Download or read book China Along the Yellow River written by Cao Jinqing and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-12-10 with total page 491 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text had a major impact in its original Chinese version. Reviewed in the Far East Economic Review as 'one of the richest portraits of the Chinese countryside published in the reform era', it charts a long journey through the hinterland region of the Yellow River undertaken by the author between 1994 and 1996. It examines in exhaustive detail the lives and work of peasants, Party and local government officials, providing a wealth of data on the nature of life in post-reform rural China. The author argues that global integration is but the latest 'great leap forward' in a succession of reforms over a hundred years.
Download or read book The Yellow River written by David A. Pietz and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-05 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Flowing through the heart of the North China Plain—home to 200 million people—the Yellow River sustains one of China’s core regions. Yet this vital water supply has become highly vulnerable in recent decades, with potentially serious repercussions for China’s economic, social, and political stability. The Yellow River is an investigative expedition to the source of China’s contemporary water crisis, mapping the confluence of forces that have shaped the predicament that the world’s 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 China’s 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 China’s course as a twenty-first-century global power.
Download or read book The Ecology of War in China written by Micah S. Muscolino and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the interplay between war and the environment in Henan Province, a hotly contested frontline territory that endured massive environmental destruction and human disruption during the conflict between China and Japan that raged during World War II. In a desperate attempt to block Japan's military advance, Chinese Nationalist armies under Chiang Kai-shek broke the Yellow River's dikes in Henan in June 1938, resulting in devastating floods that persisted until after the war's end. Greater catastrophe struck Henan in 1942-1943, when famine took some two million lives and displaced millions more. Focusing on these war-induced disasters and their aftermath, this book conceptualizes the ecology of war in terms of energy flows through and between militaries, societies, and environments. Ultimately, Micah Muscolino argues that efforts to procure and exploit nature's energy in various forms shaped the choices of generals, the fates of communities, and the trajectory of environmental change in North China.
Download or read book The Yellow River written by Ruth Mostern and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A three-thousand-year history of the Yellow River and the legacy of interactions between humans and the natural landscape From Neolithic times to the present day, the Yellow River and its watershed have both shaped and been shaped by human society. Using the Yellow River to illustrate the long-term effects of environmentally significant human activity, Ruth Mostern unravels the long history of the human relationship with water and soil and the consequences, at times disastrous, of ecological transformations that resulted from human decisions. As Mostern follows the Yellow River through three millennia of history, she underlines how governments consistently ignored the dynamic interrelationships of the river’s varied ecosystems—grasslands, riparian forests, wetlands, and deserts—and the ecological and cultural impacts of their policies. With an interdisciplinary approach informed by archival research and GIS (geographical information system) records, this groundbreaking volume provides unique insight into patterns, transformations, and devastating ruptures throughout ecological history and offers profound conclusions about the way we continue to affect the natural systems upon which we depend.
Download or read book The Water Kingdom written by Philip Ball and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-05-05 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Yangtze to the Yellow River, China is traversed by great waterways, which have defined its politics and ways of life for centuries. Water has been so integral to China’s culture, economy, and growth and development that it provides a window on the whole sweep of Chinese history. In The Water Kingdom, renowned writer Philip Ball opens that window to offer an epic and powerful new way of thinking about Chinese civilization. Water, Ball shows, is a key that unlocks much of Chinese culture. In The Water Kingdom, he takes us on a grand journey through China’s past and present, showing how the complexity and energy of the country and its history repeatedly come back to the challenges, opportunities, and inspiration provided by the waterways. Drawing on stories from travelers and explorers, poets and painters, bureaucrats and activists, all of whom have been influenced by an environment shaped and permeated by water, Ball explores how the ubiquitous relationship of the Chinese people to water has made it an enduring metaphor for philosophical thought and artistic expression. From the Han emperors to Mao, the ability to manage the waters ? to provide irrigation and defend against floods ? was a barometer of political legitimacy, often resulting in engineering works on a gigantic scale. It is a struggle that continues today, as the strain of economic growth on water resources may be the greatest threat to China’s future. The Water Kingdom offers an unusual and fascinating history, uncovering just how much of China’s art, politics, and outlook have been defined by the links between humanity and nature.
Download or read book The River the Plain and the State written by Ling Zhang and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-09 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the human-engineered flooding of China's Yellow River, and how it affected the state, environment, and inhabitants of the region.
Download or read book Controlling the Dragon written by Randall A. Dodgen and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2001-02-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Yellow River has long been viewed as a symbol of China's cultural and political development, its management traditionally held as a gauge of dynastic power. For centuries, the country's early rulers employed a defensive approach to the river by building dikes and diversion channels to protect fields and population centers from flooding. This situation changed dramatically after the Yuan (1260-1368) emperors constructed the Grand Canal, which linked the North China Plain and the capital at Beijing with the Yangtze Valley. One of the most ambitious imperial undertakings of any age, by the turn of the nineteenth century the water system had become a complex network of locks, spillways, and dikes stretching eight hundred kilometers from the mountains in western Henan to the Yellow Sea. Controlling the Dragon examines Yellow River engineering from two perspectives. The first looks at long-term efforts to manage the river starting in the early Ming dynasty, at the nature of the bureaucracy created to do the job, and finally focuses on two of the Confucian engineers who served successfully in the decade before the system was abandoned. In the second section, the author chronicles a series of dramatic floods in the 1840s and explores the way politics, environment, and technology interacted to undermine the state's commitment to the Yellow River control system.
Download or read book A Bend in the Yellow River written by Justin Hill and published by Phoenix (USA). This book was released on 1998 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Justin Hill was only twenty-one when he arrived starry-eyed in Yuncheng, central China, a small town hidden among the plains of dusty Shanxi province. He was greeted by a place and people designed to shatter the most tightly held of illusions about the glories of Chinese tradition and culture: an ugly grimy town where spitting in public was encouraged and queuing was anathema, where the local TV output consisted of nightly readings of the works of Deng Xiao Ping interspersed with NBA basketball games. But after two years teaching Yuncheng's inhabitants he emerged knowing that nowhere was more authentically Chinese than this outpost nestling in the bend of the Yellow River, battling the contradictions of past and future with robust good humour.
Download or read book South of the Yangtze written by Bill Porter and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2016-08-01 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chinese civilization first developed 5,000 years ago in North China along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. And the Yellow River remained the center of Chinese civilization for the next 4,000 years. Then a thousand years ago, this changed. A thousand years ago, the center of Chinese civilization moved to the Yangtze. And the Yangtze, not the Yellow River, has remained the center of its civilization. A thousand years ago, the Chinese came up with a name for this new center of its civilization. They called it Chiangnan, meaning "South of the River," the river in question, of course, being the Yangtze. The Chinese still call this region Chiangnan. Nowadays it includes the northern parts of Chekiang and Kiangsi provinces and the southern parts of Anhui and Kiangsu. And some would even add the northern part of Hunan. But it's not just a region on the map. It's a region in the Chinese spirit. It's hard to put it into words. Ask a dozen Chinese what "Chiangnan" means, and they'll give you a dozen different answers. For some the word conjures forests of pine and bamboo. For others, they envision hillsides of tea, or terraces of rice, or lakes of lotuses and fish. Or they might imagine Zen monasteries, or Taoist temples, or artfully–constructed gardens, or mist–shrouded peaks. Oddly enough, no one ever mentions the region's cities, which include some of the largest in the world. Somehow, whatever else it might mean to people, Chiangnan means a landscape, a landscape and a culture defined by mist, a landscape and a culture that lacks the harder edges of the arid North. In the Fall of 1991, Bill Porter decided to travel through this vaporous land, following the old post roads that still connected its administrative centers and scenic wonders, its most famous hometowns and graves, its factories and breweries, its dreamlike memories and its mist, and he was joined on this journey by his poet and photographer friends, Finn Wilcox and Steve Johnson. South of the Yangtze is a record in words and black and white images of their trip.
Download or read book The Technical History Of China s Grand Canal written by Xuming Tan and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on the past 30-years' research on the technical and cultural values of China's Grand Canal, this book, based on interdisciplinary research, studies the natural and social background of the evolution and development of different sections of the Grand Canal in different historical periods, as well as the interrelations between the Grand Canal and the Chinese politics, economics, and culture. It also assesses the effects of the Grand Canal on the progress of the Chinese civilization, engineering technology achievement, the natural environment, and the society, providing the readers with an understanding of China's Grand Canal from the perspectives of hydraulic engineering and history.
Download or read book A Song for China written by Ange Zhang and published by Groundwood Books Ltd. This book was released on 2019-09-01 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in celebration of the famous Yellow River Cantata’s 80th anniversary, this is the riveting history of how a young Chinese author and passionate militant fought using art to create a socially just China during the period of the struggle against the Japanese and during World War II. This is the fascinating story of how a young Chinese author, Guang Weiran, a passionate militant from the age of twelve, fought, using art, theater, poetry and song, especially the famous Yellow River Cantata — the anthem of Chinese national spirit — to create a socially just China. Set during the period of the struggle against the Japanese and the war against the Kuomintang in the 1920s and ’30s, this book, written and illustrated by Guang Weiran’s award-winning artist son, Ange Zhang, illuminates a key period in China’s history. The passion and commitment of the artists who were born under the repressive weight of the Japanese occupation, the remnants of the decaying imperial order and the times of colonial humiliation are inspiring. Zhang’s words and wood-block style of art tell us the story of his father’s extraordinary youth and very early rise to prominence due to his great talent with words. We see and hear the intensity of what it meant to be alive at such a significant moment in the history of China, a country that understands itself as the heir to one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known. The humiliations and social injustice the Chinese people had endured in the colonial period were no longer bearable. And yet there were major factional differences between those who wanted to create a modern China. Ange’s words and art paint the picture for us through his father’s story, accompanied by sidebars that explain the historical context. The book ends in a burst of glorious color and song, with the words of Yellow River Cantata in Mandarin, as well as newly translated into English. This great song turns eighty years old in 2019, and will be sung and performed by huge orchestras and choirs around the world, as the Chinese diaspora has embraced the cantata as its own. Key Text Features historical context sidebars illustrations lyrics Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.2 Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.6 Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.7 Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
Download or read book Red Land Yellow River written by Ange Zhang and published by Groundwood Books Ltd. This book was released on 2019-09-01 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The amazing, dramatic, and painful autobiographical story of Ange Zhang as he came of age during the Cultural Revolution in China. When Mao’s Cultural Revolution took hold in China in June 1966, Ange Zhang was thirteen years old. His father was a famous writer. Shortly after the revolution began, many of Ange’s classmates joined the Red Guard, Mao’s youth movement, and they drove their teachers out of the classrooms. But in the weeks that followed, Ange discovered that his father’s fame as a writer now meant that he was a target of the new regime. When his father was arrested, he began to question everything that was happening in his country. Finally, Ange was forced to join many other young urban Chinese students in the countryside for re-education where he found the emotional space to develop his own artistic talent and to find that he, like his father, was an artist — except that Ange’s talent lay in painting and drawing. This dramatic, painful autobiographical story is complemented by photographs, many drawn from Ange’s personal collection, as well as a non-fiction section that explains the historical period and is also illustrated with archival images. Key Text Features author’s note glossary Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.7 Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
Download or read book Yellow River Odyssey written by Bill Porter and published by Chin Music Press Inc.. This book was released on 2014-06-09 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bill Porter is the ideal travel companion. His depth of knowledge of Chinese history and culture is unparalleled. His wit is ever-present. And his keen eye for the telling detail consistently reminds us that China is not what you think it is. Yellow River Odyssey, already a best-seller in China, reveals a complex, fascinating, contradictory culture like never before.
Download or read book The Yellow River written by Tetsuya Kusuda and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2010 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Yellow River basin, located in the semi-arid and arid climate zones in northern China is confronted with serious problems of water deficit as well as water pollution. Due to increasing population levels, rising living standards, increasing pressure of expanding irrigation areas and developing industries in the basin, efficient water resource allocation has become a pressing issue here. On the surface it appears to be domestic, but in reality the problem is one of international proportions because it may impact other countries through trade. Development in the basin is restricted by acute water shortage, salinity damage and pollution. There are many scenarios for the allocation of water resources. One extreme is industry-oriented and the other is agriculture-oriented. The allocation between upstream and downstream is also another issue. In order to understand the current state of water resources in the basin and to provide a way of thinking about the issues, this book systematically explains the methods of modeling, mechanism of water circulation on each element and several technologies for water saving. It also introduces cutting-edge research results of the five-year project "improving the sustainability in utilizing and controlling water in the Yellow River basin" sponsored by Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST).
Download or read book Development History Of Ancient Chinese Glass Technology written by and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2021-02-04 with total page 818 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Worldwide research on ancient glass began in the early 20th century. A consensus has been reached in the community of Archaeology that the first manmade or synthetic glasses, based on archaeological findings, originated in the Middle East during the 5000-3000's BC. By contrast, the manufacturing technology of pottery and ceramics were well developed in ancient China. The earliest pottery and ceramics dates back to the Shang Dynasty - the Zhou Dynasty (1700 BC-770 BC), while the earliest ancient glass artifacts unearthed in China dates back to the Western Han Dynasty. Utilizing the state-of-the art analytical and spectroscopic methods, the recent findings demonstrate that China had already developed its own glassmaking technology at latest since 200 BC. There are two schools of viewpoint on the origin of ancient Chinese glass. The more common one believes that ancient Chinese glass originated from the import of glassmaking technology from the West as a result of Sino-West trade exchanges in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-25 AD). The other scientifically demonstrates that homemade ancient Chinese glass with unique domestic formula containing both PbO and BaO were made as early as in the Pre-Qin Period or even the Warring States Period (770 BC-221 BC), known as Yousha or Faience.This English version of the previously published Chinese book entitled Development History of Ancient Chinese Glass Technology is for universities and research institutes where various research and educational activities of ancient glass and history are conducted. With 18 chapters, the scope of this book covers very detailed information on scientifically based findings of ancient Chinese glass development and imports and influence of foreign glass products as well as influence of the foreign glass manufacturing processes through the trade exchanges along the Silk Road(s).
Download or read book Crossing the Yellow River written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He has also included the less-often translated social poems of Tu Fu, the poems and songs of Tzu Yeh and Li Ch'ing Chao as well as lyrical selections from Li Po, Shih Ching, Wang Wei, Su Tung-p'o and others. Hamill's Introduction provides the most definitive overview to date of the aesthetic impulses propelling Chinese poetry."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Taming the Yellow River Silt and Floods written by L.M. Brush and published by Springer. This book was released on 1989-09-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: About four years ago Dr. Gilbert White visited China and sowed the seeds of this project through conversations with Drs. Huang and Gong of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Mr. Long of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission. After some additional rounds of communications by letter, the plan for a workshop evolved and Drs. Wolman and Brush visited with Dr. Sabadell of the Nat_ional Science Foundation to begin the initial planning. In March 1987 Dr. Brush visited China and the details were worked out for the October 1987 workshop. At the outset it was recognized that the 10 American scientists and engineers ltad very Ii ttle knowledge of the Yellow River and none had ever seen it. Therefore, it became important that field trips be scheduled before the workshop to better set the stage for fruitful discussions. It was also acknowledged that the American participants could not present papers about the Yellow River per se so their offerings reflected their general knowledge of rivers using other rivers as examples. On the other hand the Chinese participants were all well into the difficult problems of harnessing the Yellow River and made their presentations accordingly. Despite these differences the subject matter was the unifying thread and cross communication was excellent.
