Article ID: CBB603627561

Between War and Water: Farmer, City, and State in China's Yellow River Flood of 1938–1947 (2016)

unapi

This article examines how the catastrophic Yellow River flood of 1938–1947 impacted rural communities and state-society relations in the inundated area. The flood, which occurred when China's Nationalist government deliberately breached a major Yellow River dike in a desperate attempt to use flooding to slow the advance of the Japanese Imperial Army, turned millions of Chinese farmers into refugees and killed over eight hundred thousand people. This essay explores the human and social sides of the flood through the eyes of local observers, missionaries, and the wartime Chinese media. It compares rural and urban experiences of the disaster and examines local perspectives on the efficacy of the flood relief projects organized by the Chinese government. This paper finds that while the wartime Nationalist state did not abandon the inundated area, its state-building efforts there exhausted and disillusioned flood refugees rather than integrating them more fully into the modern nation state.

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Authors & Contributors
Chris Courtney
Williams, John
Xiangli Ding
Man, Zhimin
Barbosa, Thiago P.
Yu, Xiaobo
Concepts
Nation building
Floods
Rivers
Environmental history
Disasters; catastrophes
East Asia, civilization and culture
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, early
19th century
Song Dynasty (China, 960-1279)
Qing dynasty (China, 1644-1912)
Zhou dynasty (China, 1122-221 B.C.)
Places
China
Yellow River (China)
India
Henan Province (China)
Gulf of Mexico
Colorado River (North America)
Institutions
United Nations
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