The Dao of Chinese Water Management and Development: Challenges and Perspectives

As the global community addresses the necessary transitions that are required to create sustainable water management and development practices around the world, an examination of the Chinese water tradition, with both its Daoist and Confucian approaches, offers new insights and understanding about the cultural and social embeddedness of water traditions. By comparing current water management practices, such as Integrated Water Resources Management that was co-developed in twentieth century Netherlands, with historical Chinese approaches, a nonlinear form of change that is significant for water policy and transition studies in general becomes clear.