The Nature of Disaster in China: The 1931 Yangzi River Flood is a remarkable in-depth examination of one of the most significant in a long and grim series of “natural” catastrophes that repeatedly devastated much of early 20th-century China. The flood was caused by unusually heavy accumulations of snow in the Tibetan plateau, which filled the rivers when they melted in the spring of 1931, followed by a series of massive rainstorms in July. Flood waters inundated all central China, affecting as many as 50 million people. The death toll remains uncertain and was probably in the range of two million. Chris Courtney has conducted impressively thorough research into this event and also into the nature of disasters worldwide and the broad literature in the scientific, social scientific and journalistic fields that have contributed to our understanding of their causes and effects. Courtney is acutely aware of the significance of this issue in the early 21st century, as much of the world faces the consequences of global warming, rising sea levels and widespread flooding. He includes appropriate comparisons to recent disasters like Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact on New Orleans in 2005.

The organization of the book is unusual and refreshing. After introducing the catastrophe and reviewing the relevant academic literature on disasters in the introduction, Courtney presents six chapters, each of which is an individual study of one aspect of the overall story. Chapter one examines the history of flooding in Hubei from the dawn of human habitation, with centuries of efforts at water control, including dyke building and draining of wetlands for agriculture. Chapter two focuses on the ecological effects of the 1931 flood, particularly its impact on non-agricultural organisms, many of which benefitted from the abundant nutrients provided by the flood waters, thereby promoting biodiversity. Mosquitoes, flies and snails also flourished in the flood environment, spreading the diseases that ultimately were the greatest cause of human mortality. Chapter three gives a cultural history of the flood, particularly its effects on religious and philosophical practices and writings. Chapter four is particularly intriguing, as it provides a “sensory history” of the disaster. In describing the traumatic sights, sounds and stench of the catastrophe, this chapter, in a nice turn of phrase, “rehabilitates the adjectives that have been purged from history” (p. 15). Chapter five relates the efforts of official relief organizations to deal with the massive needs of survivors, complicated by financial and political strains, as well as the impact of growing pressure on China from Japan. Chapter six recounts the social history of the disaster, relying primarily on the accounts of the refugees themselves.

On the basis of his extensive research into the 1931 Yangzi flood and his familiarity with the academic studies of disasters around the world, Courtney weighs in on the long-standing debate about whether they should be called “natural,” or acknowledged as “anthropogenic,” primarily due to human actions, such as encroaching on flood plains and disrupting river channels with dykes and dams (pp. 5–9). Courtney documents the conversion of the Wuhan area from an agricultural region that incorporated the “flood pulse” into its annual cycles to one of the most densely populated urban and industrial centres in the world, where stone and brick buildings and factories precariously existed behind dykes, only to become what he calls “the aquatic city” (pp. 130–135) when the dykes failed. A photograph on p. 132 illustrates the irony that only members of the traditional “floating population,” with their sampans and rafts, were able to move freely among the modern buildings once the flood occurred. Nonetheless, he takes a decidedly balanced view in the “natural” versus anthropogenic controversy, concluding that human agency certainly makes the results much worse, but that events like the 1931 flood were initiated by weather anomalies outside human influence.

The book has been nicely produced. China scholars will appreciate the inclusion in the text of the Chinese characters next to the Romanized versions for all important terms, names and quotations. Figures are used sparingly, but they have been well chosen to illustrate key points in the text. They include period prints, maps and photographs, including three taken by Charles Lindbergh, the famous American aviator who interrupted a flying tour of Asia to offer assistance to the flood relief efforts. The Lindbergh photos illustrate the central point of chapter five, “Disaster experts,” which is that while official relief work was coordinated by an imposing bureaucracy titled the National Flood Relief Commission, its members consisted largely of a narrow coterie from the political and economic elite, who had no expertise in disaster management. Lindbergh's aerial pictures of the flooded regions are a valuable historical record but did little if anything to help the millions of starving and sick victims.

This book will be useful for a wide range of readers. Scholars who study disasters and their impacts in China and elsewhere will want to add it to their libraries as an authoritative analysis of one of the most important events of modern Chinese and world history. It is appropriate for use in undergraduate courses where the introduction and individual chapters can be assigned to support student research projects or as background reading for a class segment on disaster causes and effects. It is also appropriate for graduate courses, first as an excellent source of information on the breadth of issues that influence catastrophes, and second as a fine example of multidisciplinary research.