Towards an ethnography of small hydropower in China: Rural electrification, socioeconomic development and furtive hydroscapes

Abstract This paper critically analyzes the disjuncture between rural electrification initiatives, utilization and socioeconomic development resulting from development of small hydropower (SHP) operations in rural Yunnan Province. Across China, a contemporary rapid and sustained proliferation of SHP is driven by government-led programs endorsing the technology as a means to provide energy for isolated communities in areas where grid connectivity is deficient or absent. Through SHP development, rural electrification programs (REP’s) are purported to raise quality-of-life indicators in some of the country’s poorest and most marginalized areas. Currently, there is a significant dearth of research critically analyzing the success or failures of SHP based REP’s in China to improve livelihoods for ethnic minority communities in rural and remote areas. This paper adds to a shallow body of China based research by analyzing outcomes of SHP development through a comparative study undertaken in two rural village communities in the upper Nu River Valley. The study analyzed a range of quantitative economic data before undertaking a suite of qualitative methods such as participant observation, household surveys, semi-structured interviews and focus groups, staggered over multiple field visits. Findings indicate substantial scope exists for SHP based REP’s to achieve stated objectives for improving socioeconomic indicators in rural and remote communities. Due to a range of challenges, however, projects often underachieve or further marginalize residents, commonly mired by failures in strategic planning, lack of implementation frameworks and genuine engagement with community members. A number of recommendations are offered as pathways to improve SHP based REP’s as a means to provide conditions for more equitable modes of socioeconomic development across rural and marginal China.