Irrigation Communities and the Organization of Power in Local Society: Xingtai County, Hebei in Late Imperial and Republican Times

Abstract

"It is a remarkable fact that English language research on China has neglected the subject of water control organizations even so long after the path-breaking, if provocative contributions of Wittfogel to the subject of hydraulic societies. Central to Wittfogel's conception was the 'despotic' character of the imperial Chinese state which overwhelmed local communities."