The Retreat of the Elephants

Introductory Remarks

"classical Chinese culture was as hostile to forests as it was fond of individual trees." (Elvin, xvii)

On page xxiii, Elvin seems to be suggesting that Western influence is unimportant?

The "Introductory Remarks" are confusing and seem in general to be an overwhelming and rather over-complicated form of a table of contents. I mean, if we're going to read the whole book, then this section really doesn't have a unique purpose; the table of contents or index could have done the work in a far more comprehensible way.