Ming And Qing Dynasties Seawall Construction And The Environment

This paper aims to study the construction process of Jiangnan Seawall and the factors constraining the process due to technicality and collection of raw materials in the Ming and Qing Dynasty. A majority of past research underlined the technological history of seawall construction while leaving the social dimension of seawall construction and offshore areas in respect of regional historical geography unexplored. This paper attempts to address the research void by investigating the impact of ecological and social factors to Chinese ancient large-scale public irrigation projects as well as the problem of man-land relationship in the course of construction.The historical materials on the construction of华亭石塘(Huating Shitang) in the period of Emperor Chongzhen were mainly documented during the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty. These materials can be categorized into celebration of the construction, memorization of the previous dynasty during early Qing Dynasty and symbolization of that period of time; together they projected the perfect image of the history of石塘(Shitang) construction in the late Ming Dynasty. These three aspects are unrelated to the quality of building石塘(Shitang) by people like Wu Jiayun. Rather, they reflect the social background in times of social change during various historical periods and the institutional dilemma induced by capitals and labors spent on large-scale public irrigation projects.The change of decision-making of Emperor Yongzheng represents a turning point in the construction of Jiangnan Seawall. His ideal is to finish the construction once and for all. Officers' suggestions of and disputes over the construction can be regarded as a response to the ruler's authority and a measure to preserve self-interest. The source of capitals is fines from penalized officers against the backdrop of internal restructuring of the governing bodies and consolidation of governance by the emperor. The domino effects induced by the construction triggered consecutive construction in the northern region in the period of Emperor Qianlong. The discretionary decisions made by decision-makers can be vastly consequential. Principal officers' discretionary power far outweighs the objective needs at the time of constructing the northern seawall. Ever since then, the landscape of Jiangnan Seawall is manifested in conspicuous temporal and spatial variations.In the process of the establishment of通塘体系(the perfection of seawall system) during the Ming and Qing Dynasty, seawall is not merely a type of construction buildings, but a symbolic gesture with profound political, economical, social and cultural meanings. A scrutiny of the serial research on raw materials, technicality and post hoc arrangement reveals the intricate organic connections between humankind, nature and society within the ecological system, intertwined by the environmental and social factors of the problems behind.The research on seawall construction with respect to the aforementioned aspects will be pursued along with the current scientific study on existing seawall technicality in order to strengthen our understanding on Chinese ancient seawall history:...