TheRiver,thePlain,andtheState On July 19, 1048, the Yellow River breached its banks, drastically changing its course across the Hebei Plain and turning it into a delta where the river sought a path out to the ocean. This dramatic shift of forces in the natural world resulted from political delibera- tion and hydraulic engineering of the imperial state of the Northern SongDynasty.Itcreated80yearsofsocialsuffering,economicdown- turn, political upheaval, and environmental changes, which reshaped medievalNorthChinaPlainandchallengedthestate.LingZhangdeftly appliestextualanalysis,theoreticalprovocation,andmodernscientific data in her gripping analysis of how these momentous events altered China’s physical and political landscapes and how its human com- munities adapted and survived. In so doing, she opens up an exciting new field of research by wedding environmental, political, economic, and social history in her examination of one of North China’s most significantenvironmentalchanges. LingZhangisAssistantProfessorofHistoryatBostonCollege. 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ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107155985 (cid:2)C LingZhang2016 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2016 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabySheridanBooks,Inc. AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary isbn978-1-107-15598-5Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracy ofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. For my parents, Qiqi, and David Contents ListofIllustrations pagexi ListofTables xiii Acknowledgments xv ListofAbbreviations xix Prologue1048:TheOpeningofanEnvironmentalDrama 1 part i pre-1048: prelude to the environmental drama 1 BeforetheYellowRiverMettheHebeiPlain 23 2 TheState’sHebeiProject 53 3 The1040s:OntheEveoftheFlood 83 4 CreatingaDeltaLandscape 107 part ii post-1048: the unfolding of the environmental drama 5 ManagingtheYellowRiver–HebeiEnvironmentalComplex 141 6 LifeintheYellowRiverDelta 188 7 Agriculture:ASubsistence-OrientedEconomy 216 8 LandandWater:AThousandYearsofEnvironmental Trauma 248 Epilogue1128:TheCloseoftheEnvironmentalDrama 280 Bibliography 291 Index 309 ix