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At War with Water: The Maoist state and the 1954 Yangzi floods

Courtney, Chris

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Abstract

This article offers a critical reappraisal of the Maoist state's response to the 1954 Yangzi floods. It uses a variety of sources, including previously classified government reports and oral history testimony, to challenge the official narrative. It argues that, far from being a remarkable victory for the new government, the flood was a humanitarian catastrophe that caused almost 150,000 deaths. Government hydraulic policies were partly to blame, as the vast majority of disaster victims were located in rural areas that were flooded deliberately in order to protect cities. In addition to revealing the true scale of the flood, this article uses the disaster as a prism to examine the early Maoist state. The government's combative environmental policies turned disaster governance into a war on water. This approach had certain benefits, particularly in terms of organizing an effective urban relief campaign. Unfortunately, campaign politics fostered an atmosphere of distrust, which encouraged many citizens to resist disaster-prevention policies. The example of the 1954 flood reveals the profound impact that a political context can have upon the outcome of a supposedly natural disaster.

Citation

Courtney, C. (2018). At War with Water: The Maoist state and the 1954 Yangzi floods. Modern Asian Studies, 52(06), 1807-1836. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0026749x16001049

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 1, 2016
Online Publication Date Jul 17, 2018
Publication Date Jul 17, 2018
Deposit Date Nov 3, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 30, 2024
Journal Modern Asian Studies
Print ISSN 0026-749X
Electronic ISSN 1469-8099
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 52
Issue 06
Pages 1807-1836
DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/s0026749x16001049

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Copyright Statement
This article has been published in a revised form in Modern Asian studies https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X16001049. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Cambridge University Press 2018




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