The Construction Of Water Conservancy In The Hexi Area Of Gansu In The1940s

In the1940s,the water conservancy construction in Hexi area achieved notable results with the joint efforts of the Construction Department of Gansu Province, the Company of Water Conservancy Forestry Animal Husbandry, Hexi Water Conservancy Engineering Corps of Water Conservancy Ministry, Gansu Water Conservancy Bureau, especially the corps carried out a series of work after it was established.By more than two years, it provided a plenty of first-hand materials through the first thorough investigation for the water conservancy situations of big and small rivers in Hexi area, completing the design of water conservancy planning for every river and region, compiling seventy-one volumes of engineering devising books including cleaning up the old ditches, building the reservoir and groundwater irrigation, etc. Meanwhile, it brought out regional and basin’s engineering system layout focusing on the agricultural irrigation water and gave technological guidance to the water conservancy project which had been built or was under construction, playing an important role to guarantee the smoothness of the project.Represented by the corps in the1940s, with evident effect and outstanding role, the utilities for water conservancy construction were significant both in social history and modernization.In the first place,as an important example for the modernization of water conservancy utilities in the backward areas, they brought modern technologies, and the engineering plan they made emerged as a combination of the three aspects of regional,basin and ditch and a batch of professional technicians gathered there,which were also fostered and reserved for the new China. They opened the curtain for division of labour for the water conservancy’s devising, construction and management in Gansu’s modern history, which was the start of the modernization of the water conservancy organization.Second, they have important historical position and influence, providing the academia with a new model distinguished from the traditional nation’s water administration by the folk and gentry and became a new nodal point for the study on water conservancy social history.