Harnessing The Yellow River And Maintaining The Water Transpolrtation Between The North And South Of The Ming Empire During The Years From Zhengtong To Jiajing

The Ming Empire paid important attention to harness the Yellow River and maintain the water transportation between the north and south move smoothly. The officers, who were responsible for harnessing the Yellow River or the big canal in Ming dynasty, held different opinions about the method to harness the Yellow River and the big canal. This essay mainly narrates the measures that the government took to harness the Yellow River and maintain the water transportation between the north and the south move smoothly during the period from Ming Zhengtong to Jiajing through analyzing the water conservancy articles of the Ming Jing Shi Wen Bian.The water environment the Ming Empire faced was different from former dynasties. Whether the Yellow River could be harnessed successfully was related to the normal water transportation through the big canal. Therefore the primary task was to restore water transportation of the big canal when the government harnessed the Yellow River. This essay analyzes the deeds Xu Youzhen, Liu Daxia and Liu Tianhe did when they harnessed the Yellow River and the big canal. The leading method of harnessing the Yellow River was to dig a few branches which flowed towards south for weakening the Yellow River while built a long dam to prevent the flood from damaging the big canal. The paper also introduces opinions concerning harnessing the Yellow River and the big canal of other officers in court, and summarizes the methods of managing the Yellow River and the big canal and technology of harnessing the Yellow River and the big canal.In order to maintain water transportation of the big canal move smoothly, the government dredged and transformed the Lv Liang Hong, the capital canal and the Hui Tong River. Meanwhile the government took measures to ensure water yield of the big canal. Many officers made other advices for water transporting, such as restarting the ocean transportation, so that the transportation between the north and south didn’t stop when the big canal was blocked.By the narration and analyses, we may know the characteristics of the Yellow River more deeply, and control the floods and take advantage of the big canal more efficiently.