The Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society And The Modernization Of Water Conservancy:1931-1948

The Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society, founded in April 1931, is the first national civil academic community of water conservancy in Modern China. It carries out community activities energetically with the aim of contacting water conservancy project comrades, doing water conservancy academic researches and promoting water conservancy constructions. On the one hand, the Society succeed building a kind of regulation system of water science research, communication, evaluation and reward through convening annual meetings, reading papers, publishing water science books,establishing water science bonus, compiling Hydraulic nouns, advocating set of hydraulic tests and other initiatives, so as to promote the institutionalization and standardization of modern Chinese Hydraulic. On the other hand, viewing of the water conservancy ugly defeat day by day during the Republic of China, the members of the Society also Committed to appeal to the unity of national water conservancy administration, promote the realization of government's water conservancy legislation and propose repairing suggestions of rivers, lakes and ponds to the government actively, so as to boost the modernization transformation of traditional Chinese water conservancy. In addition, the Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society also adjusted and enriched its organization continually, in order to advance the association's conference and better serve for the development of China's water conservancy science and industry.Of course, confined to troubled Bureau and timely funding, the actual operation was subject to a considerable degree, which affected the play of its social function;restricted to various historical conditions, part of its river repairing plans was unsuccessfully implemented. Anyway, the existence of the Society contributed greatly to the Hydraulic academic communications between Chinese and other foreign countries and colleagues' connection, and it elaborated scientific concept of water management was also inherited by later generations. In this regard, the Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society did make a great contribution to the modernization of Chinese water conservancy.