摘要
This article focuses on the "beneficiary-pays principle" in hydraulic discourse and the process through which it was put into practice from the 1520s to the 1640s in the Lower Yangzi Delta. It investigates the roles of the hydraulic reformist elite and likeminded officials in the formation of the new hydraulic order. It also demonstrates that the implementation of the beneficiary-pays principle was instrumental in redefining the division of responsibility between the government and the people and in building a reciprocal connection between the pursuit of private gain and the fulfillment of the public good. Furthermore, it shows that after the general application of this principle became a shared view, the government and the people used it to solve disputes and defend their rights. The article concludes that the new order was not achieved solely by coercion-policy deliberation and persuasion were also significant in the realization of the beneficiary-pays principle. © 2012 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden.