Dikes and Society in Rural China: The Jianghan Plain, 1788-2010s

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).

• IllustrationsPrefaceList of Illustrations and TablesMeasures1 Introduction1 The Jianghan Dikes2 Dikes and Dike Management on the Jianghan Plain3 Water Control, Environment, and the State4 A Historical and Environmental Perspective5 Synopsis of Research and Sources2 Dikes: Systems and Administration1 The Dikes of Jianghan: Categories and Terminology2 Dike Management3 The Role and Responsibility of Administrators4 Technicians and Dike Administration5 Rewards and Punishments3 High-Water Control1 The Specifics of High-Water Control2 Materials and Equipment3 Methods and Importance of High-Water Control4 Surveying and Reinforcing Dikes before the Coming of the Annual High Water5 Laborers and Funding6 Sentry Shacks7 Breakwater Forests and Riverside Parks4 Annual Repairs1 The Dike Headman and the Dike Maintainers/Keepers System2 Termite Nests, Badger Burrows, and Embankment Streets3 Recruitment and Assignment of Laborers4 Women, Laborer Management, and Machinery5 Funding6 Annual Repairs and Mass Campaigns in the PRC5 People’s Polders: Annual Repairs and High-Water Control Agencies1 Establishment and Structure of the Agencies2 Operations3 Directors4 Income and Expenditures5 People’s Polders and Local Governments6 Conclusion6 Water Deity Worship and Dike Management1 Water Deity Temples on the Jianghan Plain in the Late Qing2 Iron Oxen, Imperial Edicts, and Water Deity Worship3 The Case of Xu Guorui4 “Human Beings Can Overcome Nature”5 Water Watching, the Dragon Dance, and New-Style Tourism6 Conclusion7 Polders and Lakes1 Reclamation and Enclosure of Polders2 Growth and Decline of Polders3 The Vicissitudes of Lakes4 Land Reclamation and State Farms5 The Battle against Snail Fever8 Studies on the Reclamation of Private Polders1 What Are Private Polders?2 The Enclosure of Private Polders in the Qing and the Republic3 Banning Private Polders: Bureaucrats of the Qing and the Republic4 Banning Private Polders in the Qing and the Republic: Gentry and Villagers5 Reclamation of River Beaches, Islets, and Lakeshores in the Era of Collectivization6 Changes in the Reform Era7 Conclusion9 Armed Forces, Military Affairs, and Dikes1 The Military Function of the Dike Systems2 Dike Affairs as Military Affairs3 The Impact of War on Dike Affairs4 Armed Forces and Dike Affairs5 Troops and the 1998 High-Water Control of the Yangzi River10 The Three Gorges Project and High-Water Control on the Jianghan Plain1 Impact of the Four Southward Outlets2 The Construction and Usage of Flood Diversion Zones3 The Three Gorges Dam4 Water Conservancy Relocatees5 Relocatees and Local Society11 The Evolution of Dike Systems and Socioeconomic Life1 Disaster Relief Measures and Their Effect2 Environmental Stability and Crop Choices3 Improving Water Conservancy and Reducing Dike Disputes4 Changes in Dike Systems and Daily Life on the Jianghan Plain12 Conclusion1 Dikes and Society2 State and Society3 Changes and Continuities4 National Significance of the Jianghan ExperienceGlossaryBibliographyIndex