RIVER ENGINEERING - CUI, Shijie.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Huanghe fuyuan zhi liyong ("Harnessing the Natural Resources of the Yellow River"). First edition of this rare and extensively illustrated proposal for increasing freight traffic and other commercial transport along China's second-longest river and building new port facilities at the mouth in the Bohai Sea. The valuable maps and plans show infrastructure and key locations along the river, as well as past and proposed improvements.Cui Shijie (1888-1970) was a government official in Shandong Province charged with regional economic development. Rivers were a core part of his vision for coastal and hinterland prosperity. He published his report four years after the devastating 1931 floods, when China's major water systems burst their banks and claimed the lives of up to 4 million people (the worst natural disaster ever recorded). The table of contents calls for two end plans that were seemingly not issued, as they are present neither in this copy nor in the copy held by the National Library of China.

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