ENVIRONMENT

From the beginning of the reform and open door policy period, in 1978, to the present moment, China has consistently subordinated the importance of environmental protection to the pursuit of rapid economic growth in the name of constructing a socialist modernized state. Remarkable achievements in economic development have been made in the last three decades, and people's living standards, in material terms, have been vastly improved, but China has paid a very heavy price, in environmental terms, for such gains. Confronted with a widening spectrum of problems manifesting rapid environmental deterioration, major initiatives and measures have been repeatedly undertaken by the Central government to improve the efficacy of the country's environment protection apparatus. This chapter reviews the challenges encountered, and progress made, in the field of environmental protection, tracing the impacts of rapid industrial and urban growth on the country's environmental contours and ecological landscape. We argue that, despite of the pro-environment actions undertaken by the Central government, the prospect for a quick reversal of the current trends of environmental degradation remains slim because such efforts have always been resisted or even negated by local governments bent on pursuing economic growth at the cost of environmental protection. Unless China's political culture is reformed to allow a greater degree of transparency in local governance matters and that the implementation of environmental policies and programs is effectively and vastly strengthened, the country will be hard pressed to achieve even its modest environmental targets in the foreseeable future.