Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-frp75 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T08:23:03.759Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hydropolitics and Inter-Jurisdictional Relationships in China: The Pursuit of Localized Preferences in a Centralized System*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2014

Scott Moore
Scott Moore*
Affiliation:
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Email: scott_moore@hks.harvard.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Inter-jurisdictional water resource issues constitute a growing political and economic challenge in China. This article examines three such cases of hydropolitics, namely large dam construction, water resource allocation, and downstream water pollution, through the lens of central–local relations. It argues that the hydropolitics in China are characterized by the pursuit of localized preferences within the constraints imposed by a centralized political system. In each case, the primary actors are sub-national administrative units, who adopt various competitive strategies to pursue their own localized interests at the expense of neighbouring jurisdictions. This article argues that although vertical control mechanisms in the Chinese system effectively limit central–local preference divergence, they do little to contain horizontal conflicts between sub-national administrative units. The paucity of formal inter-jurisdictional dispute resolution mechanisms is a major barrier to meeting water resource challenges, and inter-jurisdictional collective action problems are likely to pose growing difficulties for the Chinese political system.

摘要

跨辖区水资源问题对中国的政治和经济是一个严峻的挑战。本文从中央与地方关系的角度, 分析中国大坝建设、水资源分配以及下游水质污染所牵涉的水资源政治。作者认为, 中国水资源政治的特点在于, 尽管各个管辖区受制于中央集中制, 仍然偏好各自的利益。在所有案例中, 中央以下各行政单位皆采取各种竞争策略来争取自己管辖区的利益, 而不惜牺牲相邻管辖区的利益。虽然中国垂直式管制机制有效地限制了中央与地方的分歧, 但并没有解决中央以下各行政单位之间的横向冲突。缺乏一个正规机制来解决辖区之间的争端, 对中国水资源问题的解决极为不利。同时, 各个管辖区行动不一致, 很有可能对中国的政治制度造成更多的困难。

Keywords

Chinacentral–local relationsfiscal decentralizationwater resources management中央与地方的关系财政分权水资源管理

Information

Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 219 , September 2014 , pp. 760 - 780
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

*

The author gratefully acknowledges the research support provided by the John L. Thornton China Center, Brookings Institution, with funds from the Ford Foundation, and the Sustainability Science Program, Harvard Kennedy School, with funds from the Italian Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea.

References

Bakker, Karen. 2003. An Uncooperative Commodity: Privatizing Water in England and Wales. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bernstein, Thomas, and Lü, Xiaobo. 2000. “Taxation without representation: peasants, the central and the local states in reform China.” The China Quarterly 163, 742–763.Google Scholar
Blecher, Marc, and Shue, Vivienne. 1996. Tethered Deer: Government and Economy in a Chinese County. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Bo, Zhiyue. 2002. Chinese Provincial Leaders: Economic Performance and Political Mobility since 1949. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Brødsgaard, Kjeld Erik. 2002. “Institutional reform and the bianzhi system in China.” The China Quarterly 170, 361–386.Google Scholar
Burns, John. 1994. “Strengthening central CCP control of leadership selection: the 1990 nomenklatura.” The China Quarterly 138, 458–491.Google Scholar
Caijing. 2011. “Huanghe shui zhengdouzhan: shuiquan zhuanrang shichanghua jincheng shouzu” (The struggle over Yellow River water: water rights transfer and marketization process hits a snag), 28 July, http://www.caijing.com.cn/2011-07-28/110791023.html. Accessed 5 April 2012.Google Scholar
Cheung, Peter. 2007. “Toward federalism in China? The experience of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.” In Baogang, He, Galligan, Brian and Inoguchi, Takashi (eds.), Federalism in Asia. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 242–265.Google Scholar
Chi, Chao-Ting. 1963. Key Economic Areas in Chinese History as Revealed in the Development of Public Works for Water Control. New York: Paragon Books.Google Scholar
Chung, Jae Ho. 1995. “Studies of central–provincial relations in the People's Republic of China: a mid-term appraisal.” The China Quarterly 142, 487–508.Google Scholar
Chung, Jae Ho. 2000. Central Control and Local Discretion in China: Leadership and Implementation during Post-Mao Decollectivization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chung, Jae Ho. 2010. “The evolving hierarchy of China's local administration: tradition and change.” In Chung, Jae Ho and Lam, Tao-Chiu (eds.), China's Local Administration: Traditions and Changes in the Sub-National Hierarchy. New York: Routledge, 1–13.Google Scholar
Deng, Heng. 2012. “Guangzhou ribao: ‘tiaokuai fenge’ rang Taihu zhili neihao guoshen” (Guangzhou Daily: “administrative fragmentation” causes excessive internal friction in Taihu Lake management), http://opinion.people.com.cn/GB/16998935.html. Accessed 7 April 2012.Google Scholar
Donaldson, John. 2010. “Provinces: paradoxical politics, problematic partners.” In Chung, Jae Ho and Lam, Tao-Chiu (eds.), China's Local Administration: Traditions and Changes in the Sub-National Hierarchy. New York: Routledge, 14–28.Google Scholar
Dziobek, Claudia, Mangas, Carlos Guiterrez and Kufa, Phebby. 2011. Measuring Fiscal Decentralization – Exploring the IMF's Databases. Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund.Google Scholar
Edin, Maria. 2003. “State capacity and local agent control in China: CCP cadre management from a township perspective.” The China Quarterly 173, 35–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Network, Gansu Daily. 2008. “Shuiziyuan he xie fazhan – Huanghe Daliushu shuili shuniu gongcheng” (Water resources and harmonious development – the Yellow River Daliushu water conservancy project), 26 September, http://www.nxein.com/sszt/dls/zxbd/200809/20080926110616.html. Accessed 3 April 2012.Google Scholar
Ge, Shaoyun, and Zhanyuan, Ma. 2008. “Guanyu jiasu shili Huanghe Lanzhou duan shuizhi wuran de jidian sikao” (Several thoughts related to accelerating water pollution control on the Lanzhou stretch of the Yellow River). Renda yanjiu 202(10), 41–43.Google Scholar
Giordano, Mark, Zhongping, Zhu, Ximing, Cai, Shangqi, Hong, Xuecheng, Zhang and Yunpeng, Xue. 2004. Water Management in the Yellow River Basin: Background, Current Critical Issues and Future Research Needs. Colombo, Sri Lanka: Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture.Google Scholar
Guo, Yuhua, and Linlin, Yang. 2011. “Kuajie shuiwuran hezuo zhili jishizhong de zhang'ai pouxi” (Penetrating dissection of trans-boundary water pollution cooperation and control mechanisms), 15 March, http://www.whepb.gov.cn/publish/whhbj/2011-07/22/1201107220956240008.html. Accessed 7 April 2012.Google Scholar
Hendrischke, Hans. 1999. “Provinces in competition: region, identity and cultural construction.” In Hendrischke, Hans and Feng, Chongyi (eds.), The Political Economy of China's Provinces: Comparative and Competitive Advantage. London: Routledge, 1–30.Google Scholar
Hioki, Shiro. 2005. “The magnitude of inter-regional input-output spillover effects in China and its implications for China's uneven regional growth.” In Okamoto, Nobuhiro and Ihara, Takeo (eds.), Spatial Structure and Regional Development in China: An Interregional Input-Output Approach. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 154–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holbig, Heike. 2004. “The emergence of the campaign to open up the west: ideological formation, central decision-making and the role of the provinces.” The China Quarterly 178, 335–357.Google Scholar
Hong, Lijian. 1997. “Sichuan: disadvantage and mismanagement in the Heavenly Kingdom.” In Goodman, David S. (ed.), China's Provinces in Reform: Class, Community and Political Culture. New York: Routledge, 199–236.Google Scholar
Huang, Yasheng. 1995. “Administrative monitoring in China.” The China Quarterly 143, 828–843.Google Scholar
Hurst, William. 2004. “Understanding contentious collective action by Chinese laid-off workers: the importance of regional political economy.” Studies in Comparative International Development 39(2), 94–120.Google Scholar
Ingram, Helen. 1971. “Patterns of politics in water resources development.” Natural Resources Journal 11, 103–05.Google Scholar
Lam, Tao-Chiu. 2010. “Central–provincial relations amid greater centralization in China.” China Information 24, 341.Google Scholar
Lampton, David. 1987. “Water: challenge to a fragmented political system.” In Lampton, David (ed.), Policy Implementation in Post-Mao China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 157–189.Google Scholar
Landry, Pierre. 2008. Decentralized Authoritarianism in China: The Communist Party's Control of Local Elites in the Post-Mao Era. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lardy, Nicholas. 1975. “Centralization and decentralization in China's fiscal management.” The China Quarterly 61, 25–60.Google Scholar
Leading Group for Power Development in Heishanxia, Gansu. 2006. “Huanghe Heishanxia heduan diaoti guihua qingkuang jianjie” (A short introduction to the adjustment of the planning situation for the Heishanxia stretch of the Yellow River), 27 March, http://www.gsheishanxia.com/Column_detail.htm?navigationId=4028819a25245e1c0125245e1c060000&navigationName=%E5%B7%A5%E7%A8%8B%E6%A6%82%E5%86%B5_&columnName=%E5%B7%A5%E7%A8%8B%E6%A6%82%E5%86%B5_&chapterId=4028819a25590bdd0125591f30220013. Accessed 3 April 2012.Google Scholar
Lei, Mao. 2006. “Guanyu liaojie Ningxia zhongbu ganhan dai nongcun yinshui anquan wenti de jianyi” (Regarding understanding advice on the problems the drought in the middle of Ningxia has caused for rural water security), Renmin ribao, 13 September.Google Scholar
LeMarquand, David. 1976. “Politics of international river basin cooperation and management.” Natural Resources Journal 16, 883–902.Google Scholar
Li, Dong. 2010. “Guowuyuan Huanghe fenshui yu shuidiao fang'an” (State Council Yellow River Water Division and Water Transfer Plan), 2 March, http://www.hwcc.gov.cn/pub/hwcc/wwgj/bgqy/jjqk/201003/t20100302_314548.html. Accessed 5 April 2012.Google Scholar
Li, Linda Chelan. 1997. “Towards a non-zero-sum interactive framework of spatial politics: the case of centre–province in contemporary China.” Political Studies 45, 49–65.Google Scholar
Li, Wei, Beresford, Melanie and Song, Guojun. 2011. “Market failure or governmental failure? A study of China's water abstraction policies.” The China Quarterly 208, 951–969.Google Scholar
Lieberthal, Kenneth. 1992. “Introduction: the ‘fragmented authoritarianism’ model and its limitations.” In Lieberthal, Kenneth and Lampton, David (eds.), Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision-Making in Post-Mao China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1–30.Google Scholar
Lieberthal, Kenneth. 1993. “China: the Three Gorges Project.” In Faure, Guy Olivier and Zubin, Jeffrey (eds.), Culture and Negotiation: The Resolution of Water Disputes. London: SAGE, 176–195.Google Scholar
Lieberthal, Kenneth, and Oksenberg, Michel. 1988. Policy Making in China: Leaders, Structures and Processes. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Liu, Changming. 1998. “Environmental issues and the south–north water transfer scheme.” The China Quarterly 156, 899–910.Google Scholar
Mertha, Andrew. 2005. “China's ‘soft’ centralization: shifting tiao/kuai authority relations.” The China Quarterly 184, 791–810.Google Scholar
Mertha, Andrew. 2008. China's Water Warriors: Citizen Action and Policy Change. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Mertha, Andrew. 2009. “‘Fragmented authoritarianism 2.0’: political pluralization in the Chinese policy process.” The China Quarterly 200, 995–1012.Google Scholar
Mertha, Andrew, and Lowry, William. 2006. “Unbuilt dams: seminal events and policy change in China, Australia, and the United States.” Comparative Politics 39, 1–20.Google Scholar
Montinola, Gabriella, Qian, Yingyi and Weingast, Barry. 1995. “Federalism, Chinese style: the political basis for economic success in China.” World Politics 48(1), 50–81.Google Scholar
Mostern, Ruth. 2011. Dividing the Realm in Order to Govern: The Spatial Organization of the Song State. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
MWR and YRCC (Ministry of Water Resources and Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee). 2006. Renmin zhili Huanghe liushi nian (Sixty Years of the People Controlling the Yellow River). Zhengzhou: Huanghe shuili chubanshe.Google Scholar
National People's Congress. 2002. “Kuaxingzhengquyu de shuiwuran jiufen yingdang ruhe chuli?” (How should inter-jurisdictional water pollution disputes be handled?), 17 April, http://www.yellowriver.gov.cn/xwzx/sszl/201202/t20120213_113788.html. Accessed 7 April 2012.Google Scholar
Naughton, Barry. 2007. The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Nickum, James. 1998. “Is China living on the water margin?” The China Quarterly 156, 880–898.Google Scholar
Ningxia News Network. 2008a. “Huanghe Heishanxia heduan kaifa fang'an xuanzezhong de jige wenti” (Several problems in selecting a development plan for the Heishanxia stretch of the Yellow River), 8 September, http://www.nxein.com/sszt/dls/zjlz/200809/20080908170813.html. Accessed 3 April 2012.Google Scholar
Ningxia News Network. 2008b. “Huanghe shangyou shuili ziyuan yu Heishanxia heduan kaifa” (Water resources and water conservation on the upper Yellow River and development of the Heishanxia stretch), 8 September, http://www.nxein.com/sszt/dls/zjlz/200809/20080908170516.html. Accessed 3 April 2012.Google Scholar
Ningxia News Network. 2008c. “Zonghe kaifa Huanghe Heishanxia heduan, jiasu Daxibei guotu kaifa zhengzhi” (Comprehensive development of the Heishanxia stretch of the Yellow River, acceleration of the great development and renovation of national territory in the northwest), 8 September, http://www.nxein.com/sszt/dls/zjlz/200809/20080908170401.html. Accessed 3 April 2012.Google Scholar
O'Brien, Kevin, and Li, Lijiang. 1999. “Selective policy implementation in rural China.” Comparative Politics 31(2), 167–186.Google Scholar
Oi, Jean. 1995. “The role of the local state in China's transitional economy.” The China Quarterly 144, 1132–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oksenberg, Michel, and Tong, James. 1991. “The evolution of central–provincial fiscal relations in China, 1971–1984: the formal system.” The China Quarterly 125, 1–32.Google Scholar
Pan, Qimin, Jiuyu, Liu, Xinyou, Li and Guangling, Hou. 2011. “Huanghe liuyu shuiziyuanliang peihe silu tantao” (Thoughts and investigations on water resource quantity allocation in the Yellow River Basin), 28 April, http://www.szwrb.gov.cn/cn/zwgk_show.asp?id=21519. Accessed 5 April 2012.Google Scholar
Peng, Huan. 2009. “Kuaxing zhengqu liuyu shuiwuran zhili” (Control of trans-jurisdictional river basin water pollution). Zhongguo chengshi yanjiu (dianzi qikan) 4(1), 36–40.Google Scholar
Qi, Guizhen. 2011. Lun Zhongguo de dazhengfu yu qiangzhengfu (Examining China's Great and Strong Government). Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe.Google Scholar
Remick, Elizabeth. 2002. “The significance of local states: the case of twentieth-century China.” Comparative Politics 34(4), 399–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RMIT International. 2003. Local Legislation to Support Transjurisdictional Water Pollution Management. Melbourne: RMIT International.Google Scholar
Shen, Dajun. 2009. “River basin water resources management in China: a legal and institutional assessment.” Water International 34(4), 484–496.Google Scholar
Sheng, Yumin. 2010. Economic Openness and Territorial Politics in China. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shih, Victor, Adolph, Christopher and Liu, Mingxing. 2012. “Getting ahead in the Communist Party: explaining the advancement of Central Committee members in China.” American Political Science Review 106(1), 178.Google Scholar
Shue, Vivienne. 1988. The Reach of the State: Sketches of the Chinese Body Politic. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Skinner, G. William. 1977. “Regional urbanization in nineteenth-century China.” In Skinner, G. William (ed.), The City in Late Imperial China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 211–252.Google Scholar
Solinger, Dorothy. 1996. “Despite decentralization: disadvantages, dependence and ongoing central power in the inland – the case of Wuhan.” The China Quarterly 145, 1–34.Google Scholar
State Council. 1987. “Guowuyuan bangongting zhuanfa guojia jiwei he shuidianbu guanyu Huanghe kegong shuiliang fenpei fangan baogao de tongzhi” (Notice by the State Council Office to the State Planning Commission and the Ministry of Water and Power regarding the report on the Yellow River water quantity allocation plan). Beijing: State Council.Google Scholar
Tang, Zhen, and Haiwei, Zhou. 2007. “Chang sandiao diqu kuajie shuishi jiufen xieshang mianlin de wenti ji duice” (Problems and solutions faced in the resolution of Yangtze delta trans-boundary water disputes). Shuili jingji 25(2), 70–77.Google Scholar
Tsui, Kai-yuen, and Wang, Youqiang. 2004. “Between separate stoves and a single menu: fiscal decentralization in China.” The China Quarterly 177, 71–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Weiluo. 2002. “Water management in the People's Republic of China.” In Chatterji, Manas, Arlosoroff, Saul and Guha, Gauri (eds.), Conflict Management of Water Resources. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 88–115.Google Scholar
Wei, Yehua. 2000. Regional Development in China: States, Globalization and Inequality. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Weingast, Barry. 1995. “The economic role of political institutions: market-preserving federalism and economic development.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 11, 1–31.Google Scholar
Wouters, Patricia, Desheng, Hu, Jiebin, Zhang, Speed, Andrew and Tarlock, Dan. 2004. “The new development of water law in China.” University of Denver Law Review 7(2), 243–308.Google Scholar
Xu, Fu. 1998. “Ningxia zhengqu nongye ‘si tupo’” (Ningxia agriculture struggles for ‘four breakthroughs’), Renmin ribao, 11 March.Google Scholar
Xu, Gaohong, and Shenglian, Guo. 2012. “Changjiang liuyu shengji heliu shuishi jiufen ji duice cuoshi tantao” (Probing inter-provincial water disputes and countermeasures in the Yangtze basin), 19 March, http://www.sdwr.gov.cn/sdsl/pub/cms/2003/2186/254/18300.html. Accessed 7 April 2012.Google Scholar
Yang, Dali. 1997. Beyond Beijing: Liberalization and the Regions in China. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Yang, Dali. 2004. Remaking the Chinese Leviathan: Market Transition and the Politics of Governance in China. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, Zhong. 1996. “Withering governmental power in China? A view from below.” Communist and Post-Communist Studies 29(4), 363–375.Google Scholar
Ying, Lizhai, and Xuefeng, Chen. 2011. “Huanbao juexing: Jiaxing renjian ‘lingdian xingdong’ shinian bianqian huiwang'” (An environmental protection awakening: looking back on ten years of change since the Jiaxing people's ‘zero operation’), 21 November, http://zjnews.zjol.com.cn/05zjnews/system/2011/11/21/018013126.shtml. Accessed 7 April 2012.Google Scholar
YRCC (Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee). 1991. Huanghe guihua zhi (History of Yellow River Planning) (Vol. 6). Zhengzhou: Henan renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
YRCC. 2011. “‘Huanghe shuiliang tiaodu tiaoli’ zhiding yu shijian” (Formulation and implementation of the Yellow River Water Quantity Dispatching Regulations), 14 August, http://www.yellowriver.gov.cn/zlcp/kjcg/kjcg07/201108/t20110814_103291.html. Accessed 5 April 2012.Google Scholar
Zhang, Bailin. 2009. “Kuaxingzheng quyu shuiwuran jiufen jiejue jizhi yanjiu” (Trans-jurisdictional water pollution dispute resolution mechanism research), 5 November, http://www.riel.whu.edu.cn/article.asp?id=30420. Accessed 7 April 2012.Google Scholar
Zhang, Jiaoyong. 2011. “Quanguo shuiziyuan zonghe guihua” (Comprehensive national water resource plan), 11 August, http://www.yellowriver.gov.cn/zwzc/zcfg/zcjd/201108/t20110811_82252.html. Accessed 30 March 2012.Google Scholar
Zheng, Yongnian. 2007. De facto Federalism in China: Reforms and Dynamics of Central–Local Relations. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.Google Scholar
Zhou, Peiyuan. 1994. “Questions and suggestions concerning the Three Gorges Project: a letter to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.” In Qing, Dai (ed.), Yangtze! Yangtze! London: Earthscan Press, 48.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, Joseph. 2011. Horizontal Federalism: Interstate Relations. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar