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Reshaping Rivers in Early China: A Historian's Account

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Reshaping Rivers in Early China: A Historian's Account

Source an adapted excerpt by Sima Qian and compare river regions with climate and population data.

Two rivers, two problems

Read the passage and study the table. Then answer the questions.

Water Problems in Early China

1Early China's farmers faced very different water problems in different regions. On the Chengdu Plain in the southwest, rain is plentiful, but most of it falls in a few summer months. Melting snow and summer storms in the mountains sent the Min River rushing onto the plain, flooding fields and villages in some years and leaving them short of water in others.

2Far to the north lay the valley of the Wei River and its branch, the Jing, the home of the state of Qin. Rain there was lighter and less reliable, and parts of the valley had salty soil where crops grew poorly. The Jing carried heavy loads of yellow silt washed from the soft hills upstream.

3In the 200s BCE, China was split into rival warring states. Rulers knew that more grain could feed more soldiers. Two famous water projects from this time changed the land. Dujiangyan, on the Min River, was begun about 256 BCE under Li Bing, a governor serving Qin. The Zheng Guo Canal, in the Wei valley, was begun about 246 BCE. In 221 BCE, Qin conquered its rivals and united China.

4Dujiangyan did not use a tall dam. Workers built a long bank in the middle of the river, shaped like a fish's mouth, that split the Min into two channels. They cut a gap through a hill so that one channel could carry water into a web of smaller canals across the plain, while the other carried extra water away. The system still waters farmland on the Chengdu Plain today, more than 2,200 years later.

Three River Regions Today (rounded modern data)
Region	Yearly rain	Main water for farms	People today
Chengdu Plain, China	about 35 in	Min River, through Dujiangyan	Chengdu area: about 21 million
Wei River valley, China	about 22 in	Wei and Jing rivers, canals	Xi'an area: about 13 million
Nile Valley, Egypt	about 1 in	Nile River	95% of people on 5% of the land

1.

Based on paragraphs 1 and 2, how were the water problems of the Chengdu Plain and the Wei valley different?

A. Chengdu had uneven floods; the Wei valley had light rain and salty soil.B. Chengdu had too little rain; the Wei valley had far too much.C. Chengdu had no river; the Wei valley had two rivers instead.D. Both had salty soil left behind after river silt washed away.

2.

The Nile row says that about 95% of Egyptians live on about 5% of the land. Which conclusion does this data best support?

A. Rain in Egypt spreads people evenly across the whole country.B. Most Egyptians live far out in the desert, away from the river.C. In a very dry country, most people crowd onto the narrow land a river waters.D. Egypt has more farmland than its people are able to use.

3.

Sort each action. Is it adapting to the environment (fitting the way people live to it) or changing the environment (reshaping land or water)?

4.

According to paragraph 3, Qin united China about years after work on the Zheng Guo Canal began.

Read the source

Read the note about the source and the adapted excerpts. Then answer the questions.

About the source: Sima Qian was the Grand Historian at the court of the Han dynasty, which ruled China after Qin. He finished his history, the Records of the Grand Historian, about 94 BCE. One chapter, on rivers and canals, describes the projects below. In it, Sima Qian wrote that he had traveled to see many of these waterworks himself. (A qing was a unit for measuring land; 40,000 qing was a very large area.)

Adapted from a translation of the Records of the Grand Historian, "Rivers and Canals"

Excerpt A. The state of Han heard that Qin loved to start great projects. Hoping to wear Qin out so that it would not attack to the east, Han sent a water engineer named Zheng Guo to persuade Qin to dig a canal from the Jing River. When the work was half done, the plot was discovered, and Qin wanted to kill Zheng Guo. He said, "At first I came to trick you, but when this canal is finished, it will benefit Qin too." Qin let him finish the work.

The canal spread the muddy water of the Jing over more than 40,000 qing of salty land, and the harvest from every field grew rich. The land within the passes became fertile, with no more years of famine. Qin grew rich and strong and in the end united all the states.

Excerpt B. In Shu, the governor Li Bing cut through a hill to end the harm done by the river, and he opened two channels through the plain of Chengdu. Boats could travel on them, and the extra water was used to water fields. Wherever the channels passed, the people led the water off into ditches to irrigate their fields.

Sima Qian's comment. How great are the benefits and the harms of water!

5.

About how long after work on the Zheng Guo Canal began did Sima Qian finish his history?

A. About 50 yearsB. About 340 yearsC. About 15 yearsD. About 150 years

6.

In Excerpt A, what is surprising about the result of Han's plan?

A. The canal was never finished because the plot was found.B. A project meant to weaken Qin made Qin stronger.C. Zheng Guo refused to help Qin once he arrived.D. Han's own farmers ended up using the canal water.

7.

Circle the sentence from Excerpt A that describes a change to the land itself, not to Qin's plans or power.

8.

Sima Qian wrote that he had traveled to see these waterworks. How does this affect how far we can trust his account?

A. It means he helped Li Bing dig the channels through Chengdu.B. He could see the channels himself, but he learned of Zheng Guo's words from others.C. It shows that the speech by Zheng Guo is quoted word for word.D. It shows that he worked for the state of Han that sent Zheng Guo.

9.

Which detail from the table best corroborates Excerpt B's claim that Li Bing's channels made the Chengdu Plain good for people to live on?

A. About 21 million people live where Dujiangyan still waters farms.B. The Nile Valley gets about 1 inch of rain a year.C. The Wei River valley gets about 22 inches of rain a year.D. The Chengdu Plain gets about 35 inches of rain a year.

Make a claim

Use the passage, the excerpts and the table.

10.

Sima Qian wrote, "How great are the benefits and the harms of water!" Make a claim about how people in early China dealt with water: did they mostly adapt to their rivers or mostly change them? Use at least two pieces of evidence from the passage, the excerpts or the table, and explain your reasoning.