A U.S. perspective on the state of Chinese beach protection and management

摘要

This issue had its start when Dr. Feng Cai offered to guest edit a special issue on China's beaches and beach management concerns. It was an intriguing suggestion, since China has thousands of years of experience in coastal development and hundreds of years in coastal defenses, but only a few decades of experience in beach nourishment and coastal management. Much of the material for this issue has been developed from a national "Study of beach nourishment and ecosystem improvement practices in China," funded in 2009 by the Public Science and Technology Research Funds Ocean Projects. This program provided resources to many of the country's academic institutions to study beach nourishment practices with the aim to promote improved beach protection and management.