西方学者眼中的中国动物保护与环境政策发展——宋雅兰《熊猫:中国现代国宝的构建与保护》述评

The Development of Chinese Animal Conservation and Environmental Policy from the Perspective of Western Scholars: Review of Elena Songster’s Panda Nation:the Construction and conservation of China’s Modern Icon

2018年出版的宋雅兰的新作《熊猫:中国现代国宝的构建与保护》,以熊猫的现代中国国宝形象的构建为线索,讨论中国社会环境与生态观念的变化。书中对大熊猫这一珍稀野生动植物保护政策的发展进程,以及大熊猫借“国宝”形象转化为新中国国家象征的过程两大书写脉络,认为本书从熊猫保护的视角重新观察中国历史发展进程,进一步呈现了野生动植物与人类社会在共生共处中的相互影响,构建起结合环境史研究与文化史研究的独特视角。

The new book of E. Elena Songster, Panda Nation: The Construction and Conservation of China’s Modern Icon, published in 2018, is one of the representative works on China’s animal protection and ecological policies from the perspective of Western animal history research. The book focuses on the changes in Chinese society and ecological concepts by following the construction of the image of the panda as a modern Chinese national treasure. This paper believes that the book has two major writing clues: the development of Chinese protection policy of rare wild animals and plants, such as the panda, and the process of how the panda became the modern icon of China. It also believes that this book re-observes the historical process of China from the perspective of panda protection, making it a reflection of the changes in Chinese society, further presenting the mutual influence of wildlife and human society in the symbiotic coexistence,and constructing a unique connection between environmental history and cultural history.