Hefang shulüe 河防疏略

Hefang shulüe 河防疏略 "Concise Strategies for River Conservancy" is a book on river conservancy written by the early Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Zhu Zhixi 朱之錫 (1623-1664), courtesy name Mengjiu 孟九, style Meilu 梅麓. He hailed from Yiwu 義烏, Zhejiang, and was junior compiler (bianxiu 編修), academician (xueshi 學士) at the Institute for the Advancement of Literature 宏文院, the Right Vice Minister of Personnel (libu you shilang 吏部右侍郎), and finally Director-General of the Grand Canal (hedao zongdu 河道總督).

In this function he cared for the hydraulic works at Shanyang 山陽 and had built the river bank (yusha 淤沙) at Dongjiakou 董家口. Based on this experience he submitted ten proposals for river conservancy to the throne that were accepted. These were implemented when the Yellow River burst at Yuanwu 原武, Xiangfu 祥符 and Lanyang 蘭陽. Zhu Zhixi asked for permittance to used elite troops to handle the suices in the afflicted regions, so that the traffic of the Grand Canal, where it entered the Yellow River, was safe and sure.

The 20-juan long Hefang shulüe is the result of Zhu Zhixi's official correspondence and his investigations during his time as manager of river works.