Guangtong Dam Built in 1512

Background

The gazetteer records that in 1512 Suzhou and Changzhou petitioned for a dam at Guangtong on grounds of flooding. The request came from those prefectures and was referred to the provincial authorities, which shows that what was at issue was the water between upstream and downstream, not a matter for Lishui alone.

Time and place

The dam was built in 1512 at Guangtong, the place where sluices had been set up in 1403 with an officer to manage the holding back and release of water.

What was done

七年壬申，苏、常等郡以水患奏请筑广通坝。事下抚臣议，加筑高厚三丈，杜塞二闸，厉其禁勿开。先是有闸可以蓄泄，至此水患遂永贻于溧矣！ — Kangxi Lishui County Gazetteer, 卷之一·邑纪·七年壬申

Translated: In the seventh year, Suzhou, Changzhou and other prefectures petitioned on grounds of flooding for a dam to be built at Guangtong. The matter was referred to the provincial authorities, and the dam was raised three zhang in height and thickness, the two sluices were sealed and their opening strictly forbidden. Previously there had been sluices by which water could be held back and released; from this point the flooding was permanently bequeathed to Lishui.

Three measures were decided: the dam raised three zhang in height and thickness, the two sluices sealed, and their opening forbidden by strict order. The gazetteer supplies the contrast — that there had previously been sluices to hold back and release water — and its closing sentence is the verdict of the gazetteer's author, not part of the event. This entry reproduces it and marks it as such.

Consequences

With the two sluices sealed, the water above Guangtong had no outlet. The consequence is recorded in the gazetteer more than a century later: in 1600 the residents Zhang Xiao, Xiong Zicheng and others petitioned the throne, saying that the dam at Guangtong had left the upper waters without release, that more than 80,000 mu of fertile lakeside fields had been destroyed and the quota tax apportioned each year among the villages; they asked with tears for the commutation of grain tax on the Gaochun precedent. In 1622 the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, Xu Bida, on the report of the magistrate Zhang Ximing, joined the provincial authorities Wang Xiangheng and Yi Yingchang in a joint memorial, and perpetual commutation of Lishui's grain tax was granted; the gazetteer says the whole county was grateful and notes that the matter is recorded in the Complete Book of Commutation.

Uncertainties

First, it is not clear whether the three zhang is the total height and thickness after the work or an addition to an existing dam; the gazetteer's wording allows either reading and no choice is made here.

Second, the gazetteer does not say which prefectures petitioned or by what procedure, nor does it give the position, length or labour of the dam.

Third, the residents' petition of 1600 concerned the commutation of grain tax; the gazetteer links it to the flooding with the single phrase "because of the dam at Guangtong" and gives no calculation of water levels or of the change in field area, so only the wording of the petition is reproduced here.

Fourth, after commutation was granted in 1622, the local officials Yang Gonghan and Zhao Tiyuan petitioned again for it in 1644; before long the dynasty changed and collection resumed as before. The reversals of commutation are recorded in the gazetteer and may be read alongside this entry.