How China’s 5,100-year-old dams challenge Western narratives on despotism
Researchers use digital technologies to uncover archaeological evidence that ancient communities managed water cooperatively
“This challenges the previous erroneous theory of Western scholars that ‘water projects led to Eastern despotism’,” he said, referring to a concept that originated with German-American historian Karl August Wittfogel’s 1957 work, Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power.
Wittfogel argued that the formation and development of Eastern societies were inextricably linked to water management, positing that the construction and administration of large-scale hydraulic projects required a powerful, centralised organisation leading to a political system distinct from the West.
Liu countered Wittfogel’s theory, saying the study found that prehistoric communities across various regions of China began collaborating on family or clan-based projects, such as digging ponds for water storage, irrigation and flood control.