Beyond Megaprojects
How Small-Scale Innovation Managed the Water in Northern Jiangsu, 1957-87
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5605396 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yichuan Chen (0009-0009-2034-7267), Yi-Chuan Chen (0000-0001-7848-1383, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 66 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1025-1056 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Technology and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0040-165X • E-ISSN: 1097-3729 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/tech.2025.a971300 |
| PMID | 41111425 |
| OpenAlex | W4415073824 |
| Language | EN |
This article challenges the dominant focus on megaprojects in Chinese water management by uncovering a parallel history of small-scale, multifunctional water infrastructure in rural Jiangsu. Based on archival research and fieldwork, the article documents how local engineers, working beyond the gaze of the central state, embedded competing aesthetic and ideological visions-high modernism, revolutionary design, and vernacular innovation-into technical landscapes. This shift reframes water infrastructure not as a top-down imposition but as a product of localized creativity and negotiation. The article contributes to infrastructure studies and Chinese history by re-scaling development and decentering state narratives
Creativity · Focus (optics) · Ideology · Product (mathematics) · State (computer science) · Vernacular · Water industry · Chinese history and philosophy
| Highly cited | No |
|---|