Jottings from the Granite Studio

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 farmers blamed the drought on the actions of foreigners, especially foreign Christians, whom, the farmers claimed, disrupted the land and displeased Heaven. The solution? Expel the foreigners by any means necessary and cleanse the land.

Now, whether or not today’s farmers still believe in the Mandate of Heaven 天命, they do know that without efficient and responsive government, floods and droughts can quickly make their lives unbearable.

Will the People’s Government be able to react in a timely and efficient way and head off the disaster or will it sit back and pray for rain? Something to keep an eye on. But if I were the farmer in the video complaining that my crops were dying and the official response was “dig a well,” my heart would be a little more than “unsettled.”