The Poverty of Prefectures: A Reevaluation of the Memoir of Zhang Daye

Everything today\u27s readers know about the man Zhang Daye comes from his memoir, The World of a Tiny Insect (Wei Chong Shijie, 微蟲世界). The manuscript was distributed locally after its completion in 1894, though it never achieved wide-scale circulation. Wang Yongyuan of Zhejiang Normal University donated the only complete copy to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the early 1950s where Harvard scholar Xiaofei Tian later discovered the manuscript. Since Tian\u27s publication of an English translation in 2013, Zhang\u27s writings have reached a wider audience than he likely ever imagined. As we read The World, Zhang\u27s words leave readers reflecting on whether or not we have truly grasped his intent: Who truly appreciates This wild fellow, Zhang Daye? In the whole wide world, There is only Mr. Lü the Woodworker. Zhang\u27s vivid descriptions of terrors during the Taiping Civil War in The World\u27s second section unwittingly distract readers from investigating his motivations for recording them. When a fragment of his horrific memories appeared in the 1955 Historical Materials, compilers noted that The World\u27s remainder records many trivial family matters that have no value as historical material, and hence, were expunged. Family and other matters that Zhang recounts, however, provide an important lens into the dynamics of the world he inhabited. The World of a Tiny Insect contains invaluable descriptions of Chinese social and economic conditions at the end of the twentieth century. Xiaofei Tian\u27s translation is masterful-a work of art in its own right. Her description of the text as one of mourning and remembrance focused on coming to terms with the painful memories of a traumatized childhood, however, deserves reconsideration

Political Ecology

Environmental legislation is commonly accepted as an altruistic approach to land management. A closer examination however, reveals that political incentives and flawed arguments consistently shape U.S. environmental policy at high public costs. As student fellows at the Institute of Political Economy at Utah State University, we have had the opportunity to research this subject under the direction of Professor Randy Simmons. Political Ecology is his upcoming book that explores a variety of environmental policies, the incentives that created them, and their effects on both public lands and taxpayers. Our research contributions to this overall project specifically explore three separate case studies: the Federal Land Management Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Altogether, it is our hope that the analysis and case studies presented will provide policy makers and the general public with needed information in regards to current and future U.S. environmental policy