Dikes and Society in Rural China: The Jianghan Plain, 1788-2010s
Brill (Verlag)
978-90-04-72723-6 (ISBN)
To feed an ever-growing population in a water-rich region, the people of the Jianghan Plain in Central China constantly built dikes and polders. As China’s political system changed dramatically from 1788 to the 2010s, the governance of Jianghan’s dikes and polders also changed, moving from indirect supervision by the state to direct management. This shift has dramatically improved the security of the dike systems and has had a profound impact on the Jianghan people’s lives. Based on rarely used local gazetteers and newly available archival materials, this book uses a multidimensional interactive approach to explore water control and state-society relations in rural China over the past three centuries.
Jiayan Zhang, Ph.D. (2004), UCLA, is Professor of History at the Kennesaw State University. He has published books, translations and many articles on China, including Coping with Calamity: Environmental Change and Peasant Response in Central China, 1736-1949 (UBC Press 2014).
Illustrations
Preface
List of Illustrations and Tables
Measures
1 Introduction
1 The Jianghan Dikes
2 Dikes and Dike Management on the Jianghan Plain
3 Water Control, Environment, and the State
4 A Historical and Environmental Perspective
5 Synopsis of Research and Sources
2 Dikes: Systems and Administration
1 The Dikes of Jianghan: Categories and Terminology
2 Dike Management
3 The Role and Responsibility of Administrators
4 Technicians and Dike Administration
5 Rewards and Punishments
3 High-Water Control
1 The Specifics of High-Water Control
2 Materials and Equipment
3 Methods and Importance of High-Water Control
4 Surveying and Reinforcing Dikes before the Coming of the Annual High Water
5 Laborers and Funding
6 Sentry Shacks
7 Breakwater Forests and Riverside Parks
4 Annual Repairs
1 The Dike Headman and the Dike Maintainers/Keepers System
2 Termite Nests, Badger Burrows, and Embankment Streets
3 Recruitment and Assignment of Laborers
4 Women, Laborer Management, and Machinery
5 Funding
6 Annual Repairs and Mass Campaigns in the PRC
5 People’s Polders: Annual Repairs and High-Water Control Agencies
1 Establishment and Structure of the Agencies
2 Operations
3 Directors
4 Income and Expenditures
5 People’s Polders and Local Governments
6 Conclusion
6 Water Deity Worship and Dike Management
1 Water Deity Temples on the Jianghan Plain in the Late Qing
2 Iron Oxen, Imperial Edicts, and Water Deity Worship
3 The Case of Xu Guorui
4 “Human Beings Can Overcome Nature”
5 Water Watching, the Dragon Dance, and New-Style Tourism
6 Conclusion
7 Polders and Lakes
1 Reclamation and Enclosure of Polders
2 Growth and Decline of Polders
3 The Vicissitudes of Lakes
4 Land Reclamation and State Farms
5 The Battle against Snail Fever
8 Studies on the Reclamation of Private Polders
1 What Are Private Polders?
2 The Enclosure of Private Polders in the Qing and the Republic
3 Banning Private Polders: Bureaucrats of the Qing and the Republic
4 Banning Private Polders in the Qing and the Republic: Gentry and Villagers
5 Reclamation of River Beaches, Islets, and Lakeshores in the Era of Collectivization
6 Changes in the Reform Era
7 Conclusion
9 Armed Forces, Military Affairs, and Dikes
1 The Military Function of the Dike Systems
2 Dike Affairs as Military Affairs
3 The Impact of War on Dike Affairs
4 Armed Forces and Dike Affairs
5 Troops and the 1998 High-Water Control of the Yangzi River
10 The Three Gorges Project and High-Water Control on the Jianghan Plain
1 Impact of the Four Southward Outlets
2 The Construction and Usage of Flood Diversion Zones
3 The Three Gorges Dam
4 Water Conservancy Relocatees
5 Relocatees and Local Society
11 The Evolution of Dike Systems and Socioeconomic Life
1 Disaster Relief Measures and Their Effect
2 Environmental Stability and Crop Choices
3 Improving Water Conservancy and Reducing Dike Disputes
4 Changes in Dike Systems and Daily Life on the Jianghan Plain
12 Conclusion
1 Dikes and Society
2 State and Society
3 Changes and Continuities
4 National Significance of the Jianghan Experience
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheinungsdatum | 27.08.2025 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | The Social Sciences of Practice ; 9 |
| Verlagsort | Leiden |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 155 x 235 mm |
| Gewicht | 838 g |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte |
| ISBN-10 | 90-04-72723-X / 900472723X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-90-04-72723-6 / 9789004727236 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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