1. Degradation of China's environment started long before 1949. For some examples see Elvin, Mark and Ts'ui-jung, Liu (eds.), Sediments of Time: Environment and Society in Chinese History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).Google Scholar

2. For example she, Zhongguo kexue bao (ed.), “Shengcun yu fazhan” (“Survival and development”) (Beijing: unofficial report of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1989), pp. 9, 17.Google Scholar

3. According to Wagner, Rudolf G., “Agriculture and environmental protection in China,” in Glaeser, Bernhard (ed.), Learning from China? Development and Environment in Third World Countries (London: Allen & Unwin, 1987), p. 135Google Scholar, by 1979 China was using various combinations of plants and animals for pest control over a larger area than any country in the world. By 1978 there were 7 million biogas (methane produced by the decomposition of organic matter) reactors in use, mostly in southern China, especially Sichuan. These reactors, while important locally, produced less than 2% of China's total energy supply.

4. Projections made by the World Bank provide some optimism for the Chinese environment if appropriate investments are undertaken. See Johnson, Todd M., Liu, Feng and Newfarmer, Richard, Clear Water Blue Skies (Washington: World Bank, 1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar In China Urban Environmental Service Management (World Bank Report No. 13073-CHA, 1994), p. viGoogle Scholar, the World Bank had pointed out that between 1980 and 1992 the amount of GDP spent on pollution control increased from 0.40% to 0.67% but further argued that the future would be brighter if the government raises its investment in pollution control and monitoring to a higher proportion of GDP.

5. Ash, Robert F. and Edmonds, Richard Louis, “China's land resources, environment and agricultural production,” The China Quarterly, No. 156 (12 1998), pp. 844–46Google Scholar and Smil, Vaclav, “China's agricultural land,” The China Quarterly, No. 158 (06 1999), pp. 415–19).Google Scholar According to “Regional briefing,” Far Eastern Economic Review, Vol. 161, No 50 (10 12 1998), p. 16Google Scholar, the government still plans to reclaim more than 1 million hectares of land along the coast by 2040 or 2050 for 20 to 30 million residents with possible negative ecological impacts.

6. Nickum, James E., “Is China living on the water margin,” The China Quarterly, No. 156 (12 1998), p. 880.Google Scholar According to Changming, Liu, “Underground water table under heavy pressure,” China Environment News, No. 44 (1993), p. 6Google Scholar, the ground water table in northern China has been dropping at a rate of 50 centimetres per annum, and in places it is 200 feet (70 metres) below where it was in the 1950s. The most pessimistic arguments about water shortages come from Lester Brown. For a recent example of Brown's views in relation to China and India see, “Feeding nine billion,” State of the World 1999: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society (London & New York: W. W. Norton, 1999), pp. 115–132.Google Scholar

7. For details see Changming, Liu, “Environmental issues and the south-north water transfer scheme,” The China Quarterly, No. 156 (12 1998), pp. 899–910.Google Scholar

8. Recent projects include the “Three Norths Shelterbelt” project (sanbei fanghulin), the “Greening of the Plains” project, the “Greening of the Taihang Mountains” project, the 18,000-kilometre long “Coastal Protective Forest” project, the “Chang River Middle and Upper Reaches Protective Forest Construction Project,” and the “Continual Production Timber Forest Base Construction Project.” With these plans, China hopes to have 15 to 16% of its total area planted in trees by the year 2000, up from 13.39% in 1994. For details of some of these projects see Guojia huanjing baohuju: Guojia jihua weiyuanhui, Zhongguo huanjing baohu xingdong jihua 1991–2000 nian (China's Environmental Protection Activity Plan 1991–2000) (Beijing: Zhongguo huanjing kexue chubanshe, 1994), pp. 69–73.Google Scholar

9. “China seeks foreign aid to fight increasing desertification,” China News Digest, GL98–153 (16 11 1998), p. 2(4).Google Scholar By 1991 the State Council felt that desertification in northern China was damaging enough to call for the establishment of a National Sand Control Aid Group. In 1992 the Ministry of Forestry began a National Sand Control Ten-Year Plan and in 1994 China signed the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification.

10. Reasons for disappearance of species and reduction of numbers are not unique to China: destruction of habitats for agriculture, industry and housing, government eradication policies for certain species, excessive hunting, pollution from pesticides and industry, and poor management and the small scale of many nature reserves and parks. Officially animals and plants receiving first-class protection are those which are endemic, rare, precious or threatened and those accorded second-class protection are species whose numbers are declining or whose geographical distribution is becoming more restricted.

11. Dangerfield, Lara, “Growing treasures,” China Now, No. 153 (1995), pp. 10–11.Google Scholar

12. For a recent study see Vermeer, Eduard B., “Industrial pollution in China and remedial policies,” The China Quarterly, No. 156 (12 1998), pp. 952–985.Google Scholar

13. “1997 Report on the Environment in China” (internet version: State Environmental Protection Administration, 1998), pp. 3–5Google Scholar states that the Chang, Zhu (Pearl) and Huang Rivers were barely acceptable.

14. Fox, Maggie, “Chinese cities' bad air imperils children – study,” Reuters new release, 25 01 1999.Google Scholar The study looked at total suspended particulates, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. The ten cities listed in the report, in descending order of total suspended paniculate levels were: Lanzhou, Jilin, Taiyuan, Jiaozuo, Rajkot in India, Wan Xian, Urumqi, Yichang, Hanzhong and Anyang.

15. For details of the arguments surrounding the Sanxia project see Edmonds, Richard Louis, “The Sānxiá (Three Gorges) Project: the environmental argument surrounding China's super dam,” Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters, Vol. 4, No. 2 (07 1992), pp. 105–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16. Regulations for managing the supervision of auto emissions were formulated in 1990. For details on vehicle emissions see Walsh, Michael P., “Theme paper 2: motor vehicle pollution control in China: an urban challenge,” in Stares, Stephen and Zhi, Liu (eds.), China's Urban Transport Development Strategy: Proceedings of a Symposium in Beijing, November 8–10, 1995 (Washington: World Bank Discussion Paper No. 352, 1996), pp. 118–122.Google Scholar

17. In fact, according to Speece, Mark W. and Yukiko, Kawahara, “Transportation in China in the 1990s,” International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, Vol. 25, No. 8 (1996), pp. 56–57Google Scholar, to reduce short-trip passenger use, railway ticket prices were drastically increased in the mid-1980s rather than investing in further construction.

18. Man, Joyce Y., “Transportation infrastructure and regional economic development in China,” International Journal of Public Administration, Vol. 21, No. 9 (1998), p. 1318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

19. tongjiju, Guojia (ed.), 98 Zhongguo fazhan baogao (China Development Report 1998) (Beijing: Zhongguo tongji chubanshe, 1998), p. 126.Google Scholar

20. In the case of Beijing, the government banned leaded petrol in Beijing from 1 June 1997 (“Leaded gas to be banned in Beijing,” China News Digest, GL97–069 (12 05 1997Google Scholar), (5); began random vehicle checks in the city (“Tougher car emission measurements to be used by China,” China News Digest, GL98-054 (17 04 1998), (3)Google Scholar; introduced buses fuelled by liquefied petroleum gas (“News from ‘China Daily’,” China News Digest, GL98-043 (23 03 1998), (3)Google Scholar, and announced plans for more commuter rail transport projects as the city was preparing for the 50-year celebration (“Beijing to receive major funding for city improvement,” China News Digest, GL98-061 (1 05 1998), (3).Google Scholar Tougher new auto carbon filter standards were issued in 1998 (“New requirement set to cut auto emission,” China News Digest, GL97-15 (12 11 1997), (4).Google Scholar However, a fuel tax which was to encourage emission reductions raised objections from taxi drivers (“Proposed fuel tax to impact auto industry and public transport,” China News Digest, GL98-167 (18 12 1998), 1 (6))Google Scholar and from farmers as well as the automotive industry. According to “Concerns about fuel tax prompts hoarding of gasoline nationwide,” China News Digest, GL98-169 (23 12 1998), (3), the tax also led to hoarding so that implementation was postponed.Google Scholar

21. Stares, Stephen and Zhi, Liu, “Theme paper 1: Motorization in Chinese cities: issues and actions,”Google Scholar in Stares, and Zhi, Liu, China's Urban Transport Development Strategy, pp. 48, 51.Google Scholar

22. Speece, and Kawahara, , “Transportation in China,” p. 67.Google Scholar

23. “1997 Report on the Environment in China” (internet version: State Environmental Protection Administration, 1998), pp. 8, 10, 14–15.Google Scholar

24. Ross, Lester, “China: environmental protection, domestic policy trends, patterns of participation in regimes and compliance with international norms,” The China Quarterly, No. 156 (12 1998), pp. 809–835.Google Scholar

25. Cannon, James S., China at the Crossroads: Energy, Transportation, and the 21st Century (New York: INFORM Special Report, 06 1998), p. 13.Google Scholar