The Flow of Empire: Comparing Water Control in the United States and China

In this issue of RCC Perspectives, Donald Worster—one of the founders and leading figures in the field of environmental history—examines how China and the United States have attempted to control water. Worster argues that the environmental foundation of China’s empire was water control, and that the water policies of the United States can be understood in a similar way. Worster shows how America focused on its rivers and its waterways from the start of its development. In the American West, dams came to symbolize humankind’s power over nature. Other countries have attempted to mimic America’s success. Today China once again has the world’s largest dam, while in America, a movement against water control has emerged.

How to cite: Worster, Donald, “The Flow of Empire: Comparing Water Control in the United States and China,” RCC Perspectives 2011, no 5. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/5586.