Environmental Protection Attempts
in the Early Days of the People’s
Republic of China
Lianhui Zhang
The convening of the first National Environmental Protection Conference in August
1973 marked the beginning of modern environmental governance in China. Almost
all retrospective studies on environmental protection in China regard this conference
as the starting point of modern environmental governance in the country, while, due
to the lack of information and other reasons, environmental protection activities prior
to this conference are rarely discussed. Even if there is such discussion, the information given is usually quite vague. However, in fact, without the long-term efforts
made by the Chinese government in environmental protection before the conference,
it would be difficult for the country to kick-start the environmental efforts in the
modern sense smoothly in 1973. This article aims to deepen people’s understanding
of China’s environmental protection efforts before the first National Environmental
Protection Conference. We have found and examined sufficient historical records on
the environmental protection efforts of the Chinese government during that period,
and laid out the characteristics of different stages and the connections of these efforts
with environmental protection activities after the second National Environmental
Protection Conference.
1 Infancy Stage of Environmental Protection in China
(1949–1957)
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, ecological and environmental
problems began to appear with the advancement of industrialization and economic
growth. At the time, China’s economy was just on the right track and the industrialization process just started. Environmental pollution and damage only occurred in
some areas and were not very serious. Therefore, Chinese people’s environmental
L. Zhang (B)
School of Economics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China
© China Environment Publishing Group Co., Ltd. 2021
J. Pan et al. (eds.), Beautiful China: 70 Years Since 1949 and 70 People’s Views
on Eco-civilization Construction, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6742-5_9
101
in the Early Days of the People’s
Republic of China
Lianhui Zhang
The convening of the first National Environmental Protection Conference in August
1973 marked the beginning of modern environmental governance in China. Almost
all retrospective studies on environmental protection in China regard this conference
as the starting point of modern environmental governance in the country, while, due
to the lack of information and other reasons, environmental protection activities prior
to this conference are rarely discussed. Even if there is such discussion, the information given is usually quite vague. However, in fact, without the long-term efforts
made by the Chinese government in environmental protection before the conference,
it would be difficult for the country to kick-start the environmental efforts in the
modern sense smoothly in 1973. This article aims to deepen people’s understanding
of China’s environmental protection efforts before the first National Environmental
Protection Conference. We have found and examined sufficient historical records on
the environmental protection efforts of the Chinese government during that period,
and laid out the characteristics of different stages and the connections of these efforts
with environmental protection activities after the second National Environmental
Protection Conference.
1 Infancy Stage of Environmental Protection in China
(1949–1957)
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, ecological and environmental
problems began to appear with the advancement of industrialization and economic
growth. At the time, China’s economy was just on the right track and the industrialization process just started. Environmental pollution and damage only occurred in
some areas and were not very serious. Therefore, Chinese people’s environmental
L. Zhang (B)
School of Economics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China
© China Environment Publishing Group Co., Ltd. 2021
J. Pan et al. (eds.), Beautiful China: 70 Years Since 1949 and 70 People’s Views
on Eco-civilization Construction, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6742-5_9
101