The Yellow River

Flowing through the heart of the North China Plainhome to 200 million peoplethe Yellow River sustains one of Chinas core regions. Yet this vital water supply has become highly vulnerable in recent decades, with potentially serious repercussions for Chinas economic, social, and political stability. The Yellow River is an investigative expedition to the source of Chinas contemporary water crisis, mapping the confluence of forces that have shaped the predicament that the worlds most populous nation now faces in managing its water reserves. Chinese governments have long struggled to maintain ecological stability along the Yellow River, undertaking ambitious programs of canal and dike construction to mitigate the effects of recurrent droughts and floods. But particularly during the Maoist years the North China Plain was radically re-engineered to utilize every drop of water for irrigation and hydroelectric generation. As David A. Pietz shows, Maoist water management from 1949 to 1976 cast a long shadow over the reform period, beginning in 1978. Rapid urban growth, industrial expansion, and agricultural intensification over the past three decades of Chinas economic boom have been realized on a water resource base that was acutely compromised, with effects that have been more difficult and costly to overcome with each passing decade. Chronicling this complex legacy, The Yellow River provides important insight into how water challenges will affect Chinas course as a twenty-first-century global power.