作者：Jiayan Zhang

出版社: UBC Press

出版年: 2014-6-2

ISBN: 9780774825955

作者简介：张家炎，加州大学洛杉矶分校博士，肯尼索州立大学历史与哲学系教授。

The Jianghan Plain in central China has been shaped by its relationship with water. Once a prolific rice-growing region that drew immigrants to its fertile paddy fields, it has, since the eighteenth century, become prone to devastating flooding and waterlogging. Jiayan Zhang consults early records of catastrophic water events and explores their role in shaping Jianghan society in the Qing and Republican periods. In a constantly shifting environment, the peasants of Jianghan were forced to adapt their farming methods; cooperate on complex projects like dike building; and even organize social structures, tenancy arrangements, and lifestyles around the pressure and uncertainty of their environment. The first environmental and socioeconomic history of the region, Coping with Calamity considers the Jianghan Plain's volatile environment, the constant challenges it presented to peasants, and their often ingenious and sophisticated responses. 

Review 

Coping with Calamity is the first English-language book on the ecology, economy, and society of the Jianghan plain, one of the most important agricultural areas in late imperial and modern China. It is unique in interpreting rural economic and social institutions in modern China using an environmental approach. Zhang’s book is essential reading for students of rural China and modern Chinese history. -- Huaiyin Li, author of Village China under Socialism and Reform: A Micro-History, 1948-2008 

The environmental history of China is still a much under-studied area, and Zhang’s book is a very welcome and important contribution to the field. He has consulted an extensive array of sources and has also lived and worked on the land of this region, which gives him unique insight. His empathy for its people and his understanding of the impact of the environment on every level of their lives permeates the discussion, adding depth to the scholarship. -- Laura Newby, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford

Contents 

Introduction 

1 Changes in the Environment of the Jianghan Plain 

2 Water Calamities and the Management of the Dike Systems 

3 The Dike Systems and the Jianghan Economy 

4 Agriculture, Commercialization, and Environmental Adaptability 

5 Tenacny and Environment 

6 Fisheries and the Peasant Economy 

7 A Water-Rich Society: Socio-Economic Life in a Marshy Kingdom 

Conclusion 

Google book ：https://books.google.com/books/about/Coping_with_Calamity.html?id=ACBBAwAAQBAJ 

中文版：《克服灾难：华中地区的环境变迁与农民反应，1736-1949》（法律出版社2016年版）