A Study On The Utilization Of Water Resources By The Qin Dynasty

This paper deals with the utilization of water resources by the Qin State in theEastern Zhou Dynasty through the Empire Qin. It consists of five sections whileeachcan be further divided into several chapters.Chapterâ… is the first section. The author offers a discussion on some relevantconceptions, such as the definition of "water resources", "water exploitation" and"water conservancy". In sectionâ…¡the paper gives a general review on the watercontrol and utilization before Qin, thus provided a background to a betterunderstanding of Qin water affairs.Sectionâ…¢is the main body of the paper. It is composed of 5 chapters and eachcovers a specific aspect of water utilization by the Qin State and Qin Empire.Chapterâ…¡was committed to the observation of applying water resources tocommunication and military affairs by Qin. Ever since establishment of the state,Qin had put much efforts on water resources utilization in transportation andbenefited a lot from this. The Qin State constructed bridges and ferries, and cannaledsome rivers such as Lingqu or Xing'an Canal jointing Xiangjiang in Hunan Provinceand Zhujiang(Pear)River in Guangxi. Besides, Harbors began to be constructed andshipbuilding played an important role in the Empire's industry. Moreover, watersystems were used to military affairs either in attacking or defending, and graduallythey built formidable water troops.Chapterâ…¢talks about the water utilization in farming and fishery. The Qin statehad built irrigation systems through rivers, canals, ditches, and drilling wells, such asDujiangyan Irrigation Systems, Zhengguo Channel, Chang (Baiqi) Channel andthose which name unknown so far. These achievements of exploiting water resourcesto agriculture had effectively strengthened the power of state and laid a strongfoundation for its reunification of China.Chapterâ…£deals with the exploitation of water resources in cities. Since the Qinstate had originated from the northwest China where water resources werecomparatively short, it had to pay more attention to the utilization of water resources.When the Qin People located a city, especially the capital city, enough waterresources had to be taken into consideration. The civil engineering such as planningof the city, water supplying, drainage system and gardening were all concerned.Chapterâ…¤discussed the water exploitation to gardens to gardens and parksoutside the capital city. The Qin monarchs had not only built gardens in the capitalXianyang but some more parks outside the city. The parks were planted with trees,grass, flowers, and rare birds and animals were raised for the leisure of the emperorsand their ministers. Water streams and scenes were ingeniously designed in theseparks, so the Qin had created an early model for the waterscape garden of ancientChina.Chapterâ…¥investigated the exploitation of water resources to the construction ofroyal mausoleum. Archacological data have provided some insights into the relationship between the location and planning of the royal mausoleums and watersystem. The most famous example is the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor-QinShihuang. The water engineering of the mausoleum consisted of 2 subsystems ofchanneling and draining water. The water system was composed of natural strearns,pools, ground and underground canals, and pipe systems. A profound research intothe water system of the First Emperor's mausoleum helps to not only learn thestructure of the inner core of chamber, but also recognize the underground territory.In Sectionâ…£, also Chapterâ…¦, comparison research into the practices of waterresources exploitation in Qi, Chu, Wei and other stated of the eastern Zhou(neighbors of Qin). It was clear that the formation of utilizing water resources in Qinand other state differed according to their environmental conditions. There weredifferences and resemblances in the way of their utilization of water resources.Sectionâ…¤is the conclusion of the paper. In this section the author summarizesachievements and the social and natural causes of water resources utilization of theQin People. It is also concluded that the ancient practices in water engineering ismeaningful for the modem world.