ABSTRACT
In 1963 Tianjin faced crisis that threatened to turn into a large-scale disaster. It was about unusually strong monsoon rains that triggered devastating floods in Western and Southern parts of Hebei Province. Tianjin city rallied in a way it had not done during the GLF famine, and the great flood of 1963 can be said to have been one of the major examples of successful disaster management during the Maoist era. The city provided disaster aid in the form of flood-combat material to other Hebei regions, and continued to do so some time after the emergency mobilization to save the city. Disaster management of the Tianjin flood in 1963 shows how the Maoist sociopolitical structures could be effectively used to protect the lives and property of urban citizens. Urban and rural work units acted as generic mobilization units, which meant they could be quickly transformed from specialized production units into flood combat outfits with relatively little friction in the process.
