Southwest China is suffering from one of the worst droughts in 50 years and some farmers are blaming the government. China Digital Times has a great collection of links regarding the drought including CNN video of interviews with farmers in the area.
Many of the farmers blamed the goverment for failing to relieve the water shortage. (Though AP reports today that some water trucks have been sent to the area.)
Throughout China’s history, one test of a a government’s legitimacywas its ability to control the complex system of waterworks that kept the fields watered and at the same time guarded against flooding. Disasters such as droughts or floods could be portents of a change in dynasty.At the very least, drought created conditions ripe for social unrest.
Little wonder then that the government in Imperial China took drought very seriously. In 1870, the Manchu official in Tianjin began his initial report on the Tianjin ‘Massacre’ (天津教案) with the ominous line, “竊天津一帶入夏以來亢旱異常, 人心不定.” (I humbly submit that in the Tianjin region, since summer began, there has been an unusual and particularly severe drought, thus making the people’s hearts unsettled…”) Drought played a role in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 as well. Many