空气和水乃人类生存绵延之必需。限于科技水平与认知能力，先民对无色无味的空气描述和作为并不多。与其他民族一样，自古以来，中华民族关于水的故事数不胜数，大禹治水、精卫填海、哪吒闹海等。
老子在《道德经》第八章写道：“上善若水。水善利万物而不争，处众人之所恶，故几于道。……夫唯不争，故无尤。”老子赞扬水，因之与善同类，以示弱、利他的原则存于世；以不争而得理想心境。“知者乐水，仁者乐山。知者动，仁者静……”这是儒家学派的创立者孔子传世的名言。知者，即智者，指那些思维敏捷、反应迅速的人能够因势利导，迅速适应世界的变化，故与水同质，柔和、多变；仁者稳定厚重，故如山般。孔子眼中，水可以为善也可以为恶。
中国人爱水、赞水、怕水，也开动智力利用水。水可以用来表达思想，儒道墨家，老子、孔子、管子、墨子都拿水来说事传道，农业、政治、战争和工程的发展也都和水息息相关，文学、艺术和民俗中也无法脱离水的痕迹。本书作者阅古观今，打破学科界限，收集中华大地自南至北、从东到西形成的丰富而独特的中华水文化。本书共十三章，除第一章绪论外，分别以水与中华文明、水与农业、水与政治、水与战争、水与工程、水与儒家、水与道家、水与管子、水与墨家、水与文学、水与艺术、水与民俗为题，试图描绘中华水文化的巨幅画卷。我们看到中国人与水相亲，也与水相恶；从口头相传到文字和实物记录，中华水文化塑造了中国人独特的气质，折射了中国人的精神，是中华文明独特的组成部分。

Chapter One Introduction
Section Ⅰ Defining Water Culture
Section Ⅱ Water Culture Plays an Important Role
Chapter Two Water and the Chinese Civilization
Section Ⅰ The Yellow River: the Cradle of the Chinese Civilization
Section Ⅱ Water and the Yellow River Civilization
Section Ⅲ The Yangtze River—Another River Breeding the ChineseCivilization
Section Ⅳ The Rise and Fall of the Yangtze River Culture
Section Ⅴ Yu and Flood Control Stories
Section Ⅵ Yu and the Chinese Civilization
Chapter Three Water and Agriculture
Section Ⅰ Water and Farmland Infrastructure
Section Ⅱ Water and Water Conservancy Tools for Agricultural Use
Section Ⅲ Water and Customs Related to Agricultural Production
Chapter Four Water and Politics
Section Ⅰ Water Management and Governance of China
Section Ⅱ Wise Rulers' Governance of Water and National Prosperity
Section Ⅲ Virtuous Officials' Management of Water and National Prosperity
Section Ⅳ Water, Country and People
Section V Water and the Construction of the Ancient Cities
Chapter Five Water and Wars
Section Ⅰ Fight for Water
Section Ⅱ Water-aided War
Section Ⅲ Water as Soldiers
Chapter Six Water and Water Conservancy Projects
Section Ⅰ Irrigation Projects
Section Ⅱ Canal Projects
Section Ⅲ Embankment Projects
Section Ⅳ Water Diversion Projects
Chapter Seven Water and Confucianism
Section Ⅰ The Wise Delight in Water
Section Ⅱ Comparing Water to People's Virtue
Section Ⅲ Comparing Water to Country Governance
Section Ⅳ Unity of Man and Nature
Chapter Eight Water and Taoism
Section Ⅰ The Highest Good is Like that of Water
Section Ⅱ Models with Virtue of Water
Section Ⅲ Actionless Administration
Section Ⅳ The Enlightenment of Actionless Administration
Section Ⅴ The Soft Triumphs over the Hard
Chapter Nine Water and Guanzi's Ideology
Section Ⅰ Water is the Origin of the World
Section Ⅱ Water and Self-cultivation as well as Statecraft
Section Ⅲ Water and Governance
Section Ⅳ Water and Choice of Residential Environment
Chapter Ten Water and Mohist Ideology
Section Ⅰ Manners of Yu and Universal Love
Section Ⅱ Self-cultivation through Clarifying Morality by Water
Section Ⅲ Water and Non-attack
Chapter Eleven Water and Literature
Section Ⅰ Water and Poetry
Section Ⅱ Water and Lyrics
Section Ⅲ Water and Fu
Section Ⅳ Water and Essay
Section Ⅴ Water and Novel
Chapter Twelve Water and Art
Section Ⅰ Wator and Painting
Section Ⅱ Water and Music
Section Ⅲ Water and Dance
Chapter Thirteen Water and Folkways
Section Ⅰ Water, Birth and Wedding Customs
Section Ⅱ Water and Funeral Customs
Section Ⅲ Praying for Water
Section Ⅳ Suppression of Water Monsters
Section Ⅴ Water and Festival Activities of the Han People
Section Ⅵ Water-related Festivals and the Ethnic Groups