Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Contributors
- Introduction: The Big Picture
- PART I SCIENCE AND PLANNING
- PART II GEOPOLITICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
- PART III ENVIRONMENTALISMS
- 10 The New Ecology of Power: Julian and Aldous Huxley in the Cold War Era
- 11 Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Testing and the Debate on Risk Knowledge in Cold War America, 1945–1963
- 12 The Evolution of Environmental Problems and Environmental Policy in China: The Interaction of Internal and External Forces
- PART IV EPILOGUE
- Index
12 - The Evolution of Environmental Problems and Environmental Policy in China: The Interaction of Internal and External Forces
from PART III - ENVIRONMENTALISMS
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Contributors
- Introduction: The Big Picture
- PART I SCIENCE AND PLANNING
- PART II GEOPOLITICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
- PART III ENVIRONMENTALISMS
- 10 The New Ecology of Power: Julian and Aldous Huxley in the Cold War Era
- 11 Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Testing and the Debate on Risk Knowledge in Cold War America, 1945–1963
- 12 The Evolution of Environmental Problems and Environmental Policy in China: The Interaction of Internal and External Forces
- PART IV EPILOGUE
- Index
Summary
The history of environmental problems and policies in China is typically dealt with from one of two perspectives. The internalist perspective views the evolution of China's environmental problems and policies as primarily the result of China's political economy. Most scholars, including Judith Shapiro, Elizabeth C. Economy, Vaclav Smil, and the researchers associated with the Japanese Society for the Chinese Environment take this approach. The externalist perspective, in contrast, sees international trade and environmentalism as the main forces shaping Chinese environmental history. This perspective is taken by scholars who focus on China's environmental diplomacy and international trade. In my opinion, the two perspectives represent extremes that do not reflect the reality of the recent environmental history of China. Elsewhere, I have set China's environmental history in the context of the transformation of its political economy and society. Expanding on that study, I consider the Cold War context of China's environmental problems and policies in this essay. I argue that the evolution of environmental problems and policies in China has resulted from the interaction of internal forces and external forces.
SOCIALIST CONSTRUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, 1949–1972
China was economically and socially backward at the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC):
Agriculture and handcraft industry accounted for 90 percent of the national economy, modern industry for only 10 percent. The main component of industry was light industry, including textile and food production. Heavy industry was very scarce, and some machinery, such as automobiles, tractors, and aircraft, could not be produced in China. […]
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- Environmental Histories of the Cold War , pp. 323 - 340Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010