0 citations0 references

Water Calamities and Dike Management in the Jianghan Plain in the Qing and the Republic

Late imperial China2006Vol. 27(1), pp. 66–108

Citations Over Time

Abstract

The relationship between the state and water control has long been an important topic in Chinese studies. In the 1950s, Karl Wittfogel's theory of "oriental despotism," which considered the imperial state as having unlimited power over the development of the rural economy,1 was very influential, though it is no longer convincing—it is simply not based on sound factual evidence.2 By contrast, most scholars, especially in China and Japan, tend to lay the blame for water calamities at the doorstep of the Qing government. The government, they argue, was incompetent in managing water control and in fact in the end it abandoned efforts at water control. This interpretation dominates recent scholarship on the middle Yangzi River valley—mainly the Jianghan plain and the Lake Dongting plain—an area rich in hydraulic problems since late imperial times (particularly in the late Qing). Morita Akira first advanced this view critical of the Qing authorities. Based on his comprehensive studies of the development of the dike systems and irrigation in both Hunan and Hubei—including the formation, size, role, and management of dikes, landlord-tenant relations within yuan (polders), and [End Page 66] the relationship between state power and dikes, particularly the management of the Wancheng dike and the Han River dikes in Hubei—he argued that in the late nineteenth century, the Qing government had withdrawn from control over local water conservancy and turned leadership over to local gentry.3 Although he cited many original Chinese sources that touched upon almost every aspect of dike management, he rarely provided analysis beyond introducing the sources.4 Also, he did not make clear the great difference between official dikes and people's dikes, nor between river dikes and yuan dikes. Since the role of government and local people in dike management always varied, his argument about the shift of dike management from the government to civilians (the gentry) is open to question. In the late Qing, the government in fact became more involved in dike management, though its effectiveness did not increase accordingly. Moreover, Morita did not analyze the relationship between frequent water calamities and the dike systems. The most notable of the few English-language works dealing specifically with hydraulic issues on the Jianghan plain during the Qing are those of Ts'ui-jung Liu (1970) and Pierre-Etienne Will (1985).5 Ts'ui-jung Liu, based on a reading of one part of a late Qing gazetteer, provided a general description of dike construction in Jingzhou (on the Jianghan plain). Most of her description repeated what Morita had said earlier (1960), but she made it clear that in the late Qing the dike management was supervised by local officials but undertaken by the local people,6 though she still neglected the relationship between the dike systems and frequent inundation. Pierre-Etienne Will discussed the role of the state apparatus in the construction and administration of hydraulic installations in the Hubei basin during the Qing. He argued that in the early Qing the state still functioned as mediator in local conflicts over water control, but in the middle and late Qing the state was overcome by the difficulties in this area due to the increase of environmental degradation caused by flooding and the conflicts between the state and local society.7 However, in his discussion of governmental personnel he excluded runners and he did not discuss the role of the locals in dike management. Chinese researchers have studied wider subjects and also contributed more penetrating analyses, particularly on the relationship between the dike systems [End Page 67] and frequent inundation. The major reasons they have given for the frequent inundation include the over-reclamation of upstream mountains under population pressure, which caused eroded silt to build up in the middle Yangzi River valley and the lower Han River valley; the never-ending enclosure of yuan in the Jianghan plain...

Citations Over Time

Abstract

Related Papers