Mega water projects and their chain reactions: central-provincial dynamics in Chinese hydropolitics

Abstract

Scholarship on China’s South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) project has examined its motivations, implementation and socio-political and hydrological consequences, yet limited attention has been paid to how mega-projects may generate ‘chain reactions’. This article examines additional water diversion projects triggered by the SNWD Middle Route, revealing how provincial governments pursue local interests within China’s centralized yet territorially fragmented governance system. Focusing on scalar politics, we demonstrate that central-local bargaining involves continuous negotiation and reconfiguration of governance scales, responsibilities and priorities. We reveal how provincial governments mobilize political capital, compensation narratives and ecological security discourses to advance their agendas in China’s hydropolitics.