Trevor Mullen | 2026 I.S. Symposium
Name: Trevor Mullen
Title: Fire Pits, Ducks, and Chemical Warfare: The History of Pest Control in China
Majors: History; Environmental Studies
Minor: Classical Studies
Advisor: Margaret Ng Wee-Siang
This project looks at how farmers in the People鈥檚 Republic of China in the 1970s used methods ranging from early imperial China to the modern era to control insects (chong 铏) in a way that could protect crops as well as a healthy environment. The practices they drew upon were based on the Daoist notion of maintaining balance between heaven, humans, and the earth. These practices used human labor or other organisms keep insects away from crops, and they viewed these 鈥減ests鈥 as beings that needed to balanced rather than eradicated. This philosophy would be absorbed by the scientific farming philosophy of 1970鈥檚 China, creating a system that mixed modern technology and scientific ideas with the practices and philosophies of the past. The combination of these practices shows us how we can make agriculture more sustainable by looking backwards in time and adopting historical practices to our current needs.
Posted in Symposium 2026 on May 1, 2026.
