 protective trees, over 50 percent of good breed sheep, about 20-30 sheep offtakesevery year, and an income of over 750 yuan/capita.To do so, household membersneed to master properagricultural . i i il iii ii i i :::i::::: ..ii... •i•ill i•i techniques (Jiang 1999, 154). In Uxin Ju, althoughthe amount of land cultivatedand trees plantedby a household does not reach the above standard,the spirit of pastoralmanagement and developmentis the same. Not only has land use become more intensive, the pastoraleconomy has also grown. Figure 4 shows two importantmeasures of this growth:per capitanet income and livestock death rates. The current per capita net income, although unadjustedfor inflation, indicates an enhancedeconomy, which was confirmedas interviewees reported an increase of household durable goods and consumption.For example,motorcycles were rarein the Figure2. Plantedshrubs. 1970s and televisionsets were nonexistent,but by 2001,

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2500 18.00 Income outcomes, which broughtabout a second reasonfor the - (Yuan/Person) . Livestock Death rates () 16.00 loweringof livestock numbers:an increasedofftake rate 2000- 14.00 under the marketeconomy. Compared with a less than ' K 12.00 20-25 percentofftake before 1978, householdsnow have S1500 p"i 1110.800 a destockingratio of 30-35 percent,75 percentof whichis 1 S8.0oo sold to the market 1999, The third 1000 ' (interviews, 2001). 6.00 reason has to do with the reduction of goats. Goats, a - 500 ' 4.00 traditionallivestock in Uxin Ju,are agileand adaptwell to 2.00 the coarseshrubs of the dryenvironment. They arehighly 0 0.00 resilientand so requireless care.In the age of pastureland 1958 1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 Year management and human intervention, however, these positivefeatures of goatsbecome their liability;they tend Figure 4. Changing pastoraleconomy: Per capita net income and to overgraze the pastureland when overstocked and livestock death rates. destroy the newly planted trees and shrubs.To protect pastureland,the goat populationwas reduced and im- about 40 percentof householdsowned a motorcycleand proved-breed,fine-hair sheep were increased.In 1978, 70 percenthad a televisionset. Annualmeat consumption the goat-sheep ratio decreasedto 1.08:1 from 2.7:1 in increasedfrom 10 kg in the 1970s to 100 kg per person 1958 (Figure 5). By 1997, the total number of goats (interviews,1998, 2001). The death rate of live- in Uxin was 324, while numbered68,934. 1999., Ju only sheep stock indicatesthe economy'svulnerability to the short- While conversionfrom goat to improvedsheep varieties age of cold season forage and naturaldisasters such as increasedlabor requirementsin disease prevention and drought.Due to a high vulnerability,the death rate was fodder and feed provision, it also brought increased high and highlyvariable before the 1980s.But it has since income fromthe sellingof fine wool. declined sharplyand remainedconsistently low, pointing to the stabilityof the pastoraleconomy. One explanation Land Use and Cultural Identity for the low death rate is that more care is devoted to livestock husbandryby the households;another impor- Althoughsome Mongols have becomefarmers in Inner tant reasonhas to do with the additionalforage and feed Mongolia,for pastoralMongols such as those in Uxin Ju, providedby the cultivatedcrops and plantedtrees, shrubs livestock grazinghas been an importantaspect of their and grass. Mongolianidentity. During the 1950s, the Inner Mon- Changes in livestock, another aspect of the pastoral golian regionalgovernment promoted livestock grazing economy, are closely related to land use and pasture as the "Mongolianeconomy" (Ulanhu 1990). Contrasting management.The decrease in total livestock numbers the Mongols with the Chinese, Lattimore (1940) con- afterthe late 1980s, as shown in Figure5, is attributedto siders them to be grazingand farmingcultures. Clearly, three factors.First, during the 1970s, governmentpolicy landuse is morethan an issueof the economyand manage- emphasizedlivestock numbers,thus encouragingover- ment of the environment-it also concerns cultural stocking.Total livestock numbers increased rapidly from identities.How have the Mongolsof Uxin Ju dealt with 49,977 in 1958 to a peakof morethan 100,000in the early the issue of culturalidentity as they adopt croppingand 1970s.After the 1980s,emphasis was shiftedto economic other intensive land use that are more "Chinese"than "Mongolian"?With such behavioralassimilation, have they, as some assert,become Chinese?To understandthe 3.50 120,000 issue of Mongolian cultural identity, I examined two Total livestock - 3.00 100,00000 -" factors that draw the Mongols away from grazing:farming ." - o - 2.50 . 80,000 and urban life. .z•.. 60,000- 2.00 Farming has exerted a significant influence on Mon- - 1.50 golian culture. As discussed earlier, the Mongols actively 40,000 1.00 seek to learn Chinese approaches to land management, - 20,000 ratio 0.50 E .Goat/sheep 0.50 and farming has become an important ingredient in the 0.00 some feel forced to farm-forced z o0 •.. pastoral economy. Yet, 1958 1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 both by society at large and by their own desire for a better Year life. Barlaji,who was not only a pioneer in well digging but Figure 5. Change in livestock. also among the first to cultivate corn, commented:

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Wefeel cheated by the Chinese:our ancestors did not farm importantpart of their future plans (interviews, 1998, butnow we are forced to farm.Farming isvery hard. But if we 1999, 2001). goback to thegrazing life of the past, I wouldnot be used to its In additionto farming,urban influences from Chahan- lowstandard of living any more. I amused to farmingnow--I miao Townprovide another source of changefor pastoral havebecome an experiencedfarmer. life. (Here, althoughurban influences do not come from He said the last sentence only half mockingly.A lot is the Chineseper se, they areoften conceivedas beingmore akin to the Chinese revealedin this briefquote. If croppingis "forced"upon lifestyleand ideologythan to those of them as Barlajiindicated, then it contradictswhat he said the Mongols.)The town was establishedin 1996 in order laterabout not wantingto give it up. Althoughtraditional to stimulate a local economy based on alkali resources sentiments still exist, it is the market forces that have extractedfrom the nearbyHaotong-chahan Lake and a come to dominateMongolian life. newly discoverednatural gas reserve.For the people of While some Mongolssubscribe to Barlaji'sviews, most UxinJu, Chahanmiao Town has come to representthe lure intervieweeswere more acceptingof farmingand believe of the modernand serves as a symbolof the good life.14 that farming is beneficial to livestock grazing. Corn Bettermaterial living conditions are the mainattraction of croppingprovides both forage (with its stalks) and feed Chahanmiao.Let me compareUxin Ju and Chahanmiao. (corn kernels) for livestock in the winter, the most The center of Uxin Ju is the most concentratedliving vulnerableseason for livestock.Tree and shrubplanting space in the rural area, populated by pastoralistsand staff.The total servesa similarpurpose by providingforage. Only a small government populationis aroundseveral percentage of households (5-10 percent), those with hundred.It has two storesselling everyday goods such as either fewersheep or largerareas of irrigation,have been beer,soft drinks, school supplies, and clothing. The variety able to sell corn, thus making cultivation an activity and style of goods in the stores remind me of the independentof livestockrearing. In general,not onlyhave governmentsupply shops operating during the commune era. The croppingand plantingnot ended the practiceof raising two familyrestaurants serve mainly guests of the livestock, they have served to enhance it. Livestock local government-with a local style of cooking,such as mutton cooked with and a local rearing also helps croppingby providing animal dung potatoes, style of service as manure. (e.g., saltedtea is servedfirst). The areaaround the Uxin a What has changedin livestockraising, however, is the Ju Templecan be considered publicspace whereyoung men There is one way livestock is tended. In the past, livestock grazedon play pool. privatelyoperated phone naturalpastureland, and only limited human labor was booth that is usuallyclosed. In Chahanmiao,by contrast, required,mostly for grasscutting to feed the livestockin one findsa largevariety of goodsand supplies.Numerous restaurantsand are found on the cold seasons.Now, significantlymore laboris requiredto shops main street. The raise livestock, from grasslandimprovements to fence open marketis crowdedwith stallsof vegetables,meats, and other household building,from cropping to caringfor the moredemanding clothes, supplies.Spacious cinemas, and officescreate a world different livestock of improvedvarieties. Market-oriented practi- libraries, post very from cality,however, has directedmy intervieweesto evaluate the surroundingsparsely populated pastoral areas. Private are the main street. increasedlabor requirements against economic gain and phone booths spacedregularly along Entertainmentin the formsof regardit as a "necessaryinput" into the pastoraleconomy. movies, videos, and dance halls is abundant.With its of Some, like Barlaji,complained that life was gettingbusier floatingpopulation nearly and that farmingis hard, but others, such as Qiqige, 10,000,mostly immigrants from outside the area,the town also a new to the believe that change such as this is a necessarypart of provides bustlingdiversity pastoralists. society.She commented: Modernity beckons to pastoralistsfrom the town, which offers realistic opportunities for upward mobility. is so traditions Society changing, many have to be changed; Lenient town regulations permit anyone who has lived [for example,] rice and dishes eating accompanying [the there for more than six months to be a permanent resident. Chinese way] is better than tea and millet drinking eating This is in stark contrast with other cities in China, which [the Mongoliantradition]. As income increases,beliefs also place strict limitations on immigration. It was with a hope have to change. for a better life that pastoralists like Barlaji and his family This attitude about change mirrors that of the larger moved to the town.15 About 10 families from Barlaji's Chinese society, which considers "change with time (yu shi home village (of approximately 70 households) have made ju bian)" as its motto in the era of globalization and the move, mostly those "whose minds are more flexible," modernization. Overall, whatever the level of acceptance as he put it. Some have skills in repairwork and carpentry, of farming, all my interviewees have made farming an and some do manual labor such as feeding boilers. Barlaji

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 130 Jiang established a car wash business that relied mostly on manuallabor. Unlike Barlaji,most familiesremained in the pastoral areabut sent theiryoung daughters and sons to town-or rather,their daughters and sons decided to live in town.To ...... : --:::iiii--i-::'i--::-__ most youngpeople, pastoral life is limitedand boring;the good life exists in the town. Due to abundantservice- oriented business in Chahanmiao,it is easy for young women to securejobs. Young men tend to workas short- term manual laborers.As a result, more young women ...... : -iiiii---- ::::--__-_:::ii..... :::ii- -i ::: :: ::::::- : than young men have moved to Chahanmiao,upsetting the ratioof malesand females who areof marriageableage -:--_...-._i-i:----i:_-i--i::::_:.....--:__..--...-..i-:-iiiiiii~--: :::::: ::::::: :::::...... iiii:-: in the pastoralarea. My interviews with several single men ...... -wo-:_ii...... -:01:::: ...... _:i--::iiii ....iiiiiii :---::--:i-iii~-:i:i:-~--iii~:--:-i-j_-:: -:-::-::--:::-::--:--_ :::::::::::::::-::j_:_ :-::i~i-- -::-::---i - i- _::--i:::::::::::::::::::: i...... : i: ::-- ...... , : :: :: : : in their20s and30s revealedthat thereare not manysingle ...... womenof similarage availablein the pastoralarea. Of the ...... :: ...... iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii five poorfamilies I interviewed,three had 30- to 40-year- ...... old sonswho couldnot findlocal womento marry.As they remainsingle, their dream for a betterfuture is frustrated. This is not to saythat beingsingle caused poverty for these men; rather,they were poor to startwith and most have low-qualitypastureland, and thereforethey aredisadvan- tagedwhen it comes to attractingwomen, who arein high demand.Mongolian women are known as hard-workers and tend to undertakemore work in the household;single men thus do not benefitfrom valuable female labor in the familyeconomic life. By attracting a largenumber of young women away from the pastoralarea, Chahanmiaohas become a threatening element to the social order of that area. Figure 6. Mongolian banner in the backgroundof irrigatedcorn- With farmingand urbanlife attractingMongols away field.The coexistence of theMongolian banner and corn cultivation from traditionalnomadic grazing,how do they face the epitomizedMongolian cultural change. issue of culturalidentity? During interviews, not a single Mongol viewed him- or herself as becoming less Mon- golianbecause of these culturalchanges. When I asked, Wang,and Wu 1997) and the Mongolpastoralists whom "Whatdo you think distinguishesthe Mongolsfrom the I interviewed. Chinese?"the followingcultural features were the most This shiftin the identificationof the Mongolianculture frequentlymentioned by my interviewees:the Mongolian can be understoodas an active adjustmentof Mongolsto language,the bannersymbol that is hung in frontof every the rapidlychanging society. Since all cultures change, Mongolianhouse (Figure6), and the portraitof Genghis often throughinteraction with the outside worldor other Khan.16These responses are illuminating,given that cultures,it shouldnot come as a surprisethat Mongolian livestockgrazing, seen as the "Mongolianeconomy" just cultural practices have changed significantly during four decades ago, is no longer consideredan important recent decades under economic reform. The Mongols feature of the Mongolian cultural identity. It seems are now livestock herdersand farmers,as well as urban Mongolian identity is no longer linked with grazing or dwellers.Although governmentpolicies and the market any particular types of land use, but with such symbolic economy during the reform era have hastened such features as language and heritage. Instead of emphasizing change, the Mongolshave been active agentsin bringing pastoralism, Mongols now focus on economic develop- about such transformationsin land use and cultural ment, be it through grazing,cropping, or wage labor in the identity. The shift in Mongolian identity toward the city or town. Economic development is seen as an symbolic opens space for the Mongols to adopt new important indicator of ethnic development (min zu fa (mostlyChinese) land-use and other (such as dietaryand zhan). This view is held not only by the Chinese housing) practices, while at the same time remaining government but also by Mongolian scholars (e.g., Bao, Mongolian. In other words, the Mongols have used

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Cooperation,Land Use, and the Environmentin Uxin Ju 131 i::~i:~::ii::: NW,::::l. ."::" intensive land-use practices, those influenced by the ...... ":':'`:'^':;I: Chinese,as theirown resourcesin orderto gaineconomic benefits.Their shift to the symbolicin culturalidentifica- tion makestheir interactionswith the Chinese and their ...... ~:;i~~i:'::i~~i~i:(:i-~i-::~i::i:L~:.:~::""~ ......

o "N 'i:::::i~~i ii~i:i:i~ of new land-use ':':' ~ adoption practicesculturally empowering...... :::i::::::::::::::::::??:?:-: ::...... :::

Environmental Consequences If economic-culturaltransformations brought by land- use changehas been largelypositive, their environmental consequencesare rathermixed. On the sandydryland of UxinJu, as parts of the landscapeare improved, other parts are sandified.The entire landscape has become more homogenizedspatially; thus, its regenerativecapacity is Figure 7. Uxin Ju's sandy landscape. You can see the mixture of compromised.These landscape changes can be seen shrubbyvegetation and moving sand dunes. vividlyfrom space on remote-sensingimages. This section detailsthe analysesof remote-sensingimages and ground- waterecology that lead to the conclusionas summarized after the 1950s and have become more importantsince above.The implicationsof such environmentaloutcomes the 1980s. will be discussed. Remote-sensingimages of 1973 (Multi-SpectralScan- ner), 1986, and 1997 (ThematicMapper) are used forthis Remote-Sensing Analysis study.All naturalland-cover types can be discernedon the 1973 images: typical and degraded Artemisia (and/or Given the rural nature of Uxin Ju, environmental Caraganaspp.) shrub, Salix vegetation, lowland Carex and change is measuredthrough changes in vegetation, soil, Achnatherumgrass, moving sand, and water bodies. and their spatial patterns. Remote-sensingimages are Plantedtrees existed but weretoo patchyto be recognized used to detect changein land cover,which is then linked with the images'80 by 80 meter pixel resolution.There- with land use and sandy-landecology. With the unique fore, they are collapsedinto typical shrubbyvegetation. sandytexture of land in Uxin Ju, one importantindicator On the 1986 images, spatial resolution increased with of vegetation and soil qualitiesand their change is the their pixel size of 30 by 30 meters, and good qualitySalix degree to which sand is activated, a process called vegetation and trees are recognizable.On the 1997 "sandification."The degree of sandificationis an easily images,one morevegetation type, cropland, can be found. recognizableland-cover characteristic on remote-sensing All imagesare classifiedbased on a supervisedclassifica- images. For this reason, I combine vegetation and soil tion method." I focus on the followingland-cover types change in my analysisof land-coverchange. in the analysisof landscapechange: area and coverageof Beforediscussing land-cover change, I introducebasic moving sand as measuresof vegetation and soil degrada- land-covertypes. Uxin Ju'slandforms consist primarily of tion,s8 and high-quality land-cover types (including sandyupland (liang) separated by depressedlowland (tan). typical Artemisiashrub, Salix vegetation, and human- Sand dunes are typicallyfound between the uplandsand producedvegetation types) as measuresof vegetationand lowlandsas well as on the uplands.While shrubbyspecies soil improvement.The aggregationof land covers com- such as Artemisiaordosica and Caraganaspp. can establish pensatefor the lack of accuracycaused by the omissionof themselveson the sandyland, a considerableproportion of tree and croplandcovers in the classificationsof 1973 and the landscape is covered by moving sand (Figure 7). 1986 images. Crescent-shaped sand dunes are often formed, arching Figure8 shows the resultsof the land-coverclassifica- toward the northwest, the direction of prevailing wind. tion in the areasurrounding the UxinJu center, and Figure Salix psammophila shrubs can be found on the lower 9 summarizesland-cover change from 1973 to 1997. The leeward side of the dunes where water conditions are more first category (in Figure 9), moving sand and bareland favorable. On the lowland, water conditions are the most (most of which was moving sand activatedon lowland), favorable, and one finds Carex duriusculaand Achnather- increasedfrom 1973 to 1986 to 1997, indicatinga trend um splendens grassland, the best pasture. The human- of increase in sandificationand degradation,especially made vegetation types, notably planted trees, shrubs, between 1973-1986. A simultaneousprocess of vegeta- grass, and cropland, were introduced into the landscape tion improvementcoexists, as is shownin the second and

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 132 Jiang

moving sand on the one end and vegetation of high biomasson the other.This intermediatecategory has been reducedin area,while at the same time, land-covertypes on both ends have increased. In other words, the landscapehas become increasinglypolarized into "good" and "bad"lands, with the productionof biomassredis- tributedspatially in the process. The spatial distributionof these "good"and "bad" lands has also become 1973 1986 increasinglycontiguous. Spatial patterns of the landscapeare analyzedusing a spatial- SArtemisia shrub diversitymeasurement. It is derived the shrub by calculating SDegraded spatialrichness of land-coverclasses within a certainunit UmCropland Lowlandgrass area, with the followingequation (in a 7 by 7 moving * Bareland windowof imagepixels): Salixshrub [ Movingsand Diversity= - (p.In p) * Trees * Waterbody wherep is the proportionof each classin the window,and

4kmX-N J Indenotes a naturallogarithm. The equationis similarto S Center the Shannonentropy index (see Eastman1997). 1997 The analysis of the spatial-diversitymeasurement Figure 8. Land-coverchange from 1973 to 1997. indicates a drasticdecline from 1973 to 1997. Average diversitydecreased from 0.86 in 1973 to 0.77 in 1986 and to 0.57 in 1997, and the histogramof spatial diversity third categories.Although good-qualityvegetation re- becameincreasingly skewed to the left in comparisonwith mainedabout the same in the area, the most productive a normaldistribution, indicating an increase in areasof land covers (including trees, highly productive shrubs low spatialdiversity. The decreaseof spatial diversityis and cropland)increased significantly, especially between markedthrough sharpened boundaries between different 1986-1997, correspondingwith the period of rapid land covers and largercontiguous coverage of the same increasein plantingand cropping.Overall, the landscape covertype. The sharpboundaries around moving sand and of Uxin Ju has experienced both degradation and green vegetation areas on the bottom part of the 1997 improvement. image can be observedin Figure8. The landscapehas While the categoryof "waterbody" will be discussed become morehomogeneous, a troublesomefinding given later,the last category,"other," includes degraded natural that, in general, landscape of greater spatial diversity vegetation, or land cover of intermediatequality, with providesmore opportunities for regenerationand is more resilient (Formanand Gordon 1986). Clearly,moving sand, if mixed with vegetation, has a better chance of 60 being vegetated when precipitationis abundant, with annual species initially and perennialshrubs eventually 50- taking root. As moving sand congregatesspatially, the natural is and more 40- revegetativecapacity compromised, human effortis needed to revegetatemoving sand. 30o- Linkingland cover with land use helps us understand the consequences of land-use practices and their change. 20 The increase in human-improved land covers clearly relates to increased and but the 10- planting cropping, increase in moving sand has more complicated causes.

0 Frequent droughts in recent years19 and increased 1973 1986 1997 intensity in grazing after the pastureland was fenced (see Year Jiang forthcoming) have contributed to the expansion of and Bareland * Moving Sand N Good-QualityVegetation sand. Indirectly, intensive land use, although bringing * Most ProductiveLand Cover F] WaterBody E Other about environmental improvement in certain locations, Figure 9. Land-covercompositions (percent) inUxinJu, 1973-1997. has contributed to the expansion of sand in other

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Cooperation,Land Use, and the Environmentin Uxin Ju 133 locations, causing unintended consequences. The me- No systemicstudy has been conductedon the changeof chanismsthrough which land improvement contributes to the groundwatertable in Uxin Ju; however, indirect land degradationcan be understoodthrough the ecology evidence is comprehensiveenough to suggest its occur- of groundwater. rence. The firstsuch evidence concernsthe reductionof waterbodies on the land surface.Figure 9 showsthat area Linking Different Parts of the Landscape: of waterbodies continuously decreased from 1973 (5,326 The Ecology of Groundwater ha) to 1986 (4,610 ha) and to 1997 (2,433 ha). These waterbodies are connected with the shallowgroundwater Although poor in precipitation,Uxin Ju is rich in (i.e., the groundwatertable is the same as the level of groundwater,which is contained in two aquifers,one surfacewater), so theirreduction indicates the loweringof shallowand one deep. Currently,shallow groundwater is the groundwatertable. The secondkind of evidencecomes accessedby most irrigationequipment. The main supply fromfield interviews.Most intervieweeshad noticed the comes from precipitation;additions from other ground- reductionof surfaceand groundwaterin the tan lowland. water storages are only minor. The table of shallow One persondescribed his own experienceas follows: groundwateris indeedshallow. In tanlowland, it can be as WhenI was small [in the early 1970s], I usedto grazesheep in shallowas one to three metersfrom the surface.In liang the tanlowland. When I wasthirsty, I woulddig a holeinto sandyland, however, the groundwatertable can be as deep the sandwith my handsand wait for 10-15 minutes,and as 10 metersor more.Uxin does not have surfacewater Ju clearwater would accumulate. Now you cannotdig water and either or infiltrates outlets, precipitation evaporates withyour hands anymore [on the same location] -not even the sandy soil, seeping into the groundwater.Some withshovels. precipitationremains in lakes and seasonalwater bodies connected to groundwater.The rich supply of ground- The loweringof the watertable by two to three metersin waterenables the new and intensifiedland-use practices irrigationwells has been observedwidely. to occur.As a semiaridarea, Uxin Ju'senvironment could The intensified water-consumingland-use practices not supportthe concentratedplanting of trees, shrubs, have been sustained by the landscape so far. Because grass,and cropsif it werenot forits rich groundwater.This groundwaterreduction is a veryrecent phenomenon, local groundwatersupply is probablythe singlemost important people have not recognizedit as a seriousproblem. Local feature of the landscapethat has enabled the land-use government leaders and pastoralistsalike are sanguine change to occur. aboutthe currentand future use of groundwater.Similarly, Throughgroundwater, different parts of the landscape sandificationis not recognizedas an inevitableresult of areconnected. As discussedearlier, the Uxin Ju landscape land intensification.Most pastoralistsI interviewedsaw is becoming increasinglypolarized, with an increase of their futuresas basedon increasedland intensificationas both sandyland and highlyproductive vegetation types. well as sand control. Local leaders were even more The two seemingly divergent phenomena are, in fact, optimistic about the potential of the landscape. If the closelyconnected through groundwater. As treeand shrub current trend in land use continues, however,ground- plantingand crop irrigationincreased rapidly, the use of water reductionwill be worsened.Eventually, a critical groundwaterwas greater than its rateof replenishment.As state of wateravailability will be reached,making current a result, the groundwatertable has been gradually land use practiceimpossible to sustain.As Uxin Ju joins reduced.On sandyland, the groundwatertable was deep with manyof the world'sdrylands in its experienceof land- to startwith and has now been loweredeven further.The use-inducedgroundwater depletion (e.g., Chandrakanth water-sensitiveSalix vegetation on the lower leewardof and Romm 1990; Al-Ibrahim1991), lack of awarenessof the sand dune has slowly died off, enabling the sand to be the situation will only exacerbate the problem. activated and areas of moving sand to increase. This expansion of sand has been further exacerbated by an Understanding Environmental Change increase in grazing intensity. Sandy areas thus become more contiguous, and the landscape increasingly homo- The paradoxicalenvironmental outcome in Uxin Ju geneous. The dual process of improvement and sandifica- throws into question the long-term sustainability of the tion suggests that in Uxin Ju, if certain landscapes are current trend in land-use and cultural change. In modern improved, certain other landscapes will be deprived and times, the human-environment relationship has not been degraded. It further suggests that the more humans symmetrical. Humans have played a dominant role, attempt to improve the land, the more polarized the changing and controlling the processes and production landscape will become. of the ecosystem (Turner et al. 1990; Kasperson, Kasper-

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 134 Jiang son, and Turner1995). Uxin Ju is no exception. Given for grazing,the homogenizationof the landscapeunder- increased human capacity to modify the environment, mines the natural revegetation, and the reduction of nature is seen as having a flexible and stretchablelimit, groundwaterlevel signifiesa potentialproblem in the long one that is often overestimated.Adaptation has not run. The landscapeholds a limit to human exploitation. prioritizedthe environmentbut has respondedto socio- The Mongolsin UxinJu have come to contendwith sucha economic and culturalchanges, such as marketdemands limit, and the resultshave favoredthe human economy and the influence of outside technologies and values. over nature'srenewal. It remainsan importantquestion Economic-culturaladaptations may not be, and often whether,and especiallyhow long, the environmentcan times are not, consistentwith the health of the environ- supportthe currenttrend of intensive land use. ment. Thus, environmentaldamages may result.In Uxin An importanttheme in this study is the relationship Ju, such damages come mixed with environmental amongcooperation, power, and the environment.In ex- improvement,making it harderfor the local inhabitants ploringlocal initiativesin land-usechange, I highlighted to perceivenature's limitations. the importanceof the Mongols'cooperative relationships However extendableby technology,nature does hold with the Chinesestate and the Han Chinesepeople. Since its limit, and nature'secologies work consistently, if only the 1980s,modernization and intensiveland use have not quietly.As a result, even as humansattempt to improve only been promotedby the Chinesegovernment but they the environment, unintended negative outcomes may have alsobeen activelypursued by the Mongolsin UxinJu. occur-have occurred in Uxin Ju-through ecological The Mongols want and welcome modernization.This processes. Therefore, human use has to be constant- is not to say that they have always agreed with the ly adjusted in order to sustain the long-term pro- government;in fact, manycomplained about corrupt and ductivityof the environment.Socioeconomic and cultural unfairgovernmental officials. But those problemshave forcesdriving land-use change follow certainprogressive not underminedthe Mongols' active adoption of new trends,however, making environmentally sound land-use land-use practices.Problems and drawbacksof China's adjustment difficult, if not impossible. This difficulty privatizationnotwithstanding (e.g. Hinton 1990), the speaksto the fundamentaldilemma human societies face Mongolshave welcomed the policiesas a meansto achieve in relatingto the environment. a better life. Their participationin economic modernization rendersthe notion of "localresistance to the state" inadequate.They alsostrongly desire to be integratedinto Conclusion the market,a factorthat has become the most important considerationfor the Mongolsin planningtheir household In this article, I have examined the dynamics of economy.In pasturelandimprovement, a majorityof my Mongolianinteraction with the Chinese state and the intervieweesexpressed their desirefor more government Han Chinese people in affecting land use, cultural investmentin tree/shrubplanting in orderto improvethe identities, and the environmentin Uxin Ju, a Mongol- sandyland. The Mongolsof Uxin Ju want more of what dominatedborder area in China. Since the 1980s, in the the governmentpromotes, not less. They are active pur- context of China'seconomic reform, new and intensified suersof new land-usepractices, rather than slavesof the land-use practices such as tree and shrub planting, state policies.Given theirown initiativesand desires,they cropping,and irrigationhave increased rapidly.At the have to be seen as co-creators of their own life and sametime, the identificationof the Mongolianculture has environment.Therefore, their responsesto government shifted from material practices, especially land use, to policieshave to be seen as signsof theiractive cooperation, symbolicfeatures-the Mongolianlanguage and ancestry. ratherthan co-optation. Not only is land-use change encouraged by the Chinese The Mongols' cooperative relationship with the Chi- state, most of the newly adopted land-use practices are nese has also been crucial to land-use change in Uxin Ju. also associated with the Chinese, either directly through This article has focused on the Mongols, and my research technology or indirectly through ideology. The Mongols on the Chinese in an adjacent location found a similar have utilized their access to Chinese technology and level of mutual learning and benefit. While some scholars laborersto their own advantage in bringing about land-use view the Mongolian-Chinese relationship primarily as a change that helps strengthen their economic well-being. power relation in which the Mongols are the losers, my Land-use change has brought about both improvement empirical study in Uxin Ju shows that this image is and degradation to the environment. Although such misleading. Historically, Uxin Ju has not been a "pure" mixed consequences make an evaluation difficult, it is Mongolian place, but a place of mixed life and technology clear that the increase in moving sand reduces pastureland (Lattimore 1940, 481-83). During the period studied,

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Cooperation,Land Use, andthe Environmentin UxinJu 135 theMongols have benefited from communication with the effectiveway to gainlocal power. It often involves changes Chinese in the pursuitof land-useexpansion, and in both materialand discursiveprocesses, thus leading Chineselaborers working for the Mongolhouseholds to profoundsocial-environmental change. For such a dispelthe imageof the Mongolsas subordinates.While cooperativerelationship to exist, there has to be a the Mongolian-Chinesecultural mixing has been en- social-politicalsituation that allowsthe locals "room- hancedin theage of modernization, atthe same time, both for-maneuver"(Bebbington 2000) insteadof extreme peopleshave been influenced by newtechnologies (such oppressivesituations under which the onlyalternative to as the surface-filmingcropping technique) that are localresistance is socialand environmental destruction. neithertraditionally Chinese nor traditionally Mongolian. In postreform China, the looseningof centralcontrol has Uxin Ju is a bordernot onlybetween the Chineseand allowedthe localsconsiderable power to influenceland Mongols,but also between tradition and modernity. As a use and the environment,and it is my hope that borderland,Uxin Ju cannotbe reducedto any single globalization,with all its drawbackand negative impacts, ingredientin its hybridizedculture and landscape;any mayhelp localpeople in manyplaces around the world attemptto doso would only dilute the rich Mongolian life. gainthe powerto determinetheir own lives.Expanding Indeed,the verymixture is Mongolian,embodying all into the politicsof cooperationenhances the abilityof forcesat work.The Mongolsare border-crossers, expand- political-ecological studies to explorehuman-environ- ing to embraceland-use practices from outside its mentalchange under various state and local conditions. traditionalstores. Second, if environmentalsustainability is to be The cooperationof the Mongolsin UxinJu hasto be achieved,the state has to be relied on ratherthan understoodin the contextof Mongoliancultural change. abandoned.Given political ecology's critical view of the All cultureschange; the processof modernizationfurther state, it is not surprisingthat state policiesare often acceleratessuch changes.Given the profoundtransfor- perceivedto be at oddswith localcultures and desires. mationof the societyand landscape, which Uxin Ju has While local resistanceto state policiesoften occurs,it experiencedin the lasttwo decades, it is imperativethat cannotbe assumeda constantreality in alllocations. Not we as scholarsdo not takethe Mongolsand their culture only does the state not have to be an "enemy"(Moore hostageto thepast (see Rosaldo 1993). Rather, we have to 1996),it canalso be a constructiveforce, and the political, attendto changesin bothmaterial and symbolic practices. administrative,and financial power of the modern state has Forexample, although nomadic grazing was deemed the to be calledupon in orderto protectthe environment (see mostimportant aspect of Mongolianculture in the past,it also,Buttel 1998). Culturally, there exists a widearray of failsto identifythe modernMongols. Instead of landuse, conceptionsabout the statedue to the diversehistories Mongolsseek to identifyMongolian culture through such of differentpeoples. In traditional Confucian thought, the symbolicfeatures as languageand heritage.Through stateheld the ultimate authority as the mandate of heaven shiftingmeanings attached to land-usepractices, they vested in the emperor.Although the thronewas not have effectivelymaintained their Mongoliancultural alwaysoccupied by a sage,this ideal remained significant identity,making land-use adoption a meansof empower- in theChinese mind. Even today, the Chinese tend to look mentrather than a signof colonizationand oppression. uponthe state as able to seecorrectly and to doright. More In the faceof changingmaterial practices, the "local"or often than not, they seek to cooperatewith the state. "indigenous"is maintainedin the symbolic.20The TraditionalMongols had a similardesire to follow a Mongols'changing cultural identification also helps us heavenlymandated heroic leader to harmonyand happi- understandthat theircooperation is a strategythrough ness (Wuyunbatuand Gegengaowa2001). In Uxin Ju which they gain power culturally,economically, and today, the Mongolshave welcomedthe post-reform symbolically.This speaks to the changing meanings of policies and consideredthe state as a valuablefinancial both the materialand the symbolic(Moore 1996). Both and organizationalresource for the developmentof this have to be viewed as being more fluid than historical pastoralarea. sedimentssince both can be reworkedand reinterpreted Lastly,a formof politicsis not invariablylinked to one to serve currentneeds. particularenvironmental outcome; local cooperation does Implicationsof this study for political ecology are not implyenvironmental sustainability. The coexistence threefold. First, to engage in a diverse set of politics, of improvementand degradation is not uniqueto Uxin Ju, politicalecology needs to pay more attention to coopera- but common in human-environmental interactions tive relationshipsand theirenvironmental consequences. (Blaikieand Brookfield1987). If we take the view that Here,cooperation has to be assessedbased on voluntarism environmentaldegradation is targetedto the lesspowerful and local initiatives.Such cooperationcan be the most groupin a powerdifferential, then the Mongolswould be

This content downloaded from 80.188.25.114 on Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:40:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 136 Jiang the bearersof degradation,which would have been collectiveinfrastructure in agriculturalareas and an increase brought on by the Chinese state and Chinese people, in peasants' discontent and environmentaldegradation. Williams 2001) a caseof socialand considered the more "powerful" entity and group. In (1996, presents ecological decline about Ross(1987, the instead of brought bygrassland privatization. addition, Mongols' cooperation, resistance, 1988) and Smil (1984, 1993), althoughaware of China's would further exacerbate the destruction of the environ- effortto reducechemical pollution in urbanareas, believe ment. These speculations, however, have not borne out in that the rural problem of land degradationhas been this study.In Uxin Ju, while the state'ssingle-minded exacerbatedby reformpolicies. Others scholars,however, assertthat postreform social-environmental change has been economic pursuit in environmental management has led one of improvement.Runnastrom (2000), for example, to environmental local negative consequences, cultural throughremote-sensing analysis, concludes that tree cover changeand limitations in localenvironmental knowledge has increasedin the Ordos region.A numberof Chinese have alsocontributed to environmentaldegradation. In scholarsagree with the assessmentof environmentalim- the reformera Lu et Guo the meantime, both the state and the local people have provementduring (e.g., al. 1996; and These different social-environmental to the the Wang 1998). attempted improve environment-indeed, scenariosdemonstrate what Muldavin(2000, 267) calls "a degradation is partly an unintended result of such an diverse rangeof environmentaloutcomes" based on local attempt. This complicated situation makes the identifica- socio-economicand environmentalprocesses. Decentraliza- tion of "the destroyer" of the environment a daunting tion since the 1980s has enhanced cultural, historical, task,and it challengesresearchers to groundany broad- and environmentalheterogeneity, making generalizations of environmentaloutcomes difficult (Oakes 1996). research based theories of the human-environment in My relationship findingsin Uxin Ju fall between the two poles of environ- empirical realities of a region. mentaldegradation and improvement, thereby adding to the existing scholarshipon China's postreformsocioenviron- mentalchange. Acknowledgments 2. The selection processis close to but not strictlystratified random. In choosing households from each category of Financialsupport for this researchwas providedby economic status, poor transportationconditions dictated Universityof Iowa (Central Investment Fund for Research thatI selecthouseholds that were relatively easier to accessby Enhancement),University of Wisconsinat Madison a localjeep. 3. Chinesebut not All in Uxin (GraduateSchool Research and Normal I speak Mongolian. Mongols Ju Fund), Beijing can speak some Chinese but most are more comfortable University(a visiting scholarship at the KeyLaboratory of speakingMongolian. For this reason,I solicitedthe help of a Environmental Change and Natural Disaster). The Mongolian-Chineseinterpreter. Although my direct commu- CartographyLab at Universityof Wisconsinat Madison nication with the informantswas compromised,the inter- assistedin I thankthe inhabitants preter'stranslation gave me timeto takenotes andformulate makinggraphics. many without the flowof conversations. in Uxin whohave me understandtheir life and my responses interrupting Ju helped 4. Banner,sum, and gachaare all administrativeunits, equiva- landscape.I amgrateful to Yi-FuTuan and Robert Sack, lent of county,township, and village, respectively. Uxin Ju is a who have inspiredthis work, providedstimulating sum-leveladministrative area. discussions,and commentedon earlyversions of the 5. Only those who are considered"rural residents" have been contractedpastureland. In 1992,Chinese accounted for only manuscript. Many thanks to Roger Kasperson, William 10 percentof the total population.A later increasein the Karl Matt Leila Karl Cronon, Zimmerer, Turner, Harris, Chinese populationcame from immigrantswho work in Ryavec, and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful the town of Chahanmiao.These immigrantsdo not have comments and constructive suggestions on previous accessto use the pastureland. drafts.Richard Hennessey provided crucial support and 6. Some scholarsassert that the Chinese socialiststate has in the thanks to oppressedthe Mongolsin InnerMongolia and degradedits helped editing.My special go Jeanne environment(Sneath 2000; Williams2001). While this has Kasperson, whose hand-written comments on an early been largelytrue historically (see Lattimore1932, 1940), the draft serve for me a warm memory of her encouragement Mongolsduring the reformera have utilizedChinese state and inspiration. policies and their access to Chinese technologiesfor their ownbenefit in bringingabout desired land-use and economic change. Uxin Ju does not easily fit within the theory of Notes marginalizationas postulatedby the neo-Marxistpolitico- economic analysis (Watts 1983; Susman, O'Keefe, and 1. It is importantto recognizethat humans not onlydegrade the Wisner 1983), nor does it reflectthe premiseof liberation environmentbut alsoimprove it (Fairheadand Leach1996; as allegedby the Chinesegovernment. Given such compli- Zimmerer1996; Brookfield2001). Scholarshipon China's cated historicaldynamics, the Mongols'collaborative rela- human-environmentalchange during the reformera points tionshipwith the Chinesestate and people as presentedin to opposite assessments of decline and improvement. this articleshould be understoodas a predominantphenom- Muldavin(1997), for example,maintains that privateland enon occurringduring the postreformera, rather than a use initiated by economic reformcaused a breakdownof generalhistorical reality.

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7. The mu is a Chinese arealmeasurement unit; 15 mu = 1 incorrectlyclassified into various classes of shrub-Salix hectare. shrub, typical Artemisia (and/or Caragana)shrub, and 8. In the studyof pastoralism,mobility is seen as powerand a degraded shrub--in descending qualities. On one site, sign of freedom. Part of the power of mobility is the plantingsof medicinalherbs were classifiedinto tree cover. opportunityit allowsfor "transcultural conversations" (Tsing All cases of incorrectclassification, however, were assigned 1993, 150). Mobility'spros and cons aside, it is not a the correctcorrespondent land coverwith regardto quality. preconditionfor culturalconversation in Uxin Ju. In fact, Forexample, degraded lowland pasture was assigned"degra- because of the need to adopt new land-use practices, dedshrub" and good-quality lowland pasture was assigned "Salix transculturalcommunication and interactionhave become shrub"or "typicalshrub." Given that the misclassificationis even morecrucial and intensefor the sedentarizedMongols spatiallycontinuous over largeareas, it has minimalimpact in Uxin Ju. on the calculationof spatialdiversity. In lightof my aggrega- 9. Farmingis not a new phenomenonin InnerMongolia. The tion of land covers based on qualities (see Figure9), the cultivationof the InnerMongolia grassland started in the Han misclassificationdoes not have any significantimpact on Dynasty (206 BCE-220 BCE); since the Ming Dynasty the analysisof landcover change. As for the accuracyof the (1366-1644), Chinese controlhas acceleratedthe conver- 1973 and 1986 images,given the high degreeof mobilityof sion of grasslandinto cropland.By 1949 when the Commu- the sandyland and changesin land cover,they cannot be nists took over,about 20 percentof Mongolswere farmers, assessedin the field.I did,however, compare the classification and altogetherfarming was alreadya significantpart of the resultsof the 1986images with an existingvegetation map of economyfor three-quartersof Mongols. Uxin bannercompiled in 1987.This vegetation map covers a 10. I did visit Taoliand Henan duringthe summerof 2000, and much largerarea; therefore, it was highlygeneralized. The Manduhu'sremark was confirmed. In Taoli,for example, land generalpattern of landcover, however, is consistentwith my use and the economyare similarto Uxin Ju, but the scaleis classifiedmap. The last sourcefor accuracyassessment was larger:each householdowns more sheep, has largerpastures, visualinterpretation. Although it haslargely been abandoned andsome have up to 50 muof irrigatedcropland. Long-term, with the advent of digital processingtechnology, visual live-in laborershave become a new phenomenon.Most interpretationis veryuseful in this study,especially for sand Mongolsthere are fluentin Chinese,the languagein which dunes, which are clearlyrecognizable visually on the com- interviewswere conducted. positeimages. Visual comparison confirms the consistencyof 11. This percentagedoes not include sandy wasteland, the sand cover between the compositeimages and classified improvementrate of which is much lower. Furthermore, results. plantingis onlyapplied to sandyland; lowland grass provides 18. Giventhe dryclimate and sandysoil, moving sand dunes are much better pastures,and the only improvementmeasure a natural part of the landscape.They became a sign of thereis enclosure.Therefore, households that receivedmore degradationonly after human activitiescaused their areal lowlandpasture have smallareas of improvedplanting. expansion. 12. It is noteworthythat in China's farmingareas, average 19. My analysis,however, does not supporta clear trend of croplandper householdis less than 8 mu (Liu 1992). In desiccation:the linearregression between annual precipita- comparison,land resources in Uxin Ju are abundant. tion and time (year1970-1997) yieldsa coefficientof only 13. Abouthalf of the irrigatedfield is devotedto corn,35 percent - 0.0063. to broomcornmillet, a traditionalfood. The remaining15 20. Not all Mongoliancultural practices have given way;some percentis plantedsunflowers, potatoes, and vegetables. remain and are even enhanced in the reform era. For 14. In China,the city and the countrysidehave been positioned example,hospitality, an importantMongolian tradition, has oppositeto each other,with the formerrepresenting a life expandedrather than contractedin recent years (see note of progressand materialabundance, and the lattera site of 16), andmy interviewees attribute this expansionto a better backwardnessand poverty.During the 1960s and 1970s, economiclife. eliminatingthe urban-ruraldivide was one of the goals of the socialistregime. The divideremains, however, and for the upwardlymobile countrydwellers, one sure place to go is the city. References 15. They moved to the town in 1997 and later moved back to theirpastoral home in 1999. Agrawal,A. 1998. Greenerpastures: Politics, markets, and commu- 16. Hospitalitywas also mentioned as a Mongoliancultural nity amonga migrantpastoral people. 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Since land covers are considerably fa zhang (Coordinateddevelopment of grasslandecological diverseon the sandyland, instead of checkingfor a singleland economy).Hohhot: Nei Meng Gu Ren Min Chu Ban She cover,I documentedland cover patternsaround each site, (InnerMongolia People's Press). againstwhich the classificationimage of 1997was compared. Bassett,T. 1988.The politicalecology of peasant-herderconflicts Sevenof 50 sites,or 14 percent,were inaccurately classified, 6 in the northernIvory Coast. Annalsof the Associationof of whichinvolved lowland pasture on the ground,which was AmericanGeographers 77 (3): 453-72.

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Correspondence:Department of Geography,384 Science Hall, Universityof Wisconsin,Madison, WI 53706, email:hjiang @geography.wisc.edu.

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