Songs about buildings and food

Like me, you may have to teach about the economy and ecology of Late Imperial China. It is hard to make that lively. Poetry would help. Students love poetry. Thankfully, you don’t have to go looking for poems on the environment, Mark Elvin has found some for you.1 If you want something on irrigation (pg. 438) Forth comes the Yellow River, out from its Dragon Gates, And endless, endless, are the miles it flows with furious waves! Now – to train its traveling surges not to overspill their course, The current of the waters must be weakened near their source. Once split apart in branch streams along the upper reaches, The distributaries that lie downstream will then spread out in peace. …. In the lands of the north, and the central plains, Officials will govern the adits and the drains. For the pattern of conduits they’ll lay down the rules, So the land’s watered as water runs through! ….. We’ll use water’s own requirements to fix the varying depths, And follow the topography for the…