Why Drought Become Disaster

Climatically arid and with little rainfall, the western part of Hexi Corridor is a major irrigation farming region of China’s northwestern frontier. From mid to late Republican Period up to the early years of the People’s Republic of China, this region initiated the modernization of irrigation in the process of solving irrigation crises in modernity. At the same time, " drought”, as a terminology in discourse, began to appear frequently in various textual accounts. Through analyzing hydrological features of major rivers and farming systems in the western part of Hexi Corridor, this paper points out that rather than denoting a natural disaster, " drought” was born out of a unique political discourse in the modernization of irrigation on China’s northwestern frontier. In the Republican Period, " drought” was used as a discourse in the contest for water right, relief aid, and engineering investment among competing social sectors, so that the local government and its people could portray themselves as victims, in order to win over the endorsement of those in government at a higher level through " a demonstration of weakness”. Whereas flooding, as an actual disaster that was much more damaging, was often ignored. In the early years of the People’s Republic of China, the government proactively released " drought alerts” to gain absolute control over irrigation activities through the promotion and reification of an " emergency response system”. Interaction between the state and society was realized through " drought”, revealing the crisis-nature embodied in the modernization process of northwestern frontier society and its heavy reliance on the state, as well as demonstrating that " water”, as the prerequisite resource in an arid region, will forever serve as a crucial political means for the state to control frontier societies, unshakable by any process of " modernization”.