ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses how the Nationalist Government mobilized resources necessary for Huai River engineering. It is concerned with the Nationalist's record in several areas of Huai River management: labor mobilization, work discipline, and provision of supplies. As adopted by the Huai River Conservancy Commission in 1931, the Huai River sea-access route called for digging the old Huai/Yellow River bed to provide the Huai direct access from its Hongze Lake reservoir to the sea. Under the patronage of Chen and Shen, the Jiangsu Huai River Sea-Access Engineering Bureau was established in 1934 to administer the project. The key to the success of the sea-outlet project was the ability to conscript labor. Conscripted labor had a long history in China. By the mid-Ming, however, the emergence of a monetized economy slowly introduced the practice of contracted labor for major public works. The use of corvee labor did not escape the criticism of social commentators during the 1930’s.
