The River, the Plain, and the State

The River, the Plain, and the State PDF Author: Ling Zhang
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107155983
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
This book explores the human-engineered flooding of China's Yellow River, and how it affected the state, environment, and inhabitants of the region.

The River, the Plain, and the State

The River, the Plain, and the State PDF Author: Ling Zhang
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107155983
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

Get Book

Book Description
This book explores the human-engineered flooding of China's Yellow River, and how it affected the state, environment, and inhabitants of the region.

The River, the Plain, and the State

The River, the Plain, and the State PDF Author: Ling Zhang
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316721019
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
On July 19, 1048, the Yellow River breached its banks, drastically changing its course across the Hebei Plain and turning it into a delta where the river sought a path out to the ocean. This dramatic shift of forces in the natural world resulted from political deliberation and hydraulic engineering of the imperial state of the Northern Song Dynasty. It created eighty years of social suffering, economic downturn, political upheaval, and environmental changes, which reshaped the medieval North China Plain and challenged the state. Ling Zhang deftly applies textual analysis, theoretical provocation, and modern scientific data in her gripping analysis of how these momentous events altered China's physical and political landscapes and how its human communities adapted and survived. In so doing, she opens up an exciting new field of research by wedding environmental, political, economic, and social history in her examination of one of North China's most significant environmental changes.

The Yellow River

The Yellow River PDF Author: David A. Pietz
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674058240
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
In the Maoist years the North China Plain was re-engineered to use every drop of water for irrigation and hydroelectricity. As David Pietz shows, China’s urban growth, industrial expansion, and agricultural intensification rested on compromised water resources, with effects that cast a long shadow over China’s future course as a global power.

The Yellow River

The Yellow River PDF Author: Ruth Mostern
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300263112
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
A three-thousand-year history of the Yellow River and the legacy of interactions between humans and the natural landscape From Neolithic times to the present day, the Yellow River and its watershed have both shaped and been shaped by human society. Using the Yellow River to illustrate the long-term effects of environmentally significant human activity, Ruth Mostern unravels the long history of the human relationship with water and soil and the consequences, at times disastrous, of ecological transformations that resulted from human decisions. As Mostern follows the Yellow River through three millennia of history, she underlines how governments consistently ignored the dynamic interrelationships of the river’s varied ecosystems—grasslands, riparian forests, wetlands, and deserts—and the ecological and cultural impacts of their policies. With an interdisciplinary approach informed by archival research and GIS (geographical information system) records, this groundbreaking volume provides unique insight into patterns, transformations, and devastating ruptures throughout ecological history and offers profound conclusions about the way we continue to affect the natural systems upon which we depend.

The Ecology of War in China

The Ecology of War in China PDF Author: Micah S. Muscolino
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107071569
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
This book explores the interplay between war and the environment in Henan Province, a hotly contested frontline territory that endured massive environmental destruction and human disruption during the conflict between China and Japan that raged during World War II. In a desperate attempt to block Japan's military advance, Chinese Nationalist armies under Chiang Kai-shek broke the Yellow River's dikes in Henan in June 1938, resulting in devastating floods that persisted until after the war's end. Greater catastrophe struck Henan in 1942-1943, when famine took some two million lives and displaced millions more. Focusing on these war-induced disasters and their aftermath, this book conceptualizes the ecology of war in terms of energy flows through and between militaries, societies, and environments. Ultimately, Micah Muscolino argues that efforts to procure and exploit nature's energy in various forms shaped the choices of generals, the fates of communities, and the trajectory of environmental change in North China.

The Water Kingdom

The Water Kingdom PDF Author: Philip Ball
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022647092X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
From the Yangtze to the Yellow River, China is traversed by great waterways, which have defined its politics and ways of life for centuries. Water has been so integral to China’s culture, economy, and growth and development that it provides a window on the whole sweep of Chinese history. In The Water Kingdom, renowned writer Philip Ball opens that window to offer an epic and powerful new way of thinking about Chinese civilization. Water, Ball shows, is a key that unlocks much of Chinese culture. In The Water Kingdom, he takes us on a grand journey through China’s past and present, showing how the complexity and energy of the country and its history repeatedly come back to the challenges, opportunities, and inspiration provided by the waterways. Drawing on stories from travelers and explorers, poets and painters, bureaucrats and activists, all of whom have been influenced by an environment shaped and permeated by water, Ball explores how the ubiquitous relationship of the Chinese people to water has made it an enduring metaphor for philosophical thought and artistic expression. From the Han emperors to Mao, the ability to manage the waters ― to provide irrigation and defend against floods ― was a barometer of political legitimacy, often resulting in engineering works on a gigantic scale. It is a struggle that continues today, as the strain of economic growth on water resources may be the greatest threat to China’s future. The Water Kingdom offers an unusual and fascinating history, uncovering just how much of China’s art, politics, and outlook have been defined by the links between humanity and nature.

Plain Women

Plain Women PDF Author: Margaret C. Reynolds
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271021386
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Despite the great interest in &"plain&" groups in recent years, comparatively little has been written about women and the particular role they play in preserving traditional religious and cultural values in the modern world. In Plain Women, Margaret C. Reynolds portrays the women of the Old Order River Brethren, a significant branch of the Brethren in Christ located mainly in Pennsylvania. The members of this conservative offshoot of the Brethren are often confused with the Amish because of their plain attire, but, unlike the Amish, they have made some notable concessions to the modern world&—including the use of automobiles, computers, and home appliances. Noting these accommodations to modern American life, Reynolds examines the ceremonies and traditions that allow the Old Order River Brethren to remain &"separate&" from other plain groups and from contemporary mass culture. She describes, for example, the love feast communion, a service that involves footwashing and a breadmaking ritual (one unique to the Old Order River Brethren and solely performed by women). Reynolds focuses in particular on the gendered customs of dress, hair, and domesticity that shape women&’s lives and, in so doing, preserve the minority faith itself. Plain Women is the first volume in the new Pennsylvania German History and Culture Series, published in cooperation with the Pennsylvania German Society. This series is a continuation of the Society&’s annual volumes on Pennsylvania German scholarship in disciplines such as history, religion, folklore, literature, and arts.

There's this River

There's this River PDF Author: Christa Sadler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description


The Nature of New York

The Nature of New York PDF Author: David Stradling
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801445101
Category : Environmentalism
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Stradling shows how New York's varied landscape and abundant natural resources have played a fundamental role in shaping the state's culture and economy.

Geohydrology of the Regional Aquifer System, Western Snake River Plain, Southwestern Idaho

Geohydrology of the Regional Aquifer System, Western Snake River Plain, Southwestern Idaho PDF Author: Garth D. Newton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aquifers
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description