Elentarri
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- Jan 23, 2022
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Finished: The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China by Philip Ball
The Water Kingdom is an overarching, broad overview of the historical Chinese relationship with water, specifically the rivers that flow through China. This isn't a chronologically linear cultural-political history of China, but rather an examination of how water is entwined in Chinese philosophy, life, politics and culture, in a more-or-less chronological order, but focused more on themes than historical detail. The book provides illustrations, maps and grey-scale photographs as necessary.
Philip Ball starts off describing the geography of the region, with a focus on the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, then moves on to the myths and origins of ancient China, including Daoism and Confucianism. There is also a chapter that explores how water infuses Chinese painting and literature. The middle sections of the book focus on how China's waterways shaped its political landscape, its maritime adventures, added or hindered military conflicts, and the bureaucracy that developed to control the waters - to minimize the floods, increase irrigation via canals, building dams, and generally turning China's waterways into watery roads for transport of trade goods and people. I found this middle section dealing with China's dynastic history to be fuzzy in terms of keeping all the dynasties and people separate, but I suspect this is more my issue, than that of the book. I also wished that the author had discussed the actual hydraulic engineering required in all the water control projects in more details. The chapter that deals with Mao Zedong and his water projects (including the Three Gorges Dam & the South-North Water Transport Scheme) provides a more in-depth discussion of the engineering feats - the problems and disasters encountered, political and bureaucratic interference, funding, labour requirements, the effects of relocating whole towns for dam construction, the measures needed to remove the excessive accumulation of silt, the cultural impact, the end result. The last chapter deals with China's future in terms of water - the lack of water in certain regions and prolific water pollution. This chapter examines the current state of water affairs and what needs to be done to improve water quality and access to water. While there was some mention of the environmental impacts (soil erosion, pollution) of China's long history of water control measures, this aspect was not covered in any particular detail.
Philip Ball sought to show how China's philosophy, history, politics, administration, economics and art are intimately connected to a degree unmatched anywhere else in the world. In this respect he has succeeded. I did, however, prefer the chapters where the author spent more time discussing specific water control projects (like the Three Gorges Dam) and their long term effects, than on the generalities.
Philip Ball starts off describing the geography of the region, with a focus on the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, then moves on to the myths and origins of ancient China, including Daoism and Confucianism. There is also a chapter that explores how water infuses Chinese painting and literature. The middle sections of the book focus on how China's waterways shaped its political landscape, its maritime adventures, added or hindered military conflicts, and the bureaucracy that developed to control the waters - to minimize the floods, increase irrigation via canals, building dams, and generally turning China's waterways into watery roads for transport of trade goods and people. I found this middle section dealing with China's dynastic history to be fuzzy in terms of keeping all the dynasties and people separate, but I suspect this is more my issue, than that of the book. I also wished that the author had discussed the actual hydraulic engineering required in all the water control projects in more details. The chapter that deals with Mao Zedong and his water projects (including the Three Gorges Dam & the South-North Water Transport Scheme) provides a more in-depth discussion of the engineering feats - the problems and disasters encountered, political and bureaucratic interference, funding, labour requirements, the effects of relocating whole towns for dam construction, the measures needed to remove the excessive accumulation of silt, the cultural impact, the end result. The last chapter deals with China's future in terms of water - the lack of water in certain regions and prolific water pollution. This chapter examines the current state of water affairs and what needs to be done to improve water quality and access to water. While there was some mention of the environmental impacts (soil erosion, pollution) of China's long history of water control measures, this aspect was not covered in any particular detail.
Philip Ball sought to show how China's philosophy, history, politics, administration, economics and art are intimately connected to a degree unmatched anywhere else in the world. In this respect he has succeeded. I did, however, prefer the chapters where the author spent more time discussing specific water control projects (like the Three Gorges Dam) and their long term effects, than on the generalities.
I'm a little disturbed by the arrival of a small boy but so far the storyline hasn't got either silly or mushy. Fingers crossed!
