Introduction: Rain on the Summer Palace
The great rivers: Yangtze and Yellow : the axes of China's geography
Out of the water : the myths and origins of ancient China
Finding the way : water as source and metaphor in Daoism and Confucianism
Channels of power : how China's waterways shaped its political landscape
Voyages of the eunuch admiral : how China explored the world
Rise and fall of the hydraulic state : taming the waters by bureaucracy
War on the waters : rivers and lakes as sites and instruments of conflict
Mao's dams : the technocratic vision of a new China
The fluid art of expression : how water infuses Chinese painting and literature
Water and China's future : threats, promises and a new dialogue.