Hydraulic Theory and Hydraulic Engineering Projects of the Wusong River (吳淞江) Basin Between the Sixteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

This paper attempts to explore the significance of the overall water control system and numerous water control projects in the Jiangnan region. Through a series of large-scale dredging projects, the Ming and Qing Dynasties attempted to achieve the goals of securing national tax revenue and guaranteeing the production activity for the farmers. However, due to the weakened hydraulic system, excessive expenses, and interests on various levels, large-scale hydraulic engineering projects were unable to achieve their original goals. Starting in the sixteenth century already, interests about practical one-time hydraulic engineering projects on a small scale began to surface. Meanwhile, in the Qing Dynasty, when the socio-economic transformation developed more, a new awareness of hydraulics surfaced due to the expansion of commercial cultivation over a large amount of land in the Jiangnan region. This was the result of an attempt to break away from the heavy dependence on water control facilities that had little room for improvement by growing a variety of plants and crops instead of focusing solely on simple grain production. Therefore the cultivation of a variety of commercial crops and plants and the development of the handicraft industry in the Jiangnan region since the sixteenth century are two aspects of Chinese society that resulted from ineffective water control facilities. However, despite these limitations and failures, large-scale hydraulic engineering projects were carried out repeatedly due to the economic importance of the Jiangnan region and to the efforts to achieve the ideals of flood control.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC

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