Firs and pines a hundred spans round: the natural environment of Lingnan -- All deeply forested and wild places are not malarious: human settlement and ecological change, 2-1400 AD -- Agriculture is the foundation: economic recovery and development in the Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644 -- All the people have fled: war and the environment in the mid-17th century crisis, 1644-1683 -- Rich households compete to build ships: overseas trade and economic revival -- It never used to snow: climate change and agricultural productivity -- There is only a certain amount of grain produced: the role of the state in the food supply system -- Trade in rice is brisk: market integration and the environment -- Population increases daily, but the land does not: the story of land clearance in the 18th century -- People said that extinction was not possible: the ecological consequences of land clearance
