Dams and Development in China

Bryan Tilt is an associate professor of anthropology at Oregon State University. His research focuses on sustainable development, agricultural systems, pollution control, and water resources in China and the United States. He is also the author of The Struggle for Sustainability in Rural China: Environmental Values and Civil Society.

With the clear-eyed objectivity and inquisitive mind of an anthropologist, Tilt explores the prospects for reshaping the political economy of Chinese dam building-where planning has for too long been dominated by a 'dictatorship of engineers'-by infusing a moral economy in which culture, heritage, equity, and natural ecosystems are given due consideration. With more than 2,000 dams being built in China each year, a transformation of dam development is urgently needed. -- Brian Richter, director of Global Freshwater Strategies, The Nature Conservancy Dams and Development is a highly readable and wide-ranging account of hydropower development in China, providing insights on topics ranging from the relationship between state capitalism and the building of dams, to new data on the effects of resettlement on livelihoods, attitudes and social networks, his reflections as an anthropologist on bringing together different epistemologies of expertise in a large, interdisciplinary project on hydropower decision-making, and information on China's new dam construction overseas. Carefully avoiding black and white characterizations, Tilt instead explores water management as a struggle over competing values among groups and differential access to resources and power. Dams and Development is a welcome addition to the anthropological literature on China's environment, and will be excellent for classroom use. -- Emily Yeh, University of Colorado at Boulder A practical look at some of the most interesting challenges of our time. -- Sinead Ferris Asian Review of Books A good book for a course related to cultural geography and anthropological themes of development. -- Richard Louis Edmonds The China Quarterly An ambitious book on the complexities inherent in China's quest for cleaner sources of energy and power through the development of hydropower-and its effects... It should be read by students, scholars, and policy analysts as they wrestle with the complexities and contradictions China faces in the development versus conservation conundrum. -- Andrew Mertha The China Journal A succinct and very useful introduction. Pacific Affairs An in-depth research on the problems and issues related to large hydropower projects in China. For those who have an interest in this field, this is definitely a work that must be read. American Anthropologist

• List of Illustrations Preface Abbreviations 1. The Moral Economy of Water and Power 2. Crisis and Opportunity: Water Resources and Dams in Contemporary China 3. The Lancang River: Coping with Resettlement and Agricultural Change 4. The Nu River: Anticipating Development and Displacement 5. Experts, Assessments, and Models: The Science of Decision Making 6. People in the Way: Resettlement in Policy and Practice 7. A Broader Confluence: Conservation Initiatives and China's Global Dam Industry Conclusion: The Moral Economy Revisited List of Chinese Terms Notes Works Cited Index