Water rights and water management associations in the middle reaches of the Yellow river basin in the pre-modern China

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K02822
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Historical studies in general
• Research Institution: Otani University
• Principal Investigator: Iguro Shinobu 大谷大学, 文学部, 准教授 (20387971)
• Research Collaborator: Iiyama Tomoyasu ; Li Dahai ; Zhang Junfeng
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 水利権 / 水利組織 / 水利碑 / 水冊 / 公水 / 基層社会 / 重刻碑 / 宗族

Outline of Final Research Achievements

From the late 16th century the trade of water rights without land deal increased more and more, which created not only a situation that some wealthy people accumulated water rights but also a problem that distributed amounts of water to each villages decreased by water rights flowed out from the villages. Under these circumstances, from around the 18th century, villages themselves got involved in the trade through the intermediary of water management associations. From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, local communities began to insist governments should rely on not old customs but publicness when they adjudicated the conflicts. This means local societies would prefer share of resources to an oligopoly or monopoly, appearance of the term “public water” and “private water” in documents in this time could suggest the concept of water rights started to change.

Free Research Field

環境史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究により、現在および将来的な水資源枯渇という問題に対する解決策の一つとして取り上げられる、水利権の売買やその商品化という現象が、すでに16世紀の中国において発生し、これが社会秩序を揺るがす問題をも生み出していたことが明らかとなった。同時に、この問題への対応を迫られる中で、村を単位とするコミュニティがその結集力を強め、さらにこれが資源の共有を求める方向へと進んだという事実は、従来の研究における中国の村や公共性の理解に修正を迫るものである。本研究によって得られた知見は、公共性に基づく資源管理とその利用という将来的な課題を考えるためにも重要な意義を有するものである。