胡佛论黄河水患治理与清王朝的覆灭

Herbert Hoover's Comments on the Floods of the Yellow River and Its Aftermath on the Qing Government

美国前总统胡佛年轻时曾受聘为中国开滦煤矿工程师。由于黄河水患严重,1900年,胡佛奉清朝重臣李鸿章之命,前往考察黄河水利情况。考察结束后,胡佛报告了黄河水利工程的现状和治理黄河的建议,详细分析了清政府治理黄河水患收效不大的原因,并就黄河水患引发的社会问题提出了自己的看法。胡佛的报告不仅揭示了晚清政府治理黄河中的腐败现象,而且也为我们研究清王朝覆灭的原因提供了一种新的视野。

U. S. Ex - President Herbert Hoover made an investigation on the Yellow River＇s water conservancy projects under the order of Li Hong - Zhang in 1900. Hoover believed that the survival of the Qing government was associated with the governance of the Yellow River. The reasons for the invalidation in dealing with the flood by the Yellow River were complicated： there is official corruption, dereliction of duty and so on. The Yellow River has erupted many times during the late Qing period. Large floods in 1855 was a disaster to the Qing government, when relief was not timely giving to Henan, Shandong, Zhili provinces and other hard - hit areas, so many people died. The aftermath of the floods and the formation of the rare Yangtze River floods in 1870 were hardest hit to the Qing Dynasty and help to the emergence of a new political trend in China＇s modern history. lyze the Hoover＇s views on the fail to bring the Yellow River under control provides a new perspective to ana- destruction of the Qing Dynasty.