The Trajectory of State Power in Water Governance: A 125-Year High-Resolution Dataset of Policy Evolution and Intensification in China (1900–2025)
Description
Water resources underpin Earth's ecosystems and societal development, and their security is a determinant of global sustainable development. Driven by accelerating climate change and socio-economic shifts, regions worldwide confront escalating water scarcity, underscoring the dynamic co-evolutionary feedback between water security and socio-economic development. Water management policies function as the primary regulatory instrument for mediating human-water interactions, crucial for improving water use efficiency, ecosystem integrity, and sustainable development. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study constructed and calibrated a high-resolution dataset characterizing the evolution of China's water resource policies from 1900 to 2025, focusing on elucidating policy evolution trajectories and their implications for regional water governance. Drawing from government gazettes, historical archives, and regulations, we employed Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) algorithms and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) modeling for data processing. We constructed a high-precision Policy Intensity Index (PII), integrating fragmented historical documents into a standardized dataset spanning distinct eras. Results reveal that China's water policies evolved through a trajectory of "guaranteeing production – promoting economic development – supporting ecological optimization." This methodology offers a precise assessment tool for global water management, while China's evolutionary process provides valuable empirical experience for the Global South.