In the academic context, it seems to be using an archaeological example to push back against the theory of 'hydraulic despotism' i.e. that an empire could arise by controlling access to water, and evidence of that would be that the empire had complete control of the water system:
> "Among the prominent scholarly advancements on water and society, the hydraulic origins of state and coercive power proposed and developed by Wittfogel and some other scholars have come under rigorous scrutiny in recent studies in East Asia and beyond..."
This has some present-day relevance, as there's an ongoing battle over privatization schemes for water systems which would tend to place control of water in the hands of the ruling oligarch class, from Enron's Azurix c.2000 up to present-day efforts related to how to rebuild America's aging water infrastructure e.g.
Note that this study seems to address flood control more than anything else; hydraulic despotism might have been more of a feature of dry land irrigation-based civilizations.
Outside the western ivory tower arguments of hydraulic despotism, I wonder how well the claims made by these Chinese scholars working at state-supported Chinese academic institutions reinforce the narratives favored by the Chinese Communist Party, especially in reference to history of Chinese lands and peoples. They seem to toe the party line very well at first glance.
> "Among the prominent scholarly advancements on water and society, the hydraulic origins of state and coercive power proposed and developed by Wittfogel and some other scholars have come under rigorous scrutiny in recent studies in East Asia and beyond..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_empire
This has some present-day relevance, as there's an ongoing battle over privatization schemes for water systems which would tend to place control of water in the hands of the ruling oligarch class, from Enron's Azurix c.2000 up to present-day efforts related to how to rebuild America's aging water infrastructure e.g.
https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/presidential-council-advises-...
Note that this study seems to address flood control more than anything else; hydraulic despotism might have been more of a feature of dry land irrigation-based civilizations.