THE WATER KINGDOM A SECRET HISTORY OF CHINA 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK

Philip Ball | 9780226369204 | | | | | The Water Kingdom A Secret History of China 1st edition PDF Book

It appears as a basic component in Chinese philosophy, one of the basic five elements. For much of his travels was attended by a long-suffering servant named Gu Xing. There are claims that he reached the Americas, but a vigorous naval activity up to Africa is historically attested to. Complete and utter dogshit. By the time Mao had finished, 80, dams had been built, many by peasants equipped with little more than the all- conquering thoughts of the Chairman. But during the Ming era, iconoclastic Xu Xiake — argued otherwise. The article was first published on the Guardian. Alexander F. From the Han emperors to Mao, the ability to manage the waters to provide irrigation and defend against floods was a barometer of political legitimacy, often resulting in engineering works on a gigantic scale. This should give rise to hope. You can enjoy a grander sight By climbing up one floor. But I can imagine the publishers shaking their heads. There is no clearer illustration of how a culture's geography may affect its world view. The Water Kingdom is published by Bodley Head. Available for Pre-order. About Contact News Giving to the Press. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Li Bai could certainly get away with his freestyling and extreme exaggeration while downing a few drinks since he didn't have to manage a whole country. Next day delivery available - see checkout for options. All major rivers in China are afflicted with the scourge of contamination with industrial waste products. Kilometres of dykes, having been laboriously built and maintained for years, might be swept away in a matter of hours, and the river water pooled into immense lakes and inland seas. Buy at Local Store Enter your zip code below to purchase from an indie close to you. I recommend this to anyone wishing to learn about: water as a philosophical and and artistic and political muse and means of expression, mega-engineering projects in China and internationally, the influence of water as an element and as a commodity in past and present times, and what water may herald for the rule of the Communist Party in the time to come. Often times in dynastic transitions, scholars collectively suffered as they were more inclined to criticize the new regime and its policies. Loess is easily eroded, and winds blow it in blinding clouds as far east as Beijing. The Chinese people articulate and imagine space differently from Westerners — and no wonder. Grand Eagle Retail is the ideal place for all your shopping needs! That it should have dried up for most of a year, therefore, carried a significance far beyond the immediate environmental catastrophe. Water, Ball shows, is a key that unlocks much of Chinese culture. And when these rivers and lakes were connected by canals, they enhanced commerce, military control and communications. The largest project still under construction is the South North Water Transfer Project, which — if fully completed — will entail three canals from the wet South to the dry North. But overall, it offers no insight or deeper understanding. As a The rarely-found foreigner-written book on China, from as philosophical and metaphysical and simultaneously practical and project-wise angle of water, itself an inviting door into Chinese culture and history. Nearly a quarter of a million people are estimated to have died in the inundation and its long aftermath of disease and exposure. The Water Kingdom A Secret History of China 1st edition Writer

Aug 18, jzthompson rated it really liked it Shelves: architecture , asia , buddhism , construction , development , economics , environment , eschatology-apocalypse-dystopia , folklore-and-mythology , health. The rivers are where and Lao Tzu went to think, where poets like Li Bai and Du Fu went to find words to fit their melancholy, where painters discerned in the many moods of water a language of political commentary, where China's pivotal battles were fought, where rulers from the first Qin Emperor to Mao and his successors demonstrated their authority. A very shitty book by a science writer who seems to have learned little about China. Post navigation. In The Water Kingdom, renowned writer Philip Ball opens that window to offer an epic and powerful new way of thinking about Chinese civilization. He now writes a regular column in Chemistry World. Dec 31, Frank rated it really liked it. He was an editor for the journal Nature for over 10 years. This remarkable book explains why, and is one of the very few that will be respected both in the West and in China. Xiaolu Guo, author of I am China. As river administration faltered, flooding and silting made the Grand Canal, which brought grain north to the capital, unusable, and the imperial state increasingly became incoherent. For teachers, this book provides interesting nuggets to add to existing lectures on Confucianism such as the deep historical importance of water control and administration from Yu the Great on , Daoism the hermit man of the mountains and the idea of Dao as water , or Chinese painting and poetry looking at imagery and wording which might be critical of current rulers or policies. In an irrigation campaign in the Yellow river between and , the party increased the rate of extraction from the river by an astonishing 83 times, while succeeding in reducing the crop yield. The Confucianism scholar Xunzi BC wrote: "One cannot travel a thousand miles without accumulating minuscule steps; Rivers and oceans cannot form without absorbing small tributaries. On one occasion they were attacked and robbed by bandits on the banks of the Xiang River in Hunan, left destitute but lucky to be alive. The loess-rich water deposits fertile soils in the middle and lower reaches — the North China Plain — where there are great fields of wheat and sorghum, millet, maize and sweet potato, the latter two imported from the New World. The discussion of the different ships used in the Song and Ming dynasties accompanied by illustrations which could reach to over a hundred metres long and featured fearsome trebuchets, induces awe at regularly accomplished feats of Chinese engineering. Mao used the two mountains, Taixing today's Taihang in Shanxi Province and Wangwu now in Henan Province , as metaphors to imperialism and feudalism, two enemies that had to be defeated no matter how overwhelming they were. The story made an insightful observation: Despite the intuitive insignificance, small efforts accumulated in a long haul can produce remarkable outcome. But history has been unfolded as one single series of more or less haphazard episodes, which limits the rigor of generalization and prediction. And these contemporary resonances of the long history Ball retraces make this book important and worthwhile, despite the limits of its organizing metaphor. The chapter on dam building does a great job of illustrating the continuity across the divide, when the Communist Party took power in China. Team or Enterprise Premium FT. Very worthwhile reading if you have ant interest in history and science. Other options. The Water Kingdom A Secret History of China 1st edition Reviews

Magnetic Compass was invented in China and the Mercator projection for mapmaking was used almost five centuries before it was developed in Europe in It e Philip Ball born is an English science writer. From shui to shan: what more nourishment could the mind need? Buy at Local Store Enter your zip code below to purchase from an indie close to you. And these contemporary resonances of the long history Ball retraces make this book important and worthwhile, despite the limits of its organizing metaphor. Kilometres of dykes, having been laboriously built and maintained for years, might be swept away in a matter of hours, and the river water pooled into immense lakes and inland seas. How was Chinese handling them differently? Only time can tell. Dykes that were built higher and higher as the river bed rose could rupture and bring catastrophic flooding over huge areas, as did the floods in Henan province in , which killed up to an estimated 2. Quotes from The Water Kingdom The Three Gorges and other gargantuan projects are wreaking havoc with the ecosystem. Jul 19, Alex Sarll added it. May 23, Bildhaft rated it liked it. From the role of water in Chinese myth and legend to the influence of water in shaping the political landscape, the author moves to the expansion of Chinese seafaring in the where the voyages of are most notable. This is more than just saying that a watery wash is good for representing water itself -- to the Chinese artist, the medium was the message, since only with so fluid a substance could one capture the vitality, the qi, of what was being depicted. And so, with the parameters laid out, dynasties rise and fall with the waters - though cause and effect are debatable here, for just as devastating floods can suggest the Emperor has lost heaven's mandate, so a ruler on the rocks will be in no position to maintain the necessary dykes and channels. Feb 24, Jan rated it it was amazing. Related Posts. About Us. In China, serious environment degradation started in s when Mao wanted to industrialize the country overnight, aggravated after Deng started the economic reform in 80s, and went haywire when China became the world's factory. The similarities are far greater than the differences; the emphasis on ideological purity over competence in appointments, with the consequent inevitable impact on results; the risks of bringing the great leader unwelcome news, ditto. For this he was denounced as despicable. But China is a country where 'water heroes' rank among the demigods, at least one deified as late as the 19th century.

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The archaeological remains of agricultural villages have been found from around the eighth millennium BC, which is when millet was first domesticated in China. Click here to support the nonprofit Independent! What a strange journey the Yellow River, China's 'mother river' muqin he , makes from mountain lake to Yellow Sea. As a sedentism civilization, Chinese were historically obligated to manage waterways for irrigation, flood control and long distance transportation. Philip Ball. As the river flows east, some of the sediment settles onto the bed, raising it higher. Threads collapsed expanded unthreaded. Open Preview See a Problem? After 10 chapters, the author has still only scratched the surface of his so called secret history of China. Description Additional information Reviews 0 Press Reviews From the to the Yellow River, China is traversed by great waterways, which have defined its politics and ways of life for centuries. We cannot take responsibility for items which are lost or damaged in transit. But China is a country where 'water heroes' rank among the demigods, at least one deified as late as the 19th century. I would have given it 5 stars if it had been organized chronologically a little better. But the other side of excessive control of hydraulic resources is now becoming painfully apparent. As river administration faltered, flooding and silting made the Grand Canal, which brought grain north to the capital, unusable, and the imperial state increasingly became incoherent. Other options. Each approach had its successes and failures. Some fascinating material, but felt too The author tells a story of China centered on the importance of water to the Chinese and their culture. Hydroinformatics in Hydrology, Hydrogeology and Water Resources. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Poeticizing policy making was proven constantly disastrous and eventually tragic in Mao's era. The book then moves on to discuss the use of rivers in warfare, damming rivers in the 20th century, and water imagery in poetry and art. And from the use of water imagery as an artistic code, to the legacy of north-south racism in a nation which is after all more large, ethnically various and populous than some continents, it's all fascinating. He was born in the city of , northwest of Shanghai on the Yangtze delta. Lists with This Book. Want to Read saving…. Ball goes into the treatment of water in myths and history. For teachers, this book provides interesting nuggets to add to existing lectures on Confucianism such as the deep historical importance of water control and administration from Yu the Great on , Daoism the hermit man of the mountains and the idea of Dao as water , or Chinese painting and poetry looking at imagery and wording which might be critical of current rulers or policies. All the benefits of Premium Digital plus: Convenient access for groups of users Integration with third party platforms and CRM systems Usage based pricing and volume discounts for multiple users Subscription management tools and usage reporting SAML-based single sign on SSO Dedicated account and customer success teams. The Chinese often says: "History is a mirror," indicating the tendency to consult the past in order to understand the current events.

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