Who Directs the Edge? turns a coastal landscape from my hometown (Yancheng) into a Xiangqi (Chinese chessboard) that represents an ecological pattern shaped by two forces: slow climate change and fast policy/infrastructure decisions.

The board reads as a gradient from seaward conditions to landward conditions. The river is used as a simple tipping line: when changes cross it, the environment can shift in a bigger way. Rounded pieces stand for climate pressure that accumulates over time; pillar pieces stand for policy moves that arrive abruptly and reshape space. The system is informed by coastal vegetation change studies in Yancheng saltmarsh landscapes (Guo Ming et al., 2025).

Fast human intervention redraws the edge in a short time through reclamation, ports and guide levees, aquaculture grids and the introduction of Spartina alterniflora. Three belts are central to the work: Spartina spreads fast on disturbed edges and takes new ground, Suaeda Salsa is a native saltmarsh plant that retreats when flooding time increases or when space is cut by structures, Phragmites Australis is a common reed that often grows on the inner side of protected zones. Between 1983 and 2021 in Yancheng, Phragmites Australis and Spartina increased while Suaeda fell. This forms a metaphor for migration: a landward shift and concurrent replacement of suitable habitats, caused by high inundation and salinity and human cuts to connectivity.