The Process And Influence Of Sino-American Huai River Conservancy Project,1911-1927

Since 1128,Duchong who stayed to guard in Dongjing excavated the Yellow River into the Huai River as an obstruction forcing the troops of Jin State to surrender.However,the flooding of the south of the Yellow River was still frequent.Especially between Ming and Qing dynasties,influenced by the preference of country’s water conservancy policy and the conflicts among areas,the flooding situation in Huai River still happened frequently.Accompanied by the historical background of domestic strife and foreign agression in modern times,the flood hazard in Huai River was especially severe.Thus,the project of dredging the Huai River was extremely urgent.Celebities in Huai River area represented by Zhangqian attached great importance to the project and publicized the news.However,for the difficulty in the current financial situation and the isolated feature of this area,it could not be emphasized by the authority.But Zhangjian and other celebities in Huai River area discovered another way and advocated to apply foreign investment into the project.Different types of organization in America had great interest to cooperate with China in this project,thus the conjunction of the common interests promoted the development of the dredging project between China and America.American Red Cross in China bore the brunt.American Red Cross in China was keen on the charity work in the long term and won the widespread favor in public opinions.In 1911,it sent engineer James to investigate the Huai River and stated to step in the dredging project.Reinsch in 1913 was appointed as envoy to China and he actively promoted the communication and cooperation between China and America.Under the joint effort,China and America signed the Huai River on loan in 1914.Then engineering delegations of American Red Cross came to China to measure and investigate Huai River and proposed the general plan as "all to Yangtze River".As the outburst of the First World War,American Red Cross got into the financial dilemma and was unable to continue to cooperate with China in dredging project.Following the Red Cross,American International Corporation participated in the project in 1916 and undertook the loan of the canal.However,such action treated the interest of Japan in this area,thus was strongly opposed by Japan.Starting from the self-interest,America compromised with Japan to protect the colony in the Far East.The plan in International Corporation thus came to nothing.In 1922,China International Famine Relief Commission dominated by America formed the committee for dredging the Huai River.It spared no efforts in advocating the project.American engineer Filliman put forward the general plan as "all to the sea" in the same year.International Corporation consulted with Qixieyuan meaning to continue to conduct the loan.However,the similar plan was opposed by the local gentry and common people.From then on,the dredge project gradually decined.The reason for the failure of the dredge project between China and America was attributed to the complicated social environment in China and the competition among different areas.Confused fighting between the warlords and rampant banditry could not provide a safe and stable environment for the project from 1911 to 1927.The Huai River flew through Jiangsu,Anhui,Shandong and Henan,thus the project needed the cooperation of these four provinces.However,Chinese central authority was fading away and local government each did things in his own way.These four provinces started from their own interests,so it was difficult for them to keep in accordance in dredging the Huaihe River project.Moreover,the conflicts between the relevant persons in charge in America and China further hindered the development of this project.Even though the project ended in failure,it still has positive historical significance.During the period of the cooperation between China and America,China has introduced America’s advanced course and water conservancy strategy,opening up the water conservancy education in modern times.In the constant negotiations of loans between China and America,China has deepened the knowledge of the arduousness and complexity in attracting and applying foreign investment to build public welfare project facilities.Although American invested dredging Huai River project does not put into practice in the end,the investigation achievements and design plans in the earlier stage has the value of reference to some extent.