Sacrificing Local Interests: Water control policies of the Ming and Qing governments and the local economy of Huaibei, 1495–1949

AbstractFrom the end of the fifteenth century, the Ming state redirected the entire flow of the Yellow River into the course of the Huai River in order the facilitate the transport of tribute grain. This shifted the major problems of water control from the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River to the Huaibei region. Huaibei was viewed as ‘a local interest’, as opposed to the ‘general interests’ represented by the central government, and was sacrificed for those general interests. These policies, which were continued under the Qing dynasty, created widespread and frequent flooding in the region, causing short-term famine and destruction and leading to long-term economic decline.

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Occurrence and distribution of priority pharmaceuticals in the Yellow River and the Huai River in Henan, China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research ◽

10.1007/s11356-020-08131-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 27 (14) ◽

pp. 16816-16826 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jinglan Feng ◽

Qi Liu ◽

Xiangli Ru ◽

Nannan Xi ◽

Jianhui Sun

Keyword(s):

Yellow River ◽

The Yellow River ◽

Huai River

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Evolution Characteristic and Reclamation Potentiality of the Muddy Coast in Jiangsu Province, China

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.577.1185 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 577 ◽

pp. 1185-1188 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jun Chen

Keyword(s):

Salt Marshes ◽

Yellow River ◽

Yellow River Delta ◽

Jiangsu Province ◽

The Yellow Sea ◽

The Yellow River ◽

Subtidal Zone ◽

High Deposition Rate ◽

The North ◽

Huai River

The study area was located in central coast of Jiangsu Province, China. The coast between Wanggang estuary and Chuandonggang estuary belonged to a typical accumulation muddy coast. When the Yellow River flowed into the Yellow Sea using the Huai River course, the coast deposited rapidly and the coastline advanced to the sea about 60 km. The deposition source stopped after the Yellow River returned to the north and flowed into the Bohai Sea. The entral coast of Jiangsu still maintained a high deposition rate in the supratidal zone because of the erosion supply of the abandoned Yellow River delta. But the subtidal zone was in the erosion state. The coast entered into the adjustment period in the 21st century and showed the equilibrium of the erosion and deposition. In recent years, the supratidal area decreased because of the reclaimation. The living space of the salt marshes was limited. The reclamation potentiality will be limited too in the future.

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Engineering the State: The Huai River and Reconstruction in Nationalist China, 1927 – 1937. By David A. Pietz. [New York and London: Routledge, 2002. ix+142 pp. £45.00. ISBN 0-415-93388-9.]

The China Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s0305741004360297 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 178 ◽

pp. 530-532

Author(s):

Parks M. Coble

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Yellow River ◽

Developmental State ◽

Central China ◽

Water Control ◽

Grand Canal ◽

Huai River Basin ◽

Huai River ◽

The Grand Canal ◽

The Huai River Basin

Imperial China was known for its massive water control projects, most famously the Huang (Yellow) River dykes and the Grand Canal. Today's China is now constructing the largest hydroelectric project in human history, the Three Gorges dam. Sandwiched between these two eras was Republican China, when the traditional methods of construction and engineering gave way to new processes grounded in the principles of scientific hydrology and engineering largely developed in the West. In this brief but fascinating study, David A. Pietz examines the efforts of the Nationalist Government of Chiang Kai-shek during the Nanjing decade of 1927–1937 to re-shape the Huai River basin. A student of William Kirby, Pietz adopts the Kirby view that one should see 1949 not as an unbridgeable divide between two eras, but find much continuity in the growth of the modern developmental state in China.Pietz has chosen the Huai River basin for his case study primarily because it witnessed the Kuomintang government's largest such project. In addition, the ecology of no other area of China has been more impacted by human action. Although draining over a relatively flat alluvial plain, the Huai was far more stable in ancient times than its northern neighbor, the Huang River, because of a much lower silt content. Yet all changed in 1194 when the Huang broke through its banks and began to flow south into the Huai, radically altering the ecology of north central China. From 1194 until 1855 the Huang River entered the ocean through the old Huai River channel, rendering the Huai a mere tributary. Subsequent imperial governments attempted to contain the Huang River while at the same time stabilizing the Grand Canal, so essential for grain transport from the south.

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The Discourse of Ethnicity

The Jiankang Empire in Chinese and World History ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190937546.003.0002 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 45-66

Author(s):

Andrew Chittick

Keyword(s):

East Asia ◽

Ethnic Group ◽

Cultural Differences ◽

Yellow River ◽

The Yellow River ◽

Early Medieval ◽

Central Plains ◽

Environmental Determinism ◽

Huai River

Chapter 2, “The Discourse of Ethnicity,” identifies environmental determinism as the primary discourse in early medieval East Asia within which cultural differences were discussed and evaluated. Those differences can be regarded as “ethnic” if they were understood to be both inherent/immutable and politically salient. The chapter explores the evolution of this discourse in the Central Plains region of the Yellow River, particularly as it was applied to the peoples south of the Huai River, especially the Wu people, or Wuren. The conclusion is that the discourse increasingly became more ethnicizing, and clearly identified the Wuren as a distinct, and inferior, ethnic group.

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Water shortage and needs for wastewater re-use in the north China

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2006.267 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 53 (9) ◽

pp. 35-44 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

X.C. Wang ◽

P.K. Jin

Keyword(s):

North China ◽

Yellow River ◽

Water Shortage ◽

Water Withdrawal ◽

Present Condition ◽

Treated Wastewater ◽

Annual Rainfall ◽

The Yellow River ◽

The North ◽

Huai River

This paper analyses the present condition of the water shortage in north China where annual rainfall is low and per capita water resource is below the line of regular water stress, or even the line of absolute water scarcity. Of the available water resources, the percentge of water withdrawal in all the north basins is high – the Yellow River and Huai River basins being greater than 80% and the Hai River basin mainly depending on interbasin water transfer. Over-withdrawal of water also results in serious water environmental problems including “flow cut-off” of the Yellow River main channel and water pollution of many rivers. The paper also analyses the potential of wastewater as a resource and the demand for treated wastewater re-use. In north China, due to low rainfall and high potential evaporation environmental re-use, gardening, afforestation, etc. is considered as the main usage of the treated wastewater. Considering the economic restrictions in the less developed area, a decentralised system can be taken as an important option in formulating water re-use strategies.

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