Plenty is doing.
"The ancient civilisation of the Yellow River, which had several times been subjected to foreign influences, but never totally succumbed, originated from the need for highly centralised organisation to mobilise tens of thousands of people to carry out water control projects - 'the Asian mode of production'."
Disclaimer: this quote appears here only to spark discussion. It is not endorsed one way or the other. Make up your own mind. Or just refresh the page for another viewpoint. From a collection assembled by the late Chris Brand.