Hydropower Nation
Dams, Energy, and Political Changes in Twentieth-Century China

An in-depth examination of the human and non-human experience of China's rise as a hydropower nation.

Xiangli Ding (Author)

9781009426565, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 November 2024

296 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.4 cm, 0.59 kg

'The book is a significant addition to the study of Mao's China and China's environmental history. Through meticulous case studies, it shows how the concrete revolution of hydropower projects and the larger socialist revolution were deeply intertwined and influenced each other.' Xiaojia Hou, H-Net Reviews

China has the largest electricity generation capacity in the world today. Its number of large dams is second to none. Xiangli Ding provides a historical understanding of China's ever-growing energy demands and how they have affected its rivers, wild species, and millions of residents. River management has been an essential state responsibility throughout Chinese history. In the industrial age, with the global proliferation of concrete dam technology, people started to demand more from rivers, particularly when required for electricity production. Yet hydropower projects are always more than a technological engineering enterprise, layered with political, social, and environmental meaning. Through an examination of specific hydroelectric power projects, the activities of engineers, and the experience of local communities and species, Ding offers a fresh perspective on twentieth-century China from environmental and technological perspectives.

Introduction: a flow of water and power
Part I. Starting From Scratch: 1. An inexhaustible source of power
2. Mobilizing rivers
Part II. The Socialist Boost
3. The making of red hydro technostructure
4. The Great Leap of small hydro
Part III. A Huge Setback: The Sanmenxia Dam
5. Silt and hydroelectricity
6. The human cost
7. The environmental saga
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: The environment [RN]