Abstract
This chapter studies the changes of the surface water rights structure of the Yellow River basin since the founding of New China. First, it examines the basic characteristics of such structure during the planned economy period, then the process of change during the reform and opening up period and then the characteristics of the current structure. Then it devotes the study to the changes in the irrigation water rights allocation mechanisms in two periods before going on to the rational explanation of the changes of the water rights structure since the founding of New China, with emphasis put on the entitlement system, including (1) entitlement system in the irrigation water rights allocation since the country introduced reform and opening up policies, when resource quota was extensively replaced by input quota; (2) the differences in the entitlement systems in the irrigation areas of the upper reaches and the lower reaches and their differences in path option in institutional reform; (3) resource quota entitlement system widespread at the other levels of water rights allocation. As the current water rights are allocated by administrative means, it conforms to the hierarchical water rights structure studied in the previous chapters and so there is no need for repeated explanations. This chapter dedicates a considerable space to examining the operation of the current water rights structure and the relations between the current water resource management system and the quality of water rights. By analyzing the data at the three levels of the Yellow River basin, local governments and groups, this chapter carries out effective testing of the current water rights allocation by administrative means and sum up the theoretical implications of the water allocation practice since 1987 in the Yellow River basin (Xia & Pahl-Wostl, 2012).
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Wang, Y. (2018). Water Rights Structure and Economic Explanation: Empirical Study of the Yellow River Basin in Modern China. In: Assessing Water Rights in China. Water Resources Development and Management. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5083-1_6
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