ENGLISH

The River, the Plain, and the State: An Environmental Drama in Northern Song China, 1048-1128

By Ling Zhang

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
2016
ISBN
1107155983, 9781107155985
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
3 MB (3014853 bytes)
Series
Studies in Environment and History
Pages
xx+318\339
Topic
History
Time added
2018-06-10 16:19:32
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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 80 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.

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