In the very same year that the Zhengguo canal came into service, a twelve-year-old child named Zheng ascends to the throne of Qin. Because of all the irrigation works, he soon inherits unprecedented economic power, and he becomes the first emperor. In 225 BC Zheng uses the Hong canal for the supply of grain to […]
Рубрика: Water Engineering in Ancient Civilizations. 5,000 Years of History
The Zhengguo irrigation canal, in the basin of the Wei
Later on, probably around 250 BC, the king of the state of Hann felt menaced by the expansion of the Qin. He sought to deflect the warlike ideas of the Qin by turning his dangerous neighbor’s energy toward peaceful projects: “The state of Hann, learning that the state of Qin was fond of undertaking large […]
The irrigation system in the Min valley, Sechuan
In 316 BC the Qin occupy the land of Shu, in the southwest, as far as the middle course of the Yangtze river. They developed the basin of the Min River, a tributary of the Yangtze in the Sechuan depression. In the region of present-day Chengdu, they implement a gigantic program of irrigation works. Sima […]
Hydraulic development and rise of the Qin kingdom (4th and 3rd centuries BC)
The kingdom of Qin, rising from the western valley of the Wei, begins to grow from 350 BC. Its leaders are tough, uninterested in moderate discourse and Confucian scholarship. In 417 BC they had occupied Lin-Tsin, one of the centers of the cult of the Yellow River at its confluence with the Luo (the other […]
The first large transport canals of the 5th century BC
Irrigation and drainage make it possible to develop cultivated land, as we have seen. In addition, the transport of bulk matter (especially grains) relies mainly on canals. Therefore it is typical to find dense networks of irrigation canals branching out from main transport canals during the major kingdoms. The following text of Sima Qian gives […]
From fear of the Yellow River to the first grand irrigation projects (7th to 5th centuries BC)
The first large dike construction projects on the lower course of the Yellow River date from the spring and autumn period, more precisely the first half of the 7th century BC. The duke Huan de Qi is said to have brought together the “nine rivers” described by Sima Qian into a single course and probably […]
The Yellow River, a terrible friend
The first historical treatise from China dates from around 100 BC. This is the work of Sima Qian,[382] who had an official position in the court of the Emperor Wudi of the Hans at the beginning of the imperial era. Sima Qian revived and perpetuated the legendary attribution of the ancient course of the Yellow […]
Historical and cultural landmarks
The Bronze Age begins with the Shang Dynasty, succeeding the Xia Dynasty about 1600 BC. This aristocratic and cruel regime is well known in archaeology; the first texts scratched in bone come from it. The influence of this dynasty is limited to the valley of the Yellow river to Shandong. Then about 1100 BC the […]
From the beginnings of agriculture to the legendary founder of Chinese civilization
Archaeology teaches us that grain cultivation, namely millet, appears in the middle basin of the Yellow River around 6000 BC.[370] [371] [372] Two cultures develop successively in this region: one is called the Yangshao at the end of the VIth millennium BC, during which small- scale farming develops (pork, poultry); the other is the Longshan, […]
Rivers, canals, and Hydraulic technology in China
In 329 BC, the army of Alexander the Great conquered Bactria and reached Samarcand, more than 4,000 km from Macedonia. At the same time, on the other side of the deserts of Taklamakan 3,000 km to the east, another warrior kingdom by the name of Qin began an astounding expension. A century later, while Alexandria […]