The River, the Plain, and the State: An Environmental Drama in Northern Song China, 1048-1128 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781316609699)

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 deliberation and hydraulic engineering of the imperial state of the Northern Song Dynasty. It created eighty years of social suffering, economic downturn, political upheaval, and environmental changes, which reshaped the medieval North China Plain and challenged the state. Ling Zhang deftly applies textual analysis, theoretical provocation, and modern scientific data in her gripping analysis of how these momentous events altered China's physical and political landscapes and how its human communities 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 significant environmental changes.

Author: Ling Zhang
ISBN-10: 1316609693
ISBN-13: 9781316609699
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 03/14/2019
Pages: 338
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.76d