Table of Contents

From Seeds to Empires: China’s Long Agricultural History.- Modern Science on the Farm: The Green Revolution.- Transformation in China’s Agriculture in the Twentieth Century.- Agricultural Biotechnology: New Tools for Ancient Practices.- Agricultural Biotechnology Takes Root in China.- From Lab to Field: A Changing Seed Delivery~System.- China’s First Transgenic Crops: Farm Level Impact.- Biosafety and China’s Regulatory Policy.- Looking to the Future: Trends in Research and Rural Development Agendas.- Conclusion.

About the Author

Valerie J. Karplus graduated from Yale University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Political Science. She lived in China for two years, where she researched the development and impact of agricultural biotechnology in China while based at the China Agricultural University (2002-2003) and National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing (2005-2006). Currently she is pursuing graduate study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Xing Wang Deng is the Daniel C. Eaton Professor of Plant Biology at Yale University. His scientific work focuses on the molecular and genomic basis for plant development and agricultural biotechnology. He also serves as the co-director of the National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing and the founding director of the Peking-Yale Joint Research Center of Plant Molecular Genetics and Agro-biotechnology. He has led a research team that has published well over a hundred peer-reviewed articles in his area of research.

Reviews

"Karplus and Deng provide an excellent account of how developments in agricultural biotechnology may be the next big step in a long tradition of agricultural advances. I commend them for this outstanding piece of scholarship."
Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate"The book is well written and can be easily understood by intelligent laymen who are interested in this subject. The book not only carefully documents the events, but also includes an astute analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the system."
Dr. Ray Wu, Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University"This book documents the rapid rise in crop biotechnology R&D capacity in China over the past thirty years and helps illuminate a policy conundrum Chinese leaders currently face. As the authors indicate, China’s success in finding the right balance between public and private priorities may well influence policies concerning agricultural biotechnology across much of the developing world."
Dr. Gary Toenniessen, The Rockefeller Foundation"This book is a valuable contribution to the literature on the role of science in developing countries. The authors have done an excellent job of describing agricultural biotechnology in laymen's terms, presenting interviews with the scientists who developed the technology, and then describing the impact of technology based on the latest scholarly evidence. In addition, it has a well-balanced presentation of the current Chinese policy debates on biosafety regulation. I will definitely use it in my science policy and economic development courses in the future."
Dr. Carl E. Pray, Professor of Agriculture, Food, and Resource Economics, Rutgers University