China and the Environment: The Green Revolution by Sam Geall (ed.)

Propelled by its rapid economic growth, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is undergoing multitudes of transitions simultaneously. These transitions are substantially transforming state–society relations in China. The conventional wisdom about China in the reform era has been that the Communist Party of China’s (CPC’s) legitimacy to rule comes from its continued economic performance; in other words, the Chinese people will not bother with the kind of regime they have if they are well fed and their economic aspirations are taken care of. However, as recent history suggests, people’s aspirations in China are not limited to economic well-being alone. They seek not only a better socio-economic status but also a clean environment and better accountability on the part of the governance system, and they have shown willingness to fight for these issues, as the data on mass incidents in China suggest.