The Geography of Contemporary China (World Regional Geography Book Series) [Hardcover] [Jun 29, 2022] Wang, Jing'Ai; Liang, Shunlin and Shi, Peijun

This textbook provides a comprehensive and very detailed insight into Chinese Contemporary Geography in English. It documents the geographical issues associated with China's rapid growth. Since initiating the reforms and open policy, China has achieved tremendous success. China's rapid growth is now a driving force in the global economy and is achieving unprecedented rates of poverty reduction. However, China also faces a number of sustainability and emerging challenges associated with rapid growth such as growing regional disparities in terms of per capita income and social-economic development, sustainable resource development, and issues related to regional and global economic integration. In addition, rapid economic growth has also brought about major challenges such as resource shortages, ecological and environmental destruction, land degradation and frequent disasters. This book presents the authors’ reflections.

This lavishly illustrated book covers physical geography, history, and economic and political systems of the world's most populous country. The major focus is on geographical issues in China's contemporary development: agriculture, population, urbanization, resource and energy, and environment. The lead author of the book has taught relevant courses in China for three decades, and authored and edited multiple textbooks for Chinese students. This book will appeal to undergraduate students of geography and related disciplines with a regional focus on China and to the general reader who wants to learn different geographical aspects of modern China with little academic background in geography.

Jing'ai Wang is a Professor and doctoral supervisor at the Faculty of Geographical Science at Beijing Normal University (BNU) and the winner of the national laureate for teaching in China. She is the leader of the Regional Geographical Education Team of China, and presided over the National Excellent Course of "China Geography" and the National Excellent Sharing Course in China. For several decades, she has been actively engaged in research and teaching in the fields of Geographic Education, Regional Geography, Natural Areas Assessment, Resource Development and Reginal Natural Disaster. Prof. Wang was also a project leader of several national programs in China. Prof. Wang has published and edited more than 20 monographs and textbooks including China Geography, China Geographical Atlas and The Spatial-Temporal Patterns of Natural Disaster in China. She also published over 300 research papers. She is the winner of the First-level Award of the National Teaching Achievements, as well as the National Teaching Teacher Award and has been awarded Second-level Award of the National Science and Technology Progress in China. She was a recipient of the National High-level Talent Special Support Plan (Wanren Plan) in 2014.

Shunlin Liang received his Ph.D degree from Boston University in 1993. He is a Professor at University of Maryland in the United States, and an IEEE Fellow. His main research interests focus on the estimation of land surface variables from satellite observations, global satellite product generation, Earth’s energy balance, and environmental changes. Prof. Liang has published more than 420 peer-reviewed journal papers and 43 book chapters. He authored and edited seven books, four of which are also published in Chinese. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the nine-volume books entitled “Comprehensive Remote Sensing” (Elsevier, 2017), an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transaction on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. He is currently an Editor-in-Chief of Science of Remote Sensing. Prof. Liang taught over 15 different courses, including Geography of China.

Dr. Peijun Shi is a professor of geography, the president of Qinghai Normal University, the former executive vice president of Beijing Normal University. He is the deputy dean of the Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management, Ministry of Emergency Management and Ministry of Education of China. Dr. Shi is an academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences. He is the co-chair of the scientific committee of the Integrated Risk Governance Project, a core project of Future Earth and the International Human Dimensions Programme of Global Environmental Change. Dr. Shi also serves as the member of the UNISDR Scientific and Technical Advisory Group, the chairman of the Asia Scientific and Technical Advisory Group for DRR, the jury member of the Volvo Environment Prize, the vice chairman of The Expert Committee of National Disaster Reduction Commission of China, the vice chairman of the Insurance Society of China, and the member of the Expert Group of the State Emergency Management Office under The State Council of China. Dr. Shi’s research focuses on the theory of natural disasters and risk management.