Abstract
We analyze 4000-year flood history of the lower Yellow River and the history of agricultural development in the middle river by investigating historical writings and quantitative time series data of environmental changes in the river basin. Flood dynamics are characterized by positive feedback loops, critical thresholds of natural processes, and abrupt transitions caused by socio-economic factors. Technological and organizational innovations were dominant driving forces of the flood history. The popularization of iron plows and embankment of the lower river in the 4th century bc initiated a positive feedback loop on levee breaches. The strength of the feedback loop was enhanced by farming of coarse-sediment producing areas, steep hillslope cultivation, and a new river management paradigm, and finally pushed the flood frequency to its climax in the seventeenth century. The co-evolution of river dynamics and Chinese society is remarkable, especially farming and soil erosion in the middle river, and central authority and river management in the lower river.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
An, C.-B., L. Tang, L. Barton, and F.-H. Chen. 2005. Climate change and cultural response around 4000 cal yr B.P. in the western part of Chinese Loess Plateau. Quaternary Research 63: 347–352.
Bryant, M., P. Falk, and C. Paola. 1995. Experimental study of avulsion frequency and rate of deposition. Geology 23: 365–368.
Chi, C.-T. 1936. Key economic areas in Chinese history as revealed in the development of public works for water control. London: Paragon Book Reprint Corp.
Dodgen, R.A. 2001. Controlling the dragon: Confucian engineers and the Yellow River in late imperial China. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
Elvin, M. 1973. The pattern of the Chinese past. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Elvin, M. 2004. The retreat of the elephants: An environmental history of China. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Fang, J.-Q., and G. Liu. 1992. Relationship between climatic change and the nomadic southward migrations in eastern Asia during historical times. Climatic Change 22: 151–168.
Fang, J.-q., and Z. Xie. 1994. Deforestation in preindustrial China: The Loess Plateau region as an example. Chemosphere 29: 983–999.
Ge, J., S. Cao, G. Dong, S. Wu, and Y. Hou. 2002. The population history of China, vol. 1–6. Shanghai: Fudan University Press (in Chinese).
Ge, Q., J. Zheng, X. Fang, Z. Man, X. Zhang, P. Zhang, and W.-C. Wang. 2003. Winter half-year temperature reconstruction for the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and Yangtze River, China, during the past 2000 years. The Holocene 13: 933–940.
Han, M. 2005. Formation of the interlocking belt of agriculture and husbandry and climatic change in ancient North China. Archaeology 10: 57–68 (in Chinese, English summary).
Hassan, M.A., M. Church, J. Xu, and Y. Yan. 2008. Spatial and temporal variation of sediment yield in the landscape: Example of Huanghe (Yellow River). Geophysical Research Letters 35. doi:10.1029/2008GL033428.
Ho, P.-t. 1969. The loess and the origin of Chinese agriculture. The American Historical Review 75: 1–36.
Huang, R. 1996. China: A macro history. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe.
Jerolmack, D.J., and C. Paola. 2007. Complexity in a cellular model of river avulsion. Geomorphology 91: 259–270.
Lawler, A. 2010. Uncovering a rural Chinese Pompeii. Science 328: 566–567.
Lowdermilk, W.C., and T.I. Li. 1930. Forestry in denuded China. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 152: 127–141.
Ning, K., X. Jiang, and H. Sun. 1999. Economic history of China, vol. 1–2. Beijing: China Economic Publishing House (in Chinese).
Perkins, D.H., and Y.-C. Wang. 1969. Agricultural development in China 1368–1968. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Qiu, G. 2004. An investigation into piled-up cities under the Kaifeng City. China’s Cultural Relics 26: 70–77 (in Chinese).
Rapp, G., and Z. Jing. 2011. Human–environment interactions in the development of early Chinese civilization. In Human interactions with the geosphere: The geoarchaeological perspective, ed. L. Wilson, 208. London: Geological Society.
Redman, C.L., C.L. Crumley, F.A. Hassan, F. Hole, J. Morais, F. Riedel, V.L. Scarborough, J.A. Tainer, et al. 2007. Group report: Millennial perspectives on the dynamic interaction of climate, people, and resources. In Sustainability or collapse: An integrated history and future of people on earth, ed. R. Costanza, L. Graumlich, and W. Steffen, 495. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Ren, M.-e., and X. Zhu. 1994. Anthropogenic influences on changes in the sediment load of the Yellow River, China, during the Holocene. The Holocene 4: 314–320.
Shapiro, J. 2001. Mao’s war against nature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shen, Y., S. Zhao, and D. Zheng. 1935. The chronicle of the Yellow River. Nanjing: Military Committee and Resources Committee of the Republic, China (in Chinese).
Shi, N. 2001. The studies of historical geography of the Loess Plateau. Zhengzhou: Yellow River Water Conservancy Publishing House (in Chinese).
Shi, N., E. Cao, and S. Zhu. 1985. The vicissitude of forest and grassland in the Loess Plateau. Xi’an: Shaanxi People’s Press (in Chinese).
Shi, Y., Z. Kong, S. Wang, L. Tang, F. Wang, T. Yao, X. Zhao, P. Zhang, et al. 1993. Mid-Holocene climates and environments in China. Global and Planetary Change 7: 219–233.
Tan, Q. 1962. Why the Yellow River was at a long peace after the Eastern Han Dynasty: An argument in historical perspective that rational land use in the middle Yellow River be a decisive factor for the sake of avoiding flood hazards in the lower river. Academic Monthly 2: 23–35 (in Chinese).
Tan, Q. 1982. The historical atlas of China, vol. 1–8. Beijing: China Cartographic Publishing House (in Chinese).
Tang, K., G. Xiong, J. Liang, K. Jing, S. Zhang, Y. Chen, and S. Li. 1993. Soil erosion and runoff sediment changes in the Yellow River basin (1988–-1992. Beijing: China Science and Technology Press (in Chinese).
van Maren, D.S., J.C. Winterwerp, Z.Y. Wang, and Q. Pu. 2009. Suspended sediment dynamics and morphodynamics in the Yellow River, China. Sedimentology 56: 785–806.
Vermeer, E.B. 1998. Population and ecology along the frontier in Qing China. In Sediments of time: Environment and society in Chinese history, ed. M. Elvin, 820. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Walling, D.E. 1999. Linking land use, erosion and sediment yields in river basins. Hydrobiologia 410: 223–240.
Will, P.-E. 1998. Clear waters versus muddy waters: The Zheng-Bai irrigation system of Shanxi province in the late-imperial period. In Sediments of time: Environment and society in Chinese history, ed. M. Elvin, 820. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wittfogel, K.A. 1957. Oriental despotism: A comparative study of total power. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Wu, X., Z. Niu, and S. Wang. 1994. Changes of environment, water and sediment of the Yellow River basin in historical times. Beijing: China Meteorological Press (in Chinese).
Wu, B., G. Wang, and J. Xia. 2008. Response of bankfull discharge and sediment load in the lower Yellow River. Geomorphology 100: 366–376.
Xu, J. 1998. Naturally and anthropogenically accelerated sedimentation in the lower Yellow River, China, over the past 13,000 years. Geografiska Annaler Series A 80: 67–78.
Xu, J. 2001. Historical bank-breachings of the lower Yellow River as influenced by drainage basin factors. Catena 45: 1–17.
Xu, J. 2003. Sedimentation rates in the lower Yellow River over the past 2300 years as influenced by human activities and climate change. Hydrological Processes 17: 3359–3371.
Xu, J., and D. Cheng. 2002. Relation between the erosion and sedimentation zones in the Yellow River, China. Geomorphology 48: 365–382.
Xu, J., G. Lv, S. Zhang, and Z. Gan. 2000. The coarse-sediment producing area with high specific sediment yields in the middle Yellow River basin: Its boundaries and sediment yield and transport laws. Zhengzhou: Yellow River Water Conservancy Publishing House (in Chinese).
Xu, J., C. Hu, and J. Chen. 2009. Effect of suspended sediment grain size on channel sedimentation in the lower Yellow River and some implications. Science in China Series E 52: 2330–2339.
Yang, P. 1993. Population geography of the middle Yellow River basin in historical times. In Collection of researches on environmental changes of the Yellow River basin and laws of water and sediment transportation, vol. 5: Historical changes in vegetation and human factors in the Loess Plateau, ed. S. Wang, 198. Beijing: China Ocean Press (in Chinese).
Ye, D., J. Yang, and Y. Gao. 1956. Precipitation in the Yellow River basin. Beijing: Science Press (in Chinese).
Yellow River Conservancy Commission. 1998. A summary of the Yellow River basin. Zhengzhou: Henan People’s Press (in Chinese).
Yellow River Conservancy Commission. 2001. The chronicle of events of the Yellow River. Zhengzhou: Yellow River Water Conservancy Publishing House (in Chinese).
Zhang, P. 1996. Climate changes in china during historical times. Jinan: Science and Technology Press (in Chinese).
Zhang, L. 2009. Changing with the Yellow River: An environmental history of Hebei, 1048–1128. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 69: 1–36.
Zhang, P., Z. Wang, X. Liu, and S. Zhang. 1994. The stages of climate change in recent 2000 years. Science in China (Series B) 24: 998–1008.
Zou, Y. 1990. Yellow River in thousands years. Chung Hwa Book Co: Hongkong (in Chinese).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, Y., Syvitski, J.P.M., Gao, S. et al. Socio-economic Impacts on Flooding: A 4000-Year History of the Yellow River, China. AMBIO 41, 682–698 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-012-0290-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-012-0290-5