Introduction -- On the ecological margins -- Management and mismanagement in the imperial period -- Transforming the land of famine -- Making the water run clear -- Creating a garden on the North China Plain -- Managing legacies, managing growth
Summary
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
