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Full Description
The Jianghan Plain in central China has been shaped by its relationship with water. Once a prolific rice-growing region that drew immigrants to its fertile paddy fields, it has, since the eighteenth century, become prone to devastating flooding and waterlogging. Jiayan Zhang consults early records of catastrophic water events and explores their role in shaping Jianghan society in the Qing and Republican periods. In a constantly shifting environment, the peasants of Jianghan were forced to adapt their farming methods; cooperate on complex projects like dike building; and even organize social structures, tenancy arrangements, and lifestyles around the pressure and uncertainty of their environment. The first environmental and socioeconomic history of the region, Coping with Calamity considers the Jianghan Plain's volatile environment, the constant challenges it presented to peasants, and their often ingenious and sophisticated responses.
Contents
Introduction
1 Changes in the Environment of the Jianghan Plain
2 Water Calamities and the Management of the Dike Systems
3 The Dike Systems and the Jianghan Economy
4 Agriculture, Commercialization, and Environmental Adaptability
5 Tenancy and Environment
6 Fisheries and the Peasant Economy
7 A Water-Rich Society: Socio-Economic Life in a Marshy Kingdom
Conclusion
Appendix: The Yield of Rice in the Jianghan Plain in the Qing and the Republic
Glossary; Notes; References; Index
