An emerging environmental movement in China?

China Quarterly

Volumn , Issue 186, 2006, Pages 333-356

  Stalley, Phillip ^a   Yang, Dongning ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ENVIRONMENTALISM; GRASSROOTS LEVEL; LOCAL PARTICIPATION; POLITICAL CHANGE; SOCIAL MOVEMENT;

ASIA; BEIJING [CHINA]; CHINA; EURASIA; FAR EAST;

EID: 33745855836     PISSN: 03057410     EISSN: 14682648     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S030574100600018X     Document Type: Article

References (83)

1. Peter Ho, "Greening without conflict: Environmentalism? NGOs, and civil society in China," Development and Change, Vol. 32 (2001), pp. 893-921. For other interesting overviews of changes in central government policy, see: Elizabeth Economy, The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China's Future (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004);
2. Richard Lotspeich and Aimin Chen, "Environmental protection in the People's Republic of China," Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 6, No. 14 (1997), pp. 33-59;
3. Lester Ross, "The politics of environmental policy in the People's Republic of China," Policy Studies Journal, Vol. 20, No. 4 (1992), pp. 628-642.
4. Hongjun Zhang and Richard J. Ferris, "Reaching out to the rule of law: China's continuing efforts to develop an effective environmental law regime," William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Vol. 11 (2003), p. 569;
5. Lester Ross, "The next wave of environmental legislation," The China Business Review, Vol. 21, No. 4 (1994), pp. 30-38.
6. Zhang and Ferris, "Reaching out to the rule of law," pp. 585-86.
7. Peter Wonacott, "Growing pains: Green groups bloom in China," Wall Street Journal, 15 June 2004.
8. Hongyan Lu, "Bamboo sprouts after rain: The history of student environmental associations in China," China Environmental Series, Vol. 6 (2004).
9. Anna Brettell, The Politics of Public Participation and the Emergence of Environmental Proto-movements in China (University of Maryland, 2003);
10. Economy, River Runs Black;
11. Jennifer L. Turner and Fengshi Wu, Green NGO and Environmental Journalist Forum: A Meeting of Environmentalists from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong April 9-10, 2001 (Washington DC: Woodrow Wilson Center, 2001).
12. For a good overview of just how broad and varied the social movement literature is as well as a sense of the diversity of factors that influence the development of social movements: John S. Dryzek, Green States and Social Movements: Environmentalism in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Norway (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003);
13. Doug McAdam, John D. McCarthy and Mayer N. Zald, Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Cultural Framings (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996);
14. David S. Meyer, Nancy Whittier and Belinda Robnett, Social Movements: Identity, Culture, and the State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002);
15. Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
16. Tarrow, Power in Movement, p. 3.
17. See for instance: Barbra Cellarius and Caedmon Staddon, "Environmental nongovernmental organizations, civil society, and democratization in Bulgaria," East European Politics and Societies, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2002), pp. 182-222;
18. Michael Hsinhuang Hsiao, "The rise of social movements and civil protests," in Tun-jen Cheng and Stephan Haggard (eds.), Political Change in Taiwan (Boulder: Lynne Riener Publishers, 1992);
19. Michael Hsin-huang Hsiao, "Environmental movements in Taiwan," in Yok-shiu F.Lee and Alvin Y.So (eds.), Asia's Environmental Movements (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1999);
20. Barbara Jancar-Webster, "Environmental movement and social change in the transition countries," in Susan Baker and Petr F. Jehlicka (eds.), Dilemmas of Transition: The Environment, Democracy and Economic Reform in East Central Europe (Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1998);
21. Nick Manning, "Patterns of environmental movements in Eastern Europe," Environmental Politics, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1998), pp. 100-133;
22. Andrew Tickle and Ian Welsh, Environment and Society in Eastern Europe (Harlow, Essex: Addison Wesley Longman, 1998);
23. Katy Lang-Pickvance, Democracy and Environmental Movements in Eastern Europe: A Comparative Study of Hungary and Russia (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998).
24. Economy, River Runs Black, pp. 131-166.
25. Elizabeth Economy, "China faces a flood of environmental protests of dam policy," Taipei Times, 2004;
26. Jing Jun, "Environmental protests in rural China," in Elizabeth J.Perry and Mark Selden (eds.), Chinese Society: Change, Conflict, and Resistance (London: Routledge, 2000);
27. J.Yardley, "Chinese project pits environmentalists against development plans," New York Times, 3 January 2005.
28. Lang-Pickvance, Democracy and Environmental Movements, pp. 85, 87.
29. Some have noted that SEPA's growing boldness is more a function of its outgoing vice-administrator (Pan Yue) and his desire to increase SEPA's profile than a result of the external pressure of an environmental movement. Nailene Chou Wiest, "Green watchdog's chief not afraid to flex his muscles," South China Morning Post, 12 March 2005;
30. Ray Cheung, "Watchdog is still a paper tiger, green bodies claim," South China Morning Post, 6 May 2005.
31. In interviews with environmental student groups and NGOs, including Friends of Nature and Beijing Global Village, all interviewees responded to the question "how do you find members?" with some variant of the answer "they find us." Staff members working for these groups tell a similar story. Most state they saw television coverage of some environmental event and then contacted the group on their own. Author interviews, November 2002.
32. Elizabeth Knupp, "Environmental NGOs in China: An overview," China Environment Series, Vol. 1 (1997), pp. 9-16.
33. Economy, River Runs Black, p. 136. See also Elizabeth Economy, "China's environmental challenges," House International Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, 22 September 2004.
34. Economy, River Runs Black, pp. 135-36.
35. Ibid. pp. 166, 169, 173.
36. Nick Young, "Green groups explore the boundaries of advocacy," The China Development Brief, available at http://www.chinadevelopmentbrief.com, accessed 1 August 2004;
37. B. Sand, "China's green activists could change China's political culture," Voice of America, available at http://www.axcessnews.com, accessed 6 January 2005;
38. Joanne Bauer, "Fighting for the environment - and getting democracy," Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, available at http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/, accessed 6 January 2005.
39. Ho, "Greening without conflict?" p. 917.
40. Brettell, The Politics of Public Participation, pp. 4, 35-36, 68, 415. Brettell is not entirely clear on what she means by "constrained," but presumably it is in terms of the movement's size, level of contention, and/or length of duration. See also A. Brettell, "Environmental non-governmental organizations in the People's Republic of China: innocents in a co-opted environmental movement?" Journal of Pacific Asia, Vol. 6 (2000), pp. 27-56.
41. Karl-Werner Brand. "Environmental consciousness and behavior: The greening of lifestyles," in Michael Redclift and Graham Woodgate (eds.), The International Handbook of Environmental Sociology (Northhampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2000).
42. For a good introductions to eco-nationalism see J. Dawson, "Anti-nuclear activities in the USSR and its successor states: A surrogate for nationalism," Environmental Politics, Vol. 3 (1995), pp. 441-456.
43. Hon S. Chan and Kenneth K.K. Wong, "Environmental attitudes and concerns of the environmental protection bureaucrats in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China: Implications for environmental policy implementation," International Journal of Public Administration, Vol. 17, No. 8 (1994), pp. 1523-1554;
44. Bruce J. Dickson, Red Capitalists in China: The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003);
45. Paul Nesbitt-Larking and Alfred L. Chan, "Chinese youth and civil society: The emergence of critical citizenship," in Timothy Brooks and Michael Frolic (eds.), Civil Society in China (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1997);
46. Tianjian Shi, Political Participation in Beijing (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997);
47. Dingxin Zhao, "An angle on nationalism in China today: Attitudes among Beijing students after Belgrade 1999," The China Quarterly, No. 172 (2002), pp. 885-905.
48. One notable exception is Carlos Wing Hung Lo and Sai Wing Leung, "Environmental agency and public opinion in Guangzhou: The limits of a popular approach to environmental governance," The China Quarterly, Vol. 163 (2000), pp. 677-703.
49. Dingxin Zhao, "An angle on nationalism," p. 888.
50. In addition to the voluminous literature on the June 4 movement, which is too extensive to be cited, recent studies exploring the political role of China's youth include: Thomas B. Gold, "Youth and the state," in Brian Hook, The Individual and the State in China (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996);
51. Merle Goldman, "The potential for instability among alienated intellectuals and students in post-Mao China," in David L. Shambaugh, Is China Unstable? (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2001);
52. Nesbitt-Larking and Chan, "Chinese youth and civil society" Kenneth K.K. Wong, "The environmental awareness of university students in Beijing, China," Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 12, No. 36 (2003), pp. 519-536;
53. Herbert S. Yee, The Political Culture of China's University Students: A Comparative Study of University Students in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan (Commack, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 1999).
54. Wonacott, "Growing pains"
55. Economy, River Runs Black;
56. Guobin Yang, "Global environmentalism hits China: International and domestic groups join forces to combat environmental woes," Yale Global, available at http://yaleglobal.yale.edu, accessed 6 January 2005;
57. W.Bo, "China's young green warriors," Time Magazine, 23 October 2000.
58. Exceptions include Japan's pollution protests in the 1970s and Russia in the 1980s, both of which had few young participants.
59. Pickvance, Democracy and Environmental Movements, p. 93.
60. See for example Chan and Wong, "Environmental attitudes and concerns"
61. Victor Corral-Verdugo and Luz I. Armendariz, "The'new environmental paradigm' in a Mexican community," Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. 31, No. 3 (2000), pp. 25-31;
62. Riley E. Dunlap and Kent D. Van Liere, "The new environmental paradigm: a proposed measuring instrument and preliminary results," Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. 9 (1978), pp. 10-19;
63. Andrzej Furman, "A note on environmental concern in a developing country," Environment and Behavior, Vol. 30, No. 4 (1998), pp. 521-536;
64. Roxanne Lalonde and Edgard L. Jackson, "The new environmental paradigm scale: Has it outlived its usefulness?" Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. 33, No. 4 (2002), pp. 28-36;
65. Paul C. Stern, Thomas Dietz and Gregory A. Guagnano, "The new ecological paradigm in social-psychological context," Environment and Behavior, Vol. 27, No. 6 (1995), pp. 723 743.
66. Lalonde and Jackson, "New environmental paradigm scale." This was a voluntary internet survey, which conceivably throws into question the validity of the findings. However, assuming that those with strong environmental beliefs are more likely to respond, one would expect that the bias introduced is more likely to be in the direction of excessively pro-environmental, which makes the fact that students in Beijing show equal concern for the environment that much more interesting.
67. NEP scores range from 1 (most environmentally friendly) to 5 (least environmentally-friendly). The average NEP score for the overall sample was 1.94. Variables tested in the regression model include: Sex, hometown (a dichotomous variable scored "1" if the student stated his or her family's home is in a village), parents' variable level (both parents averaged together), and college major. The "major" variable is dichotomous and reflects whether the student majors in languages and literature. This was included in the model because difference of mean tests revealed a statistically significant difference in mean NEP score for those who major in language and literatures versus those who chose other majors (for the six categories of majors see Table 1). In addition to regression, a difference of means test was also used.
68. Ronald Inglehart, "Public support for environmental protection: objective problems and subjective values in 43 societies," PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 28, No. 1 (1995), pp. 57-72 (see especially Table 3, p. 60).
69. Che-po Chan, "The political pragmatism of Chinese university students at the dawn of the 21st century," China and Democracy: The Prospect for a Democratic China (New York: Routledge, 2000).
70. Brettell's discussion of "ideology of economic development" is based on Abigail R. Jahiel, Policy Implementation Through Organizational Learning: The Case of Water Pollution Control in China's Reforming Socialist System (University of Michigan, 1994).
71. Yok-shui Lee and Alvin Y. So (eds.), Asia's Environmental Movements: Comparative Perspectives (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1999), pp. 5-6.
72. Michael H.-H. Hsiao, "Environmental movements in Taiwan," in ibid p. 33.
73. Wong, "Environmental awareness," p. 525, Table 1.
74. Optimism today can easily become pessimism tomorrow. If in the future students' current optimism proves mistaken, unmet expectations might become a source of grievance and support for a contentious movement. We thank an anonymous reviewer for pointing this out.
75. In the question in which students were asked to list a non-governmental organization that will help China's environment, about 8% of students responded with a domestic NGO (we accepted a wide definition of NGO and included government organized NGOs (GONGOs) even though they are quasi-governmental bodies). Other common responses were "all citizens" and the media; both had around 8%. In the question about a non-governmental organization that will help the global environment, about 20% of the students named an international NGO; 18% responded "the United Nations." For more on GONGOs, see Fengshi Wu, "New partners or old brothers? GONGOs in transnational environmental advocacy in China?" China Environment Series, Vol. 5 (2002), pp. 45-58.
76. The students responses were ranked from most to least important as follows: Improve environmental law and regulation, supervise business's pollution abatement, increase enforcement of environmental laws, strengthen environmental education, increase environmental spending, improve environmental technology, promote citizen participation, develop NGOs.
77. Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan huanjing yu fazhan yanjiu zhongxin (Chinese Academy of Social Science Environment and Development Research Centre), Zhongguo huanjing yu Jazhan, di er juan (China Environment and Development Review, Vol. I) (Beijing: Social Sciences Publishing House, 1999), p. 339.
78. Turner and Wu, Green NGO and Environmental Journalist Forum, p. 31.
79. Patricia Adams, "Environmental NGOs in China: Encouraging action and addressing public grievances," Roundtable before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 7 February 2005.
80. Nesbitt-Larking and Chan, "Chinese youth and civil society."
81. World Bank, "China's environmental issues: The bigger picture," World Bank, available at http://www.worldbank.org, accessed 7 January 2005.
82. We thank an anonymous reviewer for pointing out the importance of campus groups.
83. Elizabeth J. Perry, Challenging the Mandate of Heaven: Social Protest and State Power in China (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2002), p. 312.