How Rice Farming Shaped Culture in Southern China

We present a detailed theory linking southern China’s history of rice farming to its modern-day culture. It explains how rice was farmed traditionally, what makes it different from other major staple crops, and why these differences could shape culture. Next, the chapter reviews empirical evidence that people who have grown up in the rice areas of China have different relationship styles and thought styles from people in the wheat areas. It also discusses why the rice theory is not ecological determinism—rice does not automatically lead to collectivism. Finally, it asks whether modernization is signaling the death of rice culture or whether cultures rooted in historical subsistence style can persist even after less than 2% of the population actually farms for a living.

The Plan for the Valleys

Development pressures threatening northwestern Baltimore County, Maryland, in the early 1960s led to the creation of the private Valleys Planning Council, which commissioned University of Pennsylvania Professors Ian McHarg and David Wallace to produce The Plan for the Valleys, featuring McHarg’s approach of ecological determinism to locate development and preserve land, with Wallace designing the type and density of development. We analyze The Plan’s development and land protection elements and the County’s subsequent use of an urban growth boundary, agricultural zoning, and conservation easements. Although a catalyst for landscape protection, The Plan’s substantial development elements were never built.