China's State Ideology and the Three Gorges Dam: The Political Theodicy of Development

by Yuen-ching Bellette Lee

Overview

This book uses the case of the Three Gorges Dam project to explore the Chinese state’s use of ideology, namely the political theodicy of development, as a governing tactic in the reform era.

Presenting observations from fieldwork collected after the dam’s completion, it reveals communities who not only embraced their improved livelihoods, but also expressed support for the mega-project and the Party’s leadership. However, the research also indicates that the effects of the ideological dissemination surrounding the project were not monolithic, with the development process involving extensive struggles and contradictions, including locals facing unemployment and the fragmentation of their social networks. This disjuncture between the state ideology and social reality thus revealed flaws in the official imperative of political theodicy.

Displaying how the authoritarian rule of the Chinese state can be adaptive in modifying its mode of governance, especially when faced with the unintended consequences of failures, this book will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of Asian environment, development politics, and Chinese politics, history and society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032871080
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/13/2025
Series:	Routledge Contemporary China Series
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Yuen-ching Bellette Lee teaches Chinese politics under reform and international relations of East Asia at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

1. Historical background of the dam  2. From “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” to “China Dream” – the concept of development under reform  3. “Science” and “Socialist Democracy” – a new mode of governance after Mao  4. “Common Prosperity” – spatial production and subject transformation at the Three Gorges  5. “Mother River” and “Second Cradle of Chinese Civilization” – the cultural re-encoding of the Yangtze as a futurist nation  6. “March Toward the International” – the politics of global capital and transnational resistance