The River, The Plain, And The State: An Environmental Drama In Northern Song China, 1048-1128 (studies In Environment And History)
by Ling Zhang /
2016 / English / PDF
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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.
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.