Chen Huang

Also known as Zi Tianyi · Hao Shengzhai

Chen Huang, courtesy name Tianyi, styled Shengzhai, came from Qiantang in Zhejiang and, after little success in the examinations, turned his attention to irrigation and river works. When Jin Fu became director-general of river conservancy in 1677 he took Chen onto his staff, and for more than ten years much of the planning was Chen's: confine the river between dikes so the current scours its bed, and dig the Middle Canal among other works. He devised a method of estimating discharge from a channel's cross-section and the speed of flow. During the Kangxi Emperor's southern tour of 1684 Jin Fu credited his successes to Chen, and the emperor gave Chen the rank of circuit intendant. When the censor Guo Xiu impeached Jin Fu in 1688, Chen was accused of seizing farmland, stripped of rank and sent to Beijing, where he died of illness before trial. Zhang Aisheng compiled his sayings on river defense as the Hefang shuyan, appended to Jin Fu's Methods of River Control.