Stealthily Breaching Dikes and the Bare Sticks Substatute: Notes on Some Legal Aspects of River Hydraulics in Late Imperial China

Abstract

Abstract Human-induced breaches in the dikes of the major river systems were a common phenomenon in late imperial China. The article examines cases mainly related to the Yellow River and how these cases were dealt with on the basis of the legal code. While the extensive coverage of such cases in legal documents is an important reminder of the high degree of attention that the state paid to hydraulic installations, the phenomenon also needs to be understood as an manifestation of societal conflicts resulting from the pressures of the demographic and environmental developments of China in the late imperial period.