ABSTRACT
China’s direct control over the Tibetan Plateau was long limited to relatively low‐altitude sites where intensive agriculture was viable. The integration of Kham into Xikang Province in 1939 was accompanied by a programme of experimental agriculture under the Bureau of Agricultural Improvement (B.A.I.) that sought to extend the elevational limits of intensive agriculture and ‘improve’ agricultural production. Based on archival and print materials, this essay contextualizes the work of the B.A.I. within national agrarian developments and offers a portrait of everyday life at two of its experimental farm stations in Kham. I contend that these sites, though diminutive, inspired confidence in the ability of the Chinese state to implement larger social and environmental interventions on the plateau.
