Call for abstracts: Risks to life, heritage, and community on the Yangtze River The Confucius Institute and the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, 4-6 th of December, 2017. Call for abstracts In recent years a growing amount of research has developed on the impact of flooding upon eco-systems and human settlements within China (Zhang, et al, 2002; Wu, et al. 2012; China Water Risk, 2016). Within this field of environmental research a smaller number of scholars have begun to examine the impact of climate change, flooding and soil related pollution upon the Yangtze River (Zong and Chen, 2000; Zhang, 2005; Jiang, et al. 2004; Editorial Committee, 2007; Jiang, et al. 2008; Xu, & Ma, 2009; Pittock, & Xu, 2011). However, whilst current research focuses on strategies for the management of flooding, arguably a lot more research needs to be done to understand the complex threats and risks that flooding, pollution and industrial development, pose to life (both human and non-human) within and around the Yangtze. Moreover, arguably the risks of flooding, pollution and industrial development also pose threats to various forms of tangible and intangible Chinese heritage (natural-humanarchitectural) that have existed for numerous years within and alongside the river. There is a need to study these risks together with the responses of human and non-human life, to identify the ways and extent to which living communities have sought to resist, mitigate or move away from dangers, or to preserve or recreate heritage. 1
Responding to these gaps in the extant literature, and exploring a need for more interdisciplinary research, this symposium, investigates the history, communities and heritage of the Yangtze River and the potential threats that modern environmental issues have and are causing to the river. Potential delegates are invited to a 3 day symposium at Newcastle University, hosted by the Confucius Institute and the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (APL) to submit papers of no more than 5, 000 words on the following themes. The topics for discussion at the 3 day symposium will be separated by 3 large themes and a series of minor sub-themes. Day 1 will explore the history and heritage of the Yangtze; Day 2 will consider histories and contemporary issues/risks relating to the industrialisation of the Yangtze and its heritage; and Day 3 will explore potential conservation measures and resilience strategies in the contemporary moment. Day 1: will explore the heritage of the Yangtze Symposium participants might consider discussing some of the following topics: Sub-theme 1: Heritage of the Yangtze? Differing definitions: Symposium participants might consider discussing some of the following topics: - How do we define the heritage of the Yangtze River? Problems and issues with defining heritage and non-heritage? - Thinking through natural, social and architectural heritage as categories of research and units of analysis. - Historically what forms of natural, human (and social-cultural) and architectural forms of heritage have existed and still exist alongside the Yangtze? - But what heritage of the Yangtze is actually in process and/or coming into being? - What might future heritage of the Yangtze look like? 2
Sub-theme 2: natural heritage - Wildlife/animals within the Yangtze - What animal and plant based heritage remains? - How have communities of animals and wildlife responded to the dangers and risks posed by the industrialisation of the Yangtze? - How do local communities relate to the ecological heritage of the Yangtze? - What traditions, meanings and associations have emerged that express and relate people's ecological cultural heritage of the Yangtze? Sub-theme 3: human heritage - Agricultural heritage of the Yangtze human traditions of agriculture and river side living at the Yangtze - Yangtze heritage and economies, skills and cultures; fishing, livelihoods and lifestyles - Intangible and associative heritage including oral histories, memory studies, nostalgia and other ways of recording people s lives, perceptions, attitudes and everyday living practices, whilst living in close proximity to the river. Sub-theme 4: Architectural, urban and landscape heritage: - Villages, towns and cities that exist alongside the Yangtze - UNESCO world heritage water towns including Zhouzhuang Town, Luzhi Town, Wuzhen Town and Xitang Town (located in the South of the Yangtze River). - The morphology of towns/cities that reside in river landscapes (how have these spaces changed with shifts in the physical evolution of the Yangtze?). - Treaty ports and their colonial legacy: what are the role of these heritage sites? - How has cultural heritage reflected the interactions with a constantly changing landscape? - What new tangible and intangible heritage is being created as a result of recent changes with the Yangtze landscape? 3
Sub-theme 5: mutually enforcing relationships Day 2: will consider histories and contemporary issues relating to the industrialisation and colonisation of the Yangtze Sub-theme 1: Origins of the risks to the Yangtze River, the associated wildlife, ecological and human communities and built heritage. This theme would track human intervention in the history and evolution of the river including - When does the Anthropocene begin on the Yangtze? - Colonial histories and industrialisation relating to the river - Intensive farming particularly fishing at the river - The building of dams - Deforestation and the Yangtze - The release of chemical pollutants into the river as a result of industrial growth - The emptying of sewage and untreated human waste into the river - Other factors in the development of flooding - The implications of the loss of biodiversity e.g. the Baiji Dolphin: - Sedimentology of the river the rise of sediment Sub-theme 2: contemporary risks to the natural, human and architectural heritage of the Yangtze - Contemporary understandings of the different levels (scales) required to frame urban heritage along the Yangtze - Contemporary and immediate dangers to people living near the river: 4
- The consequences of flooding the destruction of housing, homes and everyday life. - The consequences of pollution the rise of Stomach and Oesophageal cancer - The destruction of agricultural crops and risks to food security and livelihoods as a result of flooding and pollution - The destruction and loss of architectural heritage - The destruction of the remaining wildlife associated with the river - The morphology of towns/cities that reside in river landscapes; how have these spaces changed with shifts in the industrialisation/colonisation of the Yangtze? Sub-theme 3: the rise of heritage tourism and new economic issues in relation to the Yangtze - Historicizing river tourism along the Yangtze. How can travel literature help us understand and re-frame the complex identity of townscapes and landscapes along the Yangtze? - Yangtze River Basin Taoist Cultural Heritage and Tourism Development - Boating on the river; large cruises on the river - Yangtze gorges scenic spot - The threats of intense tourism on scenic sites and heritage sites as Wuzhen Day 3: potential conservation measures and river management resilience strategies/good practice or relevant theoretical approaches resilience strategies in the contemporary moment. (Note authors do not necessarily have to talk about the Yangtze; they might draw upon case studies they are already familiar with). - Eco-system or nature-based solutions (NBS) - Building on indigenous knowledge(s) - Transdisciplinary and co-created solutions - Policy development 5
- Eco-museum and management approaches - The role of academics in building new approaches Languages The working languages of the conference will be English and Chinese. Individual papers will be given 20 minutes (15 minutes presentation plus 5 minutes discussion) if accepted. Abstracts Abstracts should be approximately 300 words and should include 6 key words plus a short biography of 200 words. Authors should submit their abstracts to Ms Andrea Freeman at andrea.freeman@ncl.ac.uk for blind review. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is the 5 th of May, 2017. After abstracts have been submitted the symposium organisers will select papers and sessions to be included in the conference. The accepted abstracts will be returned to authors with the reviewers comments. Authors will be notified by the 17 th of May, 2017 as to whether their abstract has been accepted and will be then be asked to submit a full paper by the 17 th of August. Papers can be up to, but must not exceed 5, 000 words. Post-conference publication Full papers will be invited for publication after the conference. All the papers will be peerreviewed and will be submitted for publication in a monograph relating to China, and heritage published by renowned publishers in due course. Review of key dates 5 th of May, 2017: Deadline for abstract submission 6
17 th of May, 2017: Notification of the acceptance of abstracts and the issue of invitation letters 17 th of August, 2017: full paper deadline 17 th of September, 2017: Notification of the acceptance of papers 11 th of Nov, 2017: Registration deadline References Ball, P. (2016) The Water Kingdom a secret history of China, London: The Bodley Head. China Water Risk (2016) Counting the cost of China floods, http://chinawaterrisk.org/opinions/counting-the-costs-of-floods-in-china/, accessed the 13 th of February, 2017. Bird, I. (1899) The Yangtze Valley and Beyond, London: John Murray. Editorial Committee (2007) China's national assessment report on climate change. Beijing: Science Press. Jiang, T., Kundzewicz, Z. W. & Su, B. (2008). Changes in monthly precipitation and flood hazard in the Yangtze River Basin, China. International Journal of Climatology, 28, 1471-1481. Jiang, T., Sua, B. & Hartmann, H. (2004). Temporal and spatial trends of precipitation and river flow in the Yangtze River Basin, 1961 2000. Geomorphology, 85, 143-154. Kan, H. (2009) Environment and Health in China: Challenges and Opportunities, Environ Health Perspectives, 2009 Dec; 117(12): A530 A531. Murphey, R. (1974) The Treaty Ports and China s modernization: what went wrong? in Elvin M, Skinner GW (Eds) The Chinese city between two words. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 17-71. Pittock, J. and Xu, M. (2011) World Resources Report Case Study. Controlling Yangtze River Floods: A New Approach. World Resources Report, Washington DC. Schintz, A. (1996) The Magic Square. Cities in Ancient China, Stuttgart / London: Editions Axel Menges. 7
Spencer, J.E. (1938) Trade and Transhipment in the Yangtze Valley, Geographical Review, 28 (1): 112-123. Wu, S.-H., T. Pan, and He, S.-F. (2012) Climate change risk research: A case study on flood disaster risk in China. Adv. Clim. Change Res., 3(2), doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2012.00092. Xu, M. & Ma, C. (eds.) (2009). Climate change vulnerability and adaptation in the Yangtze River basin, China Water Power Press, Beijing (in Chinese). Yang, G., Ma, C. & Chang, S. (2009). Yangtze conservation and development report 2009. Wuhan: Changjiang Press. Yu, X., Jiang, L., Wang, J., Wang, L., Lei, G. & Pittock, J. (2009) Freshwater management and climate change adaptation: experiences from the central Yangtze in China. Climate and Development, 1, 241-248. Zhang, H. (2005). Changjiang jiao jubu turang wuran diaocha [Investigation of soil pollution in parts of the Yangtze River Delta,] September 22nd. Diyi Caijing Ribao [China Business News]. Available at: http://stock.163.com Zhang, J. Zhou, C. Xu, K. Watanabe, M. (2002) Flood disaster monitoring and evaluation in China, Environmental Hazards 4 (2002) 33 43. Zhang, J. and Barr, M. (2013) Green politics in China, Environmental Governance and State- Society relations, London: Pluto press. Zhu, J. (2009), Architecture of Modern China. A historical critique, London and New York: Routledge. Zong, Y. and Chen, X. (2000) The 1998 Flood on the Yangtze, China, Natural Hazards 22: 165 184, 2000. 8
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