After rapid development over the last two decades, China now faces serious pollution problems. At the same time, concern about the environment has grown—not only among the Chinese public, but also among the ruling elites. For an insightful description of this changing picture, we must be grateful for the work of Hong Dayong and his colleagues.
There have been several turning points in the Chinese environmental movement. During the 1980s, as the transition to a socialist market economy accelerated, the Chinese government recognized the importance of environmental protection; ever since then, the ruling elites have regularly drawn up guiding principles for the public. Under the current Chinese Party-state power structure, these guiding principles have included references to “Harmonious Society” (first addressed by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in September 2004) and to “Scientific Outlook on Development.” These themes have also been essential to the development of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and to the interaction between the Chinese government and the growth of environmental NGOs (ENGOs) in recent years.
