Public Interest and Water Control Financing in Qing China, 1790-1840

River works constituted the largest civil expenditure of the Qing state. The Yellow River and Grand Canal conservancy efforts were both funded and managed by the center. Important tasks such as construction and maintenance of river banks and irrigation initiatives were funded by the central government but managed by relevant provincial governments. This paper examines the projects were either funded by the central government but managed by local communities under the supervision of the government (guandu minban) or completely funded and managed by the people (minban). When the fiscal situation of the Qing government became deteriorated in the first half of the nineteenth century, the distribution of the financial burden began to change. In some regions in the Lower Yangzi Delta, the state actively encouraged local merchants and gentry to support works which had been previously funded by the state. In contrast, in many regions in Northern China, the state began to shoulder the rising costs of projects which were originally funded and managed by local people. These different patterns suggest that a simple explanation of the need to reduce state expenditure when the Qing state became fiscally impoverished is insufficient. This paper reviews the process by which financial and management responsibilities were reallocated and examines how the concept of public interest was deployed by state and social actors in such negotiations. It argues that the importance of legitimating state power rather than reduction of state spending accounts for the two different patterns.