Ruth Rogaski Books

The book explores the complex interplay of knowledge creation and environmental understanding in Manchuria, a region marked by its diverse landscapes and historical significance. It examines how various figures, from paleontologists to indigenous shamans, contributed to the evolving perception of this contested borderland. The narrative traces the transformation of Manchuria's identity, shifting from a sacred land to a site of disease and ultimately to a vital agricultural hub, highlighting the dynamic relationship between nature and human understanding over time.

Placing meanings of health and disease at the center of modern Chinese consciousness, this title reveals how hygiene became a crucial element in the formulation of Chinese modernity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.