1 For more about the Pingnan case in English, see Wang, Alex, “The role of law in environmental protection in China: recent developments,” Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, Vol. 8 (2007), especially pp. 212–19Google Scholar; and Oster, Shai and Fong, Mei, “In booming China, a doctor battles a polluting factory,” The Wall Street Journal, 19 July 2006Google Scholar. All conversions are calculated at the January 2010 exchange rate of 6.8 yuan per US$.

2 For examples of recent work on Chinese law, see O'Brien, Kevin J. and Li, Lianjiang, “Suing the local state: administrative litigation in rural China,” The China Journal, No. 51 (2004), pp. 75–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Diamant, Neil J., Lubman, Stanley and O'Brien, Kevin J. (eds.), Engaging the Law in China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005)Google Scholar; Michelson, Ethan, “The practice of law as an obstacle to justice: Chinese lawyers at work,” Law & Society Review, Vol. 40, No. 1 (2006), pp. 1–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gallagher, Mary “Mobilizing the law in China: ‘informed disenchantment’ and the development of legal consciousness,” Law & Society Review, Vol. 40, No. 4 (2006), pp. 783–816CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Michelson, Ethan, “Lawyers, political embeddedness and institutional continuity in China's transition from socialism,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 113, No. 2 (2007), pp. 352–414CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For examples of recent work on environmental issues, see Yang, Guobin, “Environmental NGOs and institutional dynamics in China,” The China Quarterly, No. 191 (2005), pp. 44–66Google Scholar; Litzenger, Ralph, “In search of the grassroots: hydroelectric politics in northwest Yunnan,” in Perry, Elizabeth J. and Goldman, Merle (eds.), Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007), pp. 282–99Google Scholar; Mertha, Andrew C., Water Warriors: Citizen Action and Policy Change (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008)Google Scholar.

3 For a companion piece on administrative environmental litigation, see Xuehua Zhang, “Enforcing environmental regulations in Hubei province, China: agencies, courts citizens,” PhD dissertation, Stanford University, 2008.

4 The All China Environment Federation, a government-backed non-governmental organization, estimates that no more than 1% of environmental disputes reach the courts. See Jing Li, “Group wants more polluters in court,” China Daily, 16 January 2008.

5 Zhongguo huanjing nianjian (China Environment Yearbook) (Beijing: China Environment Press), 2001, p. 681, and 2007, p. 727Google Scholar.

6 Quoted in Human Rights Watch, Walking on Thin Ice: Control, Intimidation and Harassment of Lawyers in China (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2008), pp. 28–29Google Scholar.

7 Xinhua News Agency, “Lü Zhongmei daibiao: jianyi sheli huanjing shenpanting” (“Representative Zhongmei Lü suggests establishing an environmental bench”), 8 March 2008, available at http://tinyurl.com/ya5u749. With only three years of data (and no idea how cases were collected or counted), trends regarding the total number of civil environmental lawsuits are unclear, especially as a judge at the Supreme People's Court told me in September 2007 that pollution cases were rising 25% per year (2007-84).

8 By way of comparison, federal American courts issued opinions in an average of 110 civil environmental cases a year from 1992 to 2002. See May, James R., “Now more than ever: trends in environmental citizen suits at 30,” Widener Law Review Vol. 10, No. 1 (2003), p. 8Google Scholar.

9 See, in particular, Moustafa, Tamir, The Struggle for Constitutional Power: Law, Politics and Economic Development in Egypt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 In the late 2000s, several local courts – including new environmental courts and court divisions – began experimenting with expanding standing in environmental cases to include the procuratorate, and the All China Environment Federation.

11 For a list of personal communication citations, see the Appendix.

12 A recurrent rumour during my fieldwork involved a Supreme People's Court memo ordering lower courts to refuse major environmental cases (2006-13; 2006-19; 2007-19).

13 Basic level courts also frequently turn away disputes that have previously been through administrative mediation (xingzheng tiaojie) although there is no legal basis for this. See Sida Liu, “The logic of fragmentation: an ecological analysis of the Chinese legal services market,” PhD dissertation, University of Chicago, 2009, p. 75 and O'Brien and Li, “Suing the local state,” pp. 80–82.

14 Document on file with the author.

15 For more on group litigation, see Liebman, Benjamin L., “Class action in China,” Harvard Law Review (1997–1998), pp. 1523–41Google Scholar.

16 For more on local protectionism in environmental enforcement, see van Rooij, Benjamin, Regulating Land and Pollution in China: Lawmaking, Compliance, and Enforcement; Theories and Cases (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2005), especially pp. 191–209Google Scholar; and Xuehua Zhang, “Enforcing environmental regulations in Hubei province,” especially pp. 51–53. Work on local state corporatism also details how county and township governments collude with rural enterprises to achieve economic growth targets. For more, see Oi, Jean, Rural China Takes Off: Institutional Foundations of Economic Reform (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999)Google Scholar.

17 Xinwen diaocha (News Probe), “Pingxicun pang de huagongchang” (“The chemical plant next to Pingxi village”), 12 April 2003, transcript available at http://tinyurl.com/yecgebo.

18 Plaintiffs are allowed to represent themselves in a civil lawsuit and it is an open question how often lawsuits move forward without legal representation.

19 For more on how Chinese lawyers screen cases, see Michelson, “The practice of law as an obstacle to justice.”

20 Wen Jiabao, 2008 Guowuyuan zhengfu gongzuo baogao (2008 State Council Government Work Report), available at http://tinyurl.com/ygwfzbv.

21 Litigants must individually opt in to a lawsuit and providing a copy of an identity card is one way to indicate support. In the US, in contrast, civil actions cover an entire class of people (e.g. those who bought a certain brand of laptop between 2000 and 2002). While individuals in the class must be notified of pending litigation and can opt out, they do not need to opt in individually.

22 See Fürst, “Access to justice,” pp. 90–91 for an example of a case that was turned down by local lawyers before plaintiffs found legal representation in Beijing.

23 Quoted in Liu, “The logic of fragmentation”, p. 222.

24 Wendra Liang, “From protesters to plaintiffs: pollution lawsuits and the tradition of protest in the People's Republic of China,” MA dissertation, Stanford University, 2006, p. 64.

25 Ibid. p. 27.

26 Ibid. p. 46.

27 He, Haining, “Yige xiao shancun de huanbao jianxin lu” (“One mountain village's difficult road towards environmental protection,” Nanfang zhoumou (Southern Weekend), 16 September 2004Google Scholar, available at http://tinyurl.com/6d15mvq.

28 Proof of poverty can come from the local Party committee, the neighbourhood committee, the civil affairs department of the local government or the local labour bureau and is accepted at the court's discretion.

29 See also O'Brien and Li, “Suing the local state,” pp. 85–86.

30 The intermediate court re-decided in favour of the plaintiffs. Hebei High Court (2004), Liu Honggui et al. v. Tangshan jiaohuachang youxian zeren gongsi, decision on file with the author.

31 Supreme People's Court, “Notice regarding problems with the acceptance of class action lawsuits by the People's Courts,” effective 1 January 2006.

32 See also Kathinka Fürst, “Access to justice in environmental disputes: opportunities and obstacles for Chinese pollution victims,” MA dissertation, University of Oslo, 2008, pp. 95–96.

33 Document on file with the author.

34 Zhang Pengguo and Li Yuping v. Shengli youtian gongyi xinjishu shiyou kaifa youxian zeren gongsi, Shandong Dongyang Intermediate Court, Civil Division No. 27 (2004).

35 For more on the importance of government reports, see McMullin, Joseph, “Do Chinese environmental laws work? A study of litigation as response to fishery pollution,” UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal, No. 26 (2009)Google Scholar.

36 News Probe, “The chemical plant next to Pingxi village.”

37 See Xuehua Zhang, “Enforcing environmental regulations in Hubei province,” p. 51. In two of the counties Zhang studied in Hubei, enterprise quiet days lasted from the 1st to the 25th of each month.

38 Xu, Linling, “Susong zhi wang: Yan Yiming” (“The king of litigation: Yan Yiming”), Nanfang zhoumou (Southern Weekend), 9 May 2009Google Scholar.

39 For more on how judges make decisions, see Stern, Rachel E., “On the frontlines: making decisions in Chinese civil environmental lawsuits,” Law & Policy, Vol. 32, No. 1 (2010), pp. 79–103Google Scholar.

40 Guangdong Foshan Intermediate Court (2005), Ping Zao v. Zhongnan Shiyouju, Civil Division No. 3, decision on file with the author.

41 Appraisers must have five years of relevant work experience and one of the following: a high-level technical title, equivalent professional qualifications, or a related undergraduate or graduate major. See Ministry of Justice, “Sifa jiandingren dengji guanli banfa” (“Regulations governing the registration of appraisers”), effective 30 September 2005.

42 “Pingnanxian qianyu cunmin suanbao songan shimo” (“The whole story of an environmental lawsuit involving over 1,000 villagers from Pingnan county”), Caijing, 15 July 2006, available at http://tinyurl.com/yzj9qdb.

43 Fürst, “Access to justice in environmental disputes,” p. 53.

44 Weak and disadvantaged groups are usually defined as including the handicapped, women, juveniles, the elderly, the poor, and laid-off, unemployed and migrant workers. For more on official tolerance for moral economy claims, see Perry, Elizabeth, “Challenging the mandate of heaven: popular protest in modern China,” Critical Asian Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2 (2001), p. 168CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

45 All closing statements are on file with the author.

46 O'Brien, Kevin J. and Li, Lianjiang, Rightful Resistance in Rural China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), p. 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

47 Lipsky, Michael, “Protest as a political resource,” The American Political Science Review, Vol. 62 (1968), pp. 1144–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also O'Brien and Li, “Suing the local state,” pp. 86–89.

48 Liebman, Benjamin L., “Watchdog or demagogue? The media in the Chinese legal system,” Columbia Law Review, Vol. 105, No. 1 (2005), p. 111Google Scholar.

49 Lipsky, “Protest as a political resource,” p. 1151.

50 The term “advocacy journalism” is borrowed from Jonathan H. Hassid, “Four models of the fourth estate: a typology of contemporary Chinese journalists,” The China Quarterly, forthcoming. Also see Wang, Lili, Lu meiti (Green Media) (Beijing: Qinghua University Press, 2005)Google Scholar.

51 The term “political embeddedness” is borrowed from Michelson, “Lawyers, political embeddedness and institutional continuity,” p. 356.

52 Lora-Wainwright, Anna, “Of farming chemicals and cancer deaths: the politics of health in contemporary rural China,” Social Anthropology, Vol. 17, No. 1 (2009), p. 63CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

53 Fürst, “Access to justice in environmental disputes,” p. 83. 2007-8 and 2007-46 also discussed how proximity to pollution motivates activism.

54 Ellmann, Stephen, “Lawyers and clients,” UCLA Law Review, Vol. 34 (1986–1987), p. 719Google Scholar.

55 This was a reasonable possibility as the client's traveling companion, another potential plaintiff, had been taken into custody the previous night. The client was not arrested, however, but had got lost between the law office and the restaurant.

56 Quoted in Van Rooij, Benjamin, “The people vs pollution: understanding citizen action against pollution in China,” The Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 19, No. 63 (2010), p. 71CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

57 Quoted in Sha, Lin, “Jishiyu: Wang Canfa” (“A timely rain: Wang Canfa), Zhongguo qingnian bao (China Youth Daily), 10 September 2003Google Scholar, available at http://tinyurl.com/6admatb.

58 For example, see Jiahui Ai, “Shehui bianqian zhong de fayuan renshi guanli” (“Managing court personnel amid social transition”), PhD dissertation, Beijing University Law School, 2008; Lan, Rongjie, “Susong guize difanghua shizheng yanjiu” (“Empirical research on the localization of litigation rules”), Zhengzhi yu shehui fazhan (Law and Social Development), Vol. 14, No. 2 (2008), pp. 13–22Google Scholar, and He, Xin, “Routinization of divorce law practice in China: institutional constraints’ influence on judicial behavior,” International Journal of Law, Policy and Family, Vol. 23 (2009), pp. 83–109CrossRefGoogle Scholar.