Focus on Chinese Forest Problems by Western Sociologists and Their Influences in the Early Modern Times

Through the review of a large number of first-hand English documents, this paper discusses many issues that have been ignored by the academic circles in the past, including schloars like Arthur H. Smith, J. W. Bashford, E. T. C. Werner, E. A. Ross and Sidney D. Gamble, who observed China through sociological perspective, and their profound influence in the western society, their activities in China and their focus and research on China's forest problem in their works. This research provides a new perspective on the Chinese forest problems that have attracted much attention from westerners in modern times, in addition to naturalists, plant collectors, foresters, engineers, geologists and so on.