“From flood control to flood management” is a significant milestone and inevitable trend for the adjustment of water management strategies in rapidly developing China. Flood control practices on a large scale, after the 1998 floods, indicate that neither a conventional method of flood control nor a simple copying of advanced experiences in other countries should be developed by China to cope with the continuing aggravation of more and more complicated water issues arising in its rapid development. Rather a shift to “flood management” should prevail; this concept must be clarified, thereby adopting a mode of “sharing both risks and benefits” and promoting the principle of “adjusting from both ends to achieve moderation”. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.