Introduction: rain on the Summer Palace -- The great rivers -- Yangtze and Yellow: the axes of China's geography -- Out of the water -- The myths and origins of ancient China -- Finding the way -- Water as source and metaphor in Daoism and Confucianism -- Channels of power -- How China's waterways shaped its political landscape -- Voyages of the eunuch admiral -- How China explored the world -- Rise and fall of the hydraulic state -- Taming the waters by bureaucracy -- War on the waters -- Rivers and lakes as sites and instruments of conflict -- Mao's dams -- The technocratic vision of a new China -- The fluid art of expression -- How water infuses Chinese painting and literature -- Water and China's future -- Threats, promises and a new dialogue.