/ CHINESE PERCEPTIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENT by HONG FANG A THESIS Presented to the Interdisciplinary Studies Program: Asian Studies and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts June 1997 u "Chinese Perceptions of the Environment," a t hesis prepared by Hong Fang in partial fulfill ment of the requ~rernents for the Master of Arts degree in the Interdisciplinary Studies Program: As i an Studies. This dissertation has been approved and accepted by: Examining Committee Date committee in charge: Dr. Richard P. Sut tmeier, Chair Dr. Carolyn L. Cartier Dr. Stephen Durrant Ill An Abstract of the Thesis of Hong Fang for the degree of Master of Arts / in the Interdisciplinary Studies Program: Asian Studies to be taken June 1997 Title: CHINESE PERCEPTIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENT Approved: How to protect the global environment and how to obtain a sustainable development are the major concerns of the international community today. China, with the biggest population and t he h i ghest economic growth rate in the last decade , has become the center of the concern. This thesis presents and analyzes some contemporary Chinese perceptions of the environment . It tries to provide a historical origin and a cultural context for these Chinese perceptions of the environme nt. Everybody in China today has become the daily decision maker for the environment . Since the Chinese perceptions of environment , in some degree , decides the Chinese environmental behaviors , an understanding of t hese perceptions is important for China's env ironmental law enforcement and the promotion of public participation in China's environmental protection. iv CURRICULUM VITA NAME OF AUTHOR: Hong Fang PLACE OF BIRTH: Changsha, People's Republic of China DATE OF BIRTH: March 15, 1966 GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon Peking University DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts in Asian Studies, 1997 , University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature, 1988, Peking University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: East Asian Affairs PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of East Asian Languages and Literature, University of Oregon, Eugene, 1994- 97 Instructor, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon, 1993- 94 Instructor, Department of English, University of International Business and Economics , Beijing, P.R. China, 1988- 92 AWARDS AND HONORS: Graduate Teaching Fellowship, University of Oregon, 1993- 97 V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author expresses sincere appreciation to Professors Suttmeier, Cartier and Durrant for their .assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. In addition, special thanks are due to Ms. Deng Xueming and Mr. Yuan Fang from the State Science and Technology Commission of China, who provided valuable research documents for this thesis. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION .................... ....................... 1 · Chapter I. DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT IN SOCIALIST CHINA . 6 China's Development Experience After 1949 ...... 6 C Chinese Concepts of Development and Environment . • . • . • • • • . • . 12 China's Serious Environmental Degradation and the Reactions From the Chinese Government.... 17 L7The Importance of Ordinary People in China's Environmental Protection . .................... 21 II. CONTEMPORARY CHINESE PERCEPTIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENT . • • . • . 2 4 Population Growth • • • • • • • . • . • . • • • • • . 2 6 Natural Environment vs. Daily Living Environment . • . • . • • • . • • . • • . • 2 9 Environmental Agencies People Trust............ 32 People's Sense of Responsibility and Their (, Willingi:iess to Sacrifice for Environmental Protection . 3 4 III. GONG SI DICHOTOMY IN CHINESE PERCEPTIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION....................... 40 Hierarchical Social Structure and Gong Si Dichotomy in Traditional China............... 42 Gong Si Dichotomy and Property Rights Issue in Socialist China........................... 47 Gong Si Dichotomy and the Sense of Responsibility • . • • . • • . • • . • • . .• • . • • • . • 50 IV. THE PERCEPTIONS ON MAN AND NATURE IN ANCIENT CHINA . • . 54 Ancient Concerns of the Environment. .... .. ... 55 Tian and Ren in Ancient China .... ............. 57 Contemporary Debate on Tian Ren He Yi .... ..... 59 Tian Ren He Yi in History................... .. 63 vii Page CONCLUSION .. ... ........................................ 72 BIBLIOGRAPHY .. ... ............................... 74 Vlll LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. The Ratio of Waste Water Discharge From Industrial Sector and Household Sector (1986 - 1993) ................................. 22 2. The Percentage of Surveyed Beijing and Shanghai Residents Who Think the Following Pollution Problems Are Serious or Fairly Serious in Their Respective Cities 37 3. The Percentage of Surveyed Beijing and Shanghai Residents Who Are not Clear about the Following Environmental Problems........................ 37 4. The Percentage of Surveyed Beijing and Shanghai Residents Who Think the Following Agencies Are Reliable or Comparatively Reliable in Providing Information on Environmental Problems • . • . • . • . 38 5. The Percentage of Surveyed Beijing and Shanghai Residents Who Choose the Following Agencies for Solving the Environmental Problems If They Are Victims of Pollution...................... 39 INTRODUCTION The primary concern of this thesis is how the Chinese perceive the environment and human- environment relations. In recent years, environmentalism has been a widely discussed topic in academic and non-academic settings. How to protect the global environment and how to obtain a sustainable development are the major concerns of the international community. China, with the world's biggest population and the highest economic growth rate in the last decade, has become the center of the concern. Many famous scholars, like Vaclav Smil, Richard L. Edmonds and Mark Elvin, wrote about China ' s history of environmental degradation and its impact on China's long term development. Some other scholars, like Qu Gepin, wrote about China's environmental policy and its implementation. He Bochuan wrot~ about China's crisis of ecology and showed his concern on the sustainability of China's development . Some psychologists like Xie Xiaofei from Beijing University are doing research on the Chinese perceptions of risks , which include the environmental risks people are facing during the economic development. Some philosophers like Li Chunshan and Chen Guoqian are searching for the meaning of environmental protection from a philosopher's perspective. 2 Environmentalism is real ly a comprehensive issue, which can be approached from different fields and different perspectives. However, what makes the environmental issue in China different from ·that in many other countries is the Chinese perceptions of the environment. People's environmental perceptions include their environmental consciousness, their conception of human-environment relations and their attitudes toward environmental protection. The Chinese environmental perceptions are influenced by China's history and its traditions, which have worked on China's social structure and have decided how different institutions would work in the society. The Chinese perceptions of the environment further influenced the environmental policy enforcement, which includes different players like the policy maker, the policy enforcer and the general public. The Chinese perceptions of human environment relations also influenced the Chinese people's environmental behaviors. As a first step in analyzing the contemporary Chinese environmental perceptions and their origins, a survey . arranged by the State Science and Technology Commission (SSTC) of China in November 1994 is presented in Chapter II of this thesis. This survey was conducted in the two biggest cities of China -- Shanghai and Beijing. To provide a background setting, in Chapter I, we will first review the development experienc.e of socialist China and its influence 3 on China's environment. This influence is not only physical, but also ideological. The socialist movements for development influenced Chinese people's conception of the relationship between environment and development. The First Five Year Plan and the Great Leap Forward in China all emphasized the speed of development and the development of heavy industry. The result of this kind of pushing forward was the misuse of natural resources. According to the SSTC survey, contemporary Chinese urban residents care more about their daily living conditions than the natural environment. They lack a sense of responsibility for environmental protection. Why do they hold these perceptions? In Chapter III , the gong si dichotomy (public vs. private) is discussed and related to the Chinese perceptions of the environmental issues. In traditional China, the hierarchical social structure gave the emperor and his bureaucrats power to control the state. The general public were left powerless . It was the emperor and his bureaucrats who took the responsibil ity for constructing irrigation systems. In the Republican and Socialist China, the parties controlled the state power. The general public still had few chances to exert its power. The socialist public ownership s ystem also influenced the Chinese people's sense of property. The Communist Party, in the form of government and work units, took care of people's job assignment, housing, schooling and medical care in socialist