There is a growing body of research advancing more critical approaches to hydropolitics, much of it written by geographers. Focusing attention away from state politics and state actors, cross-border conflict, and questionable notions of “water wars”, this literature is advancing our understanding of the contested nature of hydro development projects within and beyond China’s borders and their uneven effects on the ground. In this paper I give an overview of this field, drawing out key themes such as infrastructure, competing logics, critical approaches to the state, and critical approaches to power. Beginning from China’s domestic water infrastructure projects and extending to Chinese actors’ dam building on transboundary rivers, my aim is to highlight the productive sites, lenses, and processes that could deepen our understanding of the complex interrelations of water and power in the region.