Introducing China

Environ Biol Fish (2009) 86:1–9 DOI 10.1007/s10641-009-9440-4 Introducing China David L. G. Noakes Received: 4 January 2009 /Accepted: 18 January 2009 /Published online: 28 January 2009 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2009 For many years I have told my students that the The many historical sites, and even the popular tourist answer to any question is “China”. There is, of locations, proved to be necessary and informative as course, more than a grain of truth in that assertion. part of the larger context. But for a country with a recorded history of One thing was clear to me. There had to be a 4,000 years and a current population of more than special volume of Environmental Biology of Fishes one billion people this might seem little more than devoted to papers from colleagues in China, to let mere probability. I first visited China in 2005 and them present their research to the international could see for myself the truth of that statement. scientific community. Suzanne Mekking, our Publish- Chinese colleagues I met at the World Fisheries er at Springer, had recently been to China for her own Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2004 first visit. She enthusiastically supported my idea for arranged everything for me. I visited universities, the dedicated volume on China, and so it grew from research institutions, museums and aquaculture facil- there. I contacted those colleagues I had met in China ities. I gave lectures to groups of eager students and and encouraged them to develop and deliver manu- senior colleagues. I was hosted graciously everywhere scripts. I had recently added Professor Yingqi Zhou to I traveled, including Beijing (Figs. 1a, b, c), the Great our Advisory Editorial Board. He agreed to join me as Wall (Fig. 2), the Ming Tombs (Fig. 3), Wuhan a Co-Editor of the China Volume and he immediately (Fig. 4), the Chang Jiang River (Fig. 5) and the Three began contacting his colleagues, solicited manu- Gorges Project (Fig. 6). The kindness, generosity and scripts, and co-authored his own contributions. courage of my hosts, the unbridled enthusiasm of the As chance would have it, another of our Advisory students and the enormity of the teaching and research Editors, Aldemero Romero, contacted me in 2006 and activity on fishes and fish biology overwhelmed me. asked if I would be interested in a special issue of Environmental Biology of Fishes devoted to the incredible story of hypogean fishes in China, to be put together by him and his colleague, Yahui Zhao. I immediately informed him of the ongoing China volume and incorporated their hypogean proposal. D. L. G. Noakes (*) We solicited manuscripts, reviewed and edited them Fisheries and Wildlife Department, and now we present the volume, like an elaborate Oregon Hatchery Research Center, scientific banquet (Fig. 7). Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-3803, USA We have brought together manuscripts by e-mail: [email protected] authors from research institutions, universities and Reprinted from the journal 1 Environ Biol Fish (2009) 86:1–9 Fig. 1 a My colleague and guide in China, Jianzhong Shen, in the Forbidden City, Beijing. b The entrance to Tian’ anmen Square, Beijing. c The clock count- ing down to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing government agencies. There is aquaculture, life (Fig. 11), and the most common food species, grass history, genetics, marine and freshwater biology, carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). conservation, physiology, new species descriptions, We had several objectives in publishing this special and of course the amazing hypogean fishes. There volume. I have already stated my initial intention after are papers dealing with some of the largest fishes, my visit to China. Certainly the primary purpose was to such as the Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) provide Chinese colleagues the opportunity to publish (Figs. 8a, b), and some of the smallest cave species. their individual manuscripts in an English language We have papers dealing with some of the most journal in a highly competitive international scientific traditional forms of aquaculture (Fig. 9) and others climate. We wanted to publish as broad a collection of with the most modern molecular techniques papers as possible, to give a sense of the current state of (Fig. 10). We have papers on the most threatened fish biology in China. We wanted to publish information fishes, the Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius) on rare and threatened species, and how China is dealing 2 Reprinted from the journal Environ Biol Fish (2009) 86:1–9 with that situation, particularly in light of our series on Threatened Fishes of the World in Environmental Biology of Fishes. The situation of Chinese hypogean fishes is of course remarkable. There are so many species, most described only recently, and much of that literature as yet unknown to those of us who cannot read the Chinese language. Those fishes clearly deserve as much attention as this publication can bring to them. We also invited as many Chinese colleagues as possible as external reviewers of manuscripts, to include their evaluations, opinions and perspectives. It is as important to have reviewers and editors, as it is to have authors. So is the answer, China? There is perhaps an inevitable sense of paternalism that those of us with a scientific history of a few hundred years, and a peculiar western European linguist heritage should in any sense “discover” China or Chinese science. Of course we only discover it for ourselves, and those who share our particular circumstances. China and Chinese science Fig. 3 The Ming Tombs, one of numerous sites presenting the extensive historical record of China has developed, survived and adapted over millennia, and will continue to do so (Fu 2008). The monumental series by Joseph Needham (e.g., Bray 1986) docu- ments much of that history. This most recent contact will benefit us all, and the expanded opportunities we can realize will enrich our science and our societies. Other western scientists have reported on fishes in China, a notable example being John Treadwell Nichols (1943). However, their tone has often been one of “discovery” of the fishes and not much about the fish biologists or their science. Western science “discovered” Chinese fishes only in the Linnaean sense. Not only had the Chinese discovered their own fishes, they were first domesticated in China, the goldfish (Carassius auratus) in the Yangtze region.1 We have a great deal to learn by continued contacts and collaborations with Chinese colleagues and Fig. 2 The Great Wall, perhaps the most universally recog- 1 http://www.af.czu.cz/en/?r=2233&dep=36&part=7& nized international view of China pub=1187683011&wp=katedry.publikace..info Reprinted from the journal 3 Environ Biol Fish (2009) 86:1–9 Fig. 4 The entrance to Guazhong Agricultural Uni- versity in Wuhan, home of the very active Faculty of Fisheries Chinese fishes, from remarkable new species to the potential threatened status of those same species solutions of invasive species and threatened fishes in their native range. I have studied threatened we share with them (Hwang et al. 1982; Zhu 1995). NorthAmericansturgeon(Noakesetal.1999)and My own experience has included study of invasive discussed the status of the threatened Chinese Asian carp in North America (Fig. 12; Morrison et al. sturgeon with colleagues in China (Fig. 13). I have 2004), and discussions with colleagues in China about studied the impacts of dams on North American Fig. 5 Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River, in many ways central to Chinese culture and history, as well as fish research 4 Reprinted from the journal Environ Biol Fish (2009) 86:1–9 Fig. 6 The Three Gorges Project, a monumental work in progress fishes (McLaughlin et al. 2006) and have shared I thank all my Chinese colleagues, especially discussions of dams and their impacts on fishes with Yingqi Zhou, Daiquin Chen and Jianzhong Shen, for colleagues in China. I have taken my own steps everything they have done to assist me in bringing along the course of continued contacts and collabo- this special volume together. Aldemaro Romero and rations by hosting Chinese colleagues at my research Yahui Zhao handled all the material on hypogean laboratory (Fig. 14). fishes. They also helped review and edit of a number Fig. 7 Typical dishes in a Chinese banquet in Wuhan Reprinted from the journal 5 Environ Biol Fish (2009) 86:1–9 Fig. 8 a A Chinese sturgeon, Acipenser sinensis, on display at the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute. b Individual scutes from Chinese sturgeon, Acipenser sinensis, at the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of other manuscripts, and wrote their own major colleagues for arranging and supporting my travel in review of hypogean fishes for this volume. Suzanne China, and to Yongwen Gao for his continued Mekking, Martine van Bezooijen and Lynn Bouvier friendship and support, especially his personal trans- were as helpful as always in handling all the details. lation of my name card to make my introduction to A special thanks to Jianzhong Shen and his many China so much more interesting (Fig. 15). Fig. 9 A traditional farm pond near Iching 6 Reprinted from the journal Environ Biol Fish (2009) 86:1–9 Fig. 10 The Key Lab of Freshwater Fish Germ Plasm and Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture at the Yangtze Research Institute Fig. 11 A display specimen of a Chinese paddlefish, Psephurus gladius, at the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute Reprinted from the journal 7 Environ Biol Fish (2009) 86:1–9 Fig. 12 Students from my laboratory (Craig Blackie, Paul Vecsei and Dylan Weese, left to right) with a specimen of bighead carp, Hypopthalmichthys nobilis, I identified from Lake Erie Fig.

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