The River, the Plain, and the State Zhang Hardback Cambridge University Press

The River, the Plain, and the StateAn Environmental Drama in Northern Song China, 10481128\nAuthor(s): Ling Zhang\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9781107155985, 978-1107155985\nSynopsis\nOn July 19, 1048, the Yellow River breached its banks, drastically changing its course across the Hebei Plain and turning it into adelta where the river sought a path out to the [url] dramatic shift of forces in the natural world resulted from political deliberation and hydraulic engineering of the imperial state of the Northern Song Dynasty. It created eighty years of social suffering, economic downturn, political upheaval, and environmental changes, which reshaped the medieval North China Plain and challenged the state. Ling Zhang deftly applies textual analysis, theoretical provocation, and modern scientific data in her gripping analysis of how these momentous events altered China's physical and political lands.