In Search of Community: Dike Repair and Flood Control in Ming-Qing China

Abstract

"Perdue discusses the organization and management of dike repair and flood control in the mid and lower portions of the Yangtze River basin, in the Ming and Qing dynasties of China. He argues that dike repair and flood control was not totally dominated by the state community. The scene was characterized instead by different kinds of conflict and cooperation among individual peasants, landlords, and tenants. The state bureaucrats usually refrained from dominating the whole flood control system if local organizations could successfully solve their problems. Sometimes, they intervened when there was great conflict among the local people."