Overview

China is home to half of the world's large dams and adds dozens more each year. The benefits are considerable: dams deliver hydropower, provide reliable irrigation water, protect people and farmland against flooding, and produce hydroelectricity in a nation with a seeimingly insatiable appetite for energy. As hydropower responds to a larger share of energy demand, dams may also help to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, welcome news in a country where air and water pollution have become dire and greenhouse gas emissions are the highest in the world. Yet the advantages of dams come at a high cost for river ecosystems and for the social and economic well-being of local people, who face displacement and farmland loss. This book examines the array of water-management decisions faced by Chinese leaders and their consequences for local communities. Focusing on the southwestern province of Yunnan-a major hub for hydropower development in China-which encompasses one of the world's most biodiverse temperate ecosystems and one of China's most ethnically and culturally rich regions, Bryan Tilt takes the reader from the halls of decision-making power in Beijing to Yunnan's rural villages. In the process, he examines the contrasting values of government agencies, hydropower corporations, NGOs, and local communities and explores how these values are linked to longstanding cultural norms about what is right, proper, and just. He also considers the various strategies these groups use to influence water-resource policy, including advocacy, petitioning, and public protest. Drawing on a decade of research, he offers his insights on whether the world's most populous nation will adopt greater transparency, increased scientific collaboration, and broader public participation as it continues to grow economically.

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Reviews

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

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

With the clear-eyed objectivity and inquisitive mind of an anthropologist, Bryan 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. Too much has been lost, and there is so much more to lose. 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, Associate Professor of Geography, University of Colorado at Boulder

With the clear-eyed objectivity and inquisitive mind of an anthropologist, Bryan 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. Too much has been lost, and there is so much more to lose. 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, Associate Professor of Geography, University of Colorado at Boulder

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 * [Dams and Development in China] is hard to put down. Not only is this efficient volume usefully packed with a wide array of compelling data, some surprising survey results, and a remarkably navigable mapping of government policy processes and decision-making models, it also manages to indulge in some lovely scenery descriptions and offer some hope that there are some signs of improvement. This book will be of interest to anyone curious about contemporary China or global environmental studies. -- E. Elena Songster * Journal of Asian Studies *

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

Author Information

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.

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