Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Environmental characteristics and land-use pattern changes of the Old Huanghe River delta, eastern China, in the sixteenth to twentieth centuries

  • Special Feature: Case Report
  • Sustainable Deltas: Livelihoods, Ecosystem Services, and Policy Implications
  • Published:
Sustainability Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The interaction between human and land in estuarine–coastal areas has become a focus of the global change research. Since the sixteenth century, the Old Huanghe River delta has experienced rapid accretion, the formation of rich ecological resources and diverse land use pattern changes; such information, in combination with a large number of historical documents, provides a unique research area for revealing the processes for ecosystem–human changes. We use historical documents and adopt multidisciplinary methods, to identify the relationship between ecosystem changes and human activities, on the basis of spatial and temporal analysis, for in the Old Huanghe River delta region. The results indicate that, in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, the long-term monopolistic development pattern under the government leadership, which occupied large quantities of ecological resources, controlled the coastal salt industry and marsh land exploitation. However, along with the delta ecosystem change and population growth, the development pattern became gradually unsustainable, i.e., the salt industry migrated toward the north, while the farming activities migrated toward the south with enhanced intensity of marsh reclamation. The government monopoly collapsed in the late nineteenth century, which enlarged the independent development space for the local residents, which, to a large extent, improved the land-use efficiency and reduced the population pressure.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. include Guanyun, Guannan, Funing, Sheyang, Lianshui, Xiangshui and Binha county.

  2. http://www.soa.gov.cn/zwgk/hygb/zghpmgb/2008nzghpmgb/201212/t20121217_22815.html.

  3. This company was established in the early twentieth century, by private investment, for land reclamation and sea salt production.

  4. Established as early as the twelfth to thirteenth century.

  5. Common reed (Phragmites communis Trin.) and Polygonum orientale (Polygonum orientale L.) are the major species in the vegetation community of the wetland of the Old Huanghe River delta, which were the important material of plugging breaches during the process of maintenance of the downstream of ancient Huanghe River dikes. To ensure stable material supply, the government prohibited the reclamation of wetland.

References

  • Alekseevskii NI, Mikhailov VN, Alabyan AM, Babich DB (2009) Hazardous hydrological processes in the Dutch delta and measures for mitigation of their adverse effect on the population, economy, and ecosystems. Water Resour 2:119–126. doi:10.1134/S0097807809020018

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Auerbach LW, Goodbred SL Jr, Mondal DR, Wilson CA, Ahmed KR, Roy K, Steckler MS, Small C, Gilligan JM, Ackerly BA (2015) Flood risk of natural and embanked landscapes on the Ganges-Brahmaputra tidal delta plain. Nat Clim Change 2:153–157. doi:10.1038/nclimate2472

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bao S (1846) Some generalizations of the governance of the Huanghe River, Canal and salt industry. In: Ma N (ed) (2006) Series books of China’s water conservancy (Book 1). Guangning Press, Yangzhou (in Chinese)

  • Bao J (2013) Historical geography analysis on the Huainan salt industry decline in the late Qing Dynasty. Hist Geogr 28:166–184 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bao J (2014) A brief study on “variability” and “invariability” of salt production: environment in Jiangsu Huainan saltern in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Salt Ind Hist Res 1:20–27 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bao J, Gao S (2015) A study on the sea dikes of northern Jiangsu and the “Fan Gong Dike”. J Chin Hist Geogr 30(4):22–30 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bao J, Gao S (2016) Traditional coastal management practices and land use changes during the 16-20th centuries, Jiangsu Province, China. Ocean Coast Manage 124:10–21. doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2016.02.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Batker D, Torre I, Costanza R, Day JW, Swedeen P, Boumans R, Bagstad K (2014) The threats to the value of ecosystem goods and services of the Mississippi Delta. In: Day JW, Kemp GP, Freeman AM, Muth DP (eds) Perspectives on the restoration of the Mississippi Delta. Springer, Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Belknap DF, Sandweiss DH (2014) Effect of the Spanish conquest on coastal change in Northwestern Peru. PNAS 22:7986–7989. doi:10.1073/pnas.1404568111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown S, Nicholls RJ, Hanson S, Brundrit G, Dearing JA, Dickson ME, Gallop SL, Gao S, Haigh ID, Hinkel J, Jiménez JA, Klein RJT, Kron W, Lin RJ, Neves CF, Newton A, Pattiaratachi C, Payo A, Pye K, Snchez-Arcilla A, Siddall M, Shareef A, Tompkins EL, Vafeidis AT, Maanen B, Ward PJ, Woodroffe CD (2014) Shifting perspectives on coastal impacts and adaptation. Nat Clim Change 4:752–755

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cao S (2002a) History of Chinese population (4) (the Ming Dynasty). Fudan University Press, Shanghai (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cao S (2002b) History of Chinese population (5) (the Qing Dynasty). Fudan University Press, Shanghai (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen B, Fang M (1988) Jiangsu coastal zone soil. Hohai University Press, Nanjing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen X, Shi Q, Zhang J (1551) Chronicle of the Lianghuai sea salt industry. In: The editorial team of ancient books published of Beijing library (ed) (1997) Series of ancient rare books of Beijing library (Book 58). Bibliography and Document Publishing House, Beijing (in Chinese)

  • CHGIS (2012) Version: 5.0. MA (USA), Harvard Yenching Institute, Cambridge. http://fas.harvard.edu/%chgis

  • Dahm Ruben (2014) Environment: flood resilience a must for delta cities. Nature 7531:329. doi:10.1038/516329d

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton RM (1990) Human settlement and colonization in the Sundarbans, 1200–1750. Agric Hum Values 2:6–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fang M, Zong L (1989) A study of Jiangsu coast changes and its impact on coastal development. Agric Hist China 2:31–37 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fanning AL (2014) Towards valuing climate change impacts on the ecosystem services of a Uruguayan coastal lagoon. In: Leal FW et al (eds) International perspectives on climate change. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu Z, Zheng Y (1725) The governance of rivers and experience summary. In: Phoenix Press (ed) (2011) Photocopies. Phoenix Press, Nanjing (in Chinese)

  • Ga E (1728) Chronicle of the Lianghuai sea salt industry. In: Yu H (ed) (2009) Series books of rare economical historical materials of the Ming and Qing dynasties (First edition, Book 1-3). National Library Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

  • Gao W (1997) China’s history of natural disasters. Earthquake Publishing House, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gao B, Zhang S (1825) Nanhe map of Huanghe River. Library of Congress (g7822ym, gct00258), Washington, DC, USA. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g7822ym.gct00258

  • Geoghegan J, Bockstael N (1997) Human behavior and ecosystem valuation: an application to the Patuxent Watershed of The Chesapeake Bay. In: Simpson RD (ed) Ecosystem function and human activities. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo D, Chen W (1573) Chronicle of Huai’an Prefecture. In: Shanghai Bookstore (ed) (1990) Series books of local chronicles of Tianyi pavilion in Ming Dynasty (Book 8). Shanghai Ancient Books store Press, Shanghai (in Chinese)

  • He C, Wei Y (1826) Corpus of the governance and economic policy (1992). China Publishing House, Beijing (in Chinese)

  • Huang Z, Zhao H (1736) Chronicle of Jiangnan Province. In: Sun X L (ed) (2004) Series books of Local Chronicles bibliography (Book 14). The National Library Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

  • IPCC (2014) IPCC WG II AR 5 Climate Change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Ji Q (1806) Chronicle of the Lianghuai sea salt industry. Printed edition of Yangzhou Publishing House (1870), Collection in library of Fudan University department of ancient books, Shanghai (in Chinese)

  • Li Y (1991) The development of the abandoned Yellow River Delta. Geogr Res 4:29–39 (in Chinese)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li D (2008) Environmental changes and the history of Jiangnan Reeds-battalion of the Qing Dynasty. Lan zhou xue kan1:147–150 (in Chinese)

  • Liu M (1996) Research in coastal development of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Shantou University Press, Shantou (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu XX, Chen SL, Jiang C, Hu J, Zhang L (2014) Vulnerability assessment of coastal erosion along the Abandoned Yellow River Delta of northern Jiangsu, China. Acta Geogr Sin 69(5):607–618 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pan J (1590) Prevention of river flood and experience summary. In: Wu X (ed) (1965) Series books of Chinese historiography. Xue-sheng Publishing House, Taibei (in Chinese)

  • Pannier F (1979) Mangroves impacted by human-induced disturbances: a case study of the Orinoco Delta mangrove ecosystem. Environ Manage 3:205–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Maqueo O, Martínez ML, Lithgow D, Mendoza-González G, Feagin RA, Gallego-Ferngndez JB (2013) The coasts and their costs. In: Martínez ML et al (eds) Restoration of Coastal Dunes. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Qiao H (1698) Chronicle of the Andong County. In: The Chronicle editing office of Lianshui county (ed) (1989) The Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, Shanghai (in Chinese)

  • Ren M (1986) Jiangsu coast zone and tidal flat resource comprehensive survey report. Ocean Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ren M (2006) Sediment discharge of the Yellow River, China: past, present and future. Adv Earth Sci 21(6):551–563 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ren M, Zhang R (1993) China’s relative sea level changes during the last 80 years. Acta Oceanol Sin 15(5):88–97 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Shi Y, Zhu J, Xie Z, Ji Z, Jiang Z, Yang G (2000) The Yangtze river delta and adjacent area of sea level rise impact prediction and prevention countermeasures. Sci China (Ser D) 30(3):225–232 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Shtienberg G, Zviely D, Sivan D, Lazar M (2014) Two centuries of coastal change at Caesarea, Israel: natural processes vs. human intervention. Geo-Mar Lett 34:365–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smajgl A, Toan TQ, Nhan DK, Ward J, Trung NH, Tri LQ, Tri VPD, Vu PT (2015) Responding to rising sea levels in the Mekong delta. Nat Clim Change 2:167–174. doi:10.1038/nclimate2469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanley DJ, Warne AG (1993) Nile Delta: recent geological evolution and human impact. Science. doi:10.1126/science.260.5108.628

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun J (1984) A history of salt and reclamation in Jiangsu coast. Agriculture Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Syvitski JPM, Kettner AJ, Overeem I, Hutton EWH, Hannon MT, Brakenridge GR, Day J, Vörösmarty C, Yoshiki S, Giosan L, Nicholls RJ (2009) Sinking deltas due to human activities. Nat Geosci 10:681–686

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan Q (1996) Historical atlas of China. China Map Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang Z, Wang M (1805) Chronicle of the Haizhou Directly Affiliated State. In: (1991) Integration books of Chinese local Chronicles/Jiangsu Province (Book 64). Jiangsu Ancient Books Press, Nanjing (in Chinese)

  • The chorography editorial board of Jiangsu Province (1995) The chronicle of Jiangsu Province: coastal development. Jiangsu Science and Technology Press, Nanjing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • The chorography editorial board of Jiangsu Province (1997) Chronicle of Jiangsu Province: salt industry. Jiangsu Science and Technology Press, Nanjing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang S (1748) Chronicle of the Lianghuai sea salt industry. In: Yu H (ed) (2009) Series books of rare economical historical materials of the Ming and Qing dynasties (First edition, Book 4-9). The National Library Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

  • Wang D (1892) Chronicle of the Lianghuai sea salt industry. In: Gu T (ed) (2002) The continuation books of Siku Quanshu (Book 842-845). Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, Shanghai (in Chinese)

  • Wang M (1915) Recent records of the Lianghuai Saltworks. In: Cao T (ed) (2001) Documents of Modern China history (Vol 101). China Social Sciences Publishing House, Beijing (in Chinese)

  • Wang B, Yun C, Yu Z (1989) Lianyungang coastal landscape (from Linhong to Guanghe estuary). Shanghai Science and Technology Press, Shanghai (in Chinese)

  • Wang Z, Cheng D, Liu C (2005) Impacts of human activities on typical delta processes-I. The Yangtze and Pearl River deltas. J Sediment Res 6:76–80 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wei Z, Ye C, Gu D (1748) Chronicle of Huai’an Prefecture. In: Gou D, Chen F, Wang C (eds) (2008) Series books of Huai’an Historical Documents (Book 7). Local Chronicles Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

  • Xia F, Zhang Y, Wang R, Paul LIUJ, Zhang Z, Peng X (2015) Reviews for the studies on sedimentation range of the Abandoned Yellow River subaqueous delta, North Jiangsu plain coast. Acta Geogr Sin 1:29–49 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xie K (1694) Chronicle of the Lianghuai sea salt industry. In: Wu X (ed) (1966) Series books of Chinese historiography. Xue-sheng Publishing House, Taibei (in Chinese)

  • Xu P (1499) Chronicle of Lianghui-Yunsi. In: Yu H (ed.) (2012) Series books of rare economical historical materials of the Ming and Qing dynasties (Second edition, Book 25). The National Library Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

  • Xu J (2001) The Yellow River mouth extension since 1194 as influenced by human activities. Progr Geogr 1:1–9 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xue B, Chen G (1518) Chronicle of Huai’an Prefecture. In: Gou D, Chen F, Wang C (eds) (2009) Series books of Huai’an Historical Documents (Book 5). Local Chronicles Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

  • Xue Z et al (1994) Salt industry handbook. Light Industry Press, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Yan H, Wei W, Soon W, An Z, Zhou W, Liu Z, Wang Y, Carter RM (2015) Dynamics of the intertropical convergence zone over the western Pacific during the Little Ice Age. Nat Geosci 8:315–320

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang H, Xie Z (1984) Sea-level changes along the east coast of China over the last 20,000 years. Oceanol Limnol Sin 1:1–13 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang G, Shi Y, Ji Z (2002) The morphological response of typical mud flat to sea level change in Jiangsu coastal plain. Acta Geogr Sin 1:76–84 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ye Q (1986) On the development of the abandoned Yellow River delta in northern Jiangsu province. Acta Geogr Sin 2:112–123 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang R (1984) Land-forming history of the Huanghe River delta and coastal plain of north Jiangsu. Acta Geogr Sin 2:173–184 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang F, Chen F (1572) Chronicle of the Haizhou State. In: Shanghai Bookstore (ed) (1981) Series books of Local Chronicles of Tianyi pavilion in Ming Dynasty (Book 14). Shanghai Ancient Books store Press, Shanghai (in Chinese)

  • Zhang L, Chen S, Liu X (2014) Evolution of the abandoned Huanghe (Yellow) River Delta in North Jiangsu Province in years. Oceanol Limnol Sin 3:626–636 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao B, Man Z, Fang S (2003) A Study of land use change in the coastal area of north Jiangsu during the end of Qing and early republic. J Chin Hist Geogr 18(4):102–160 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study has been funded by the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China, through the project “The spatial–temporal characteristics and environmental adaptation of Jiangsu coast development during the sixteenth to twentieth centuries” (Grant Number 2015M581764); S.G. is financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, China, through the project “Land–ocean boundary processes and their impacts on the formation of the Yangtze deposition system” (Grant Number 2013CB956500). We wish to thank the reviewers for their critical, constructive comments on the original manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Junlin Bao & Shu Gao

  2. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Coast and Island Development, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Junlin Bao

  3. State Key Laboratory for Estuarine and Coastal Studies, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200046, China

    Shu Gao

Authors
  1. Junlin Bao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shu Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Junlin Bao.

Additional information

Handled by Sylvia Szabo, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.

Appendix: Cross-check list of historical documents, with original titles in Chinese language

Appendix: Cross-check list of historical documents, with original titles in Chinese language

Chronicle of Chinese salt industry 盐法通志.

Chronicle of the Andong County (康熙)安东县志.

Chronicle of the Haizhou Directly Affiliated State (嘉庆)海州直隶州志.

Chronicle of the Haizhou State (隆庆)海州志.

Chronicle of the Huai’an Prefecture (Guo and Chen 1573) (万历)淮安府志.

Chronicle of the Huai’an Prefecture (Wei et al. 1748) (乾隆)淮安府志.

Chronicle of the Huai’an Prefecture (Xue and Chen 1518) (正德)淮安府志.

Chronicle of the Jiangnan Province (乾隆)江南通志.

Chronicle of the Lianghuai sea salt industry (Chen et al. 1551) (嘉靖)两淮盐法志.

Chronicle of the Lianghuai sea salt industry (Ga 1728) (雍正)两淮盐法志.

Chronicle of the Lianghuai sea salt industry (Ji 1806) (嘉庆)两淮盐法.

Chronicle of the Lianghuai sea salt industry (Wang 1892) (光绪)两淮盐法志.

Chronicle of the Lianghuai sea salt industry (Wang 1748) (乾隆)两淮盐法志.

Chronicle of the Lianghuai sea salt industry (Xie 1694) (康熙)两淮盐法志.

Chronicle of the Lianghui-Yunsi (弘治)两淮运司志.

Corpus of the governance and economic policy 皇朝经世文编.

Nanhe map of the Huanghe River 黄河南河图.

New chronicle of Funing County 阜宁县新志.

Prevention of Rivers Flood and Experience Summary 河防一览.

Recently records of the Lianghuai Saltworks 最近盐场录.

Some generalizations of the governance of the Huanghe River, Canal and salt industry. 中衢一勺.

The governance of rivers and experience summary 行水金鉴.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bao, J., Gao, S. Environmental characteristics and land-use pattern changes of the Old Huanghe River delta, eastern China, in the sixteenth to twentieth centuries. Sustain Sci 11, 695–709 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0365-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0365-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation