Wen Huanran (文煥然) (1919/1920 – 1986/1990) was a Chinese historical geographer, who pioneered study in the history of China's natural geography.
Life
editWen Huanran was born in Hunan province in 1919[1] or 1920.[2] He studied history and geography at Zhejiang University, where he was influenced by the historical graographer Tan Qixiang. After graduating in 1944, he joined the Institute of Geography at the Academia Sinica. His research traced the distribution of plants - such as forests, bamboo and citrus fruits – as well as animals - such as Chinese alligators, peacocks, giant pandas, horses, donkeys, camels, gibbons, rhinoceroses and Asian elephants.[2] His demonstration that wild elephants were once widespread across China, and his charting of their retreat to the Yunnan area, influenced Mark Elvin's book The Retreat of the Elephants.[3]
Wen died in 1986[1] or 1990.[2] A posthumous collection of Wen's research was published by his son, Wen Rongshen, in 1995.
Works
edit- (ed. Wen Rongshen) Zhong guo li shi shi qi dong ban nian qi hou leng ai bian qian. Beijing, 1995.
References
edit- ^ a b Richard B. Harris (2014). Wildlife Conservation in China: Preserving the Habitat of China's Wild West: Preserving the Habitat of China's Wild West. Taylor & Francis. p. 272. ISBN 978-1-317-45202-7.
- ^ a b c Chiao-Min Hsieh; Jean Kan Hsieh (2009). Race the Rising Sun: A Chinese University's Exodus during the Second World War. University Press of America. pp. 166–. ISBN 978-0-7618-4268-2.
- ^ Thomas R. Trautmann (2015). Elephants and Kings: An Environmental History. University of Chicago Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-226-26436-3.
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