CHINA'S ECONOMIC PLANNING AND CHANGING GEOGRAPHY
CHIAO-MIN HSIEH*
In the past, every place in the world changed except China. But today there is nothing in China that does not change. In no other country has the past had so much effect on the country as in China, and now no other country has a regime so determined to obliterate that past. The most conservative nation in history has become the most radical one.
During its 25 years' rule, the present regime has tried to change the agrarian society of China into an industrialized country and has exercised detailed economic planning. However, two major problems have to be solved before any economic planning can be put into practice. One is the water problem and the other is the problem of transportation. Both problems are closely related to China's geography.
The Water problem—For centuries, the Chinese have been busy in managing their rivers and have used all kinds of water control methods, including irrigation, drainage, diking, reclamation, and terracing. At the source of a river, the land is so arid that people need more water and irrigation is important. In the middle of its course, people must try to prevent flooding, so diking becomes their main job. In the lower part of the river, the principal task is to drain off the water. No other river in China has had more serious flood problem than the Yellow River.
The Yellow River is "China's sorrow". During the past 3000 years, dikes broke 1,500 times and the river course shifted 26 times. Both natural conditions and human failures were responsible. Among the natural factors were (1) lack of a straight course, (2) abrupt change of gradient where the river enters the North China plain, (3) loose texture of the loess and (4) concentration of rainfall
* Dr. Chiao-min Hsieh is professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Pittsburgh. This year he is in receipt of the Senior Fellowship of the National Endowment for the Humanities in the United States, and is serving as Visiting Professor in the Department of Geography & Geology at the University of Hong Kong, 1974-75.
CHINA'S ECONOMIC PLANNING AND CHANGING GEOGRAPHY
CHIAO-MIN HSIEH*
In the past, every place in the world changed except China. But today there is nothing in China that does not change. In no other country has the past had so much effect on the country as in China, and now no other country has a regime so determined to obliterate that past. The most conservative nation in history has become the most radical one.
During its 25 years' rule, the present regime has tried to change the agrarian society of China into an industrialized country and has exercised detailed economic planning. However, two major pro- blems have to be solved before any economic planning can be put into practice. One is the water problem and the other is the problem of transportation. Both problems are closely related to China's geography.
The Water problem-For centuries, the Chinese have been busy in managing their rivers and have used all kinds of water control methods, including irrigation, drainage, diking, reclamation, and terracing. At the source of a river, the land is so arid that people need more water and irrigation is important. In the middle of its course, people must try to prevent flooding, so diking becomes their main job. In the lower part of the river, the principal task is to drain off the water. No other river in China has had more serious flood problem than the Yellow River.
The Yellow River is "China's sorrow". During the past 3000 years, dikes broke 1,500 times and the river course shifted 26 times. Both natural conditions and human failures were responsible. Among the natural factors were (1) lack of a straight course, (2) abrupt change of gradient where the river enters the North China plain, (3) loose texture of the loess and (4) concentration of rainfall
* Dr. Chiao-min Hsieh is professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Pittsburgh. This year he is in receipt of the Senior Fellowship of the National Endowment for the Humanities in the United States, and is serving as Visiting Professor in the Department of Geography & Geology at the University of Hong Kong, 1974-75.
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