ABSTRACT
Each county has several tens of polders, and each polder covers several tens of / / . How can one official supervise them a l l ? The irrigation officials are only a few assistant officials and clerks; how can they supervise them all ' If it is deputed to the runners and clerks, they wi l l cause even worse harassment than the dizhang, so in Hunan it is very di f f icul t to el iminate the dizhang. . . . In dike repairs people are defending their own land; we should let them do it themselves. (1805: 9. 19, dated 17-47.4.4)
Although barren lands have all been recently reclaimed, irrigation does not yet flourish everywhere. . . . Among mountain villages and secluded regions there are old dams, dikes, and embankments, not a few of which have fallen into the water and been neglected for a long time. . . . One or two mu of a hundred could be made into irrigation ponds which would provide protection against drought, but the ignorant people are short-sighted. They prefer to plant these one or two mu with grain and to fight over the grain harvest, not understanding that when the rains are inadequate, the hundred mu wil l all be useless. (He 1827: 39-21, dated 1748/2/24)
Under the bright moon the lake water is clear; When the frost falls, Dongting turns dry .
