15 MAY 2025 (THU) 15:00-16:30

China Development Studies Elite Seminar Series

60 Years of the Dongshen Water Supply: Some Geographical Reflections

Date: 22 NOV 2024 (Friday)

Time: 15:00-16:30 (HKT)

Mode: Hybrid

Venue: TBC

Via Zoom: Zoom link will be provided upon successful registration

Registration link: TBC

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Abstract:

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Dongshen (Dongjiang–Shenzhen) Water Supply Project (DWSP), a major inter-basin water transfer scheme that has provided the majority of Hong Kong’s freshwater since 1965. While commonly framed as a technical response to water scarcity, this lecture traces the historical-material evolution of the DWSP and reflects on its role in reshaping hydrosocial relations across the Dongjiang River catchment and beyond. Drawing on long-term fieldwork and archival research, I explore how the DWSP has both shaped and been shaped by broader dynamics of environmental governance, development imaginaries, and social-ecological transformation. By bringing together infrastructural histories, institutional changes and grounded accounts of community-NGO interactions, the lecture offers a geographical perspective on the co-production of water, power, and space over time.

Professor Raymond Yu WANG

Associate Professor, Center for Social Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech)

Raymond Yu Wang is Associate Professor at the Center for Social Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). Prior to joining SUSTech, he was Associate Professor at the School of Government, Sun Yat-sen University. He received his PhD and completed postdoctoral research at The University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on the dynamic relationships between environmental governance, development, and socio-ecological transformation in China, particularly through water-related themes such as irrigation institutions, hydraulic infrastructure, and transboundary water governance. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Water Resources Development and is a member of the editorial board of Water Alternatives.

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