Environmental Protection Attempts in the Early Days …
113
they would be relocated or shut down. Beijing, Guangdong, Heilongjiang,
Hubei, Yunnan, Shandong, Wuhan, Harbin, Qiqihar and other provinces and
cities issued more specific and detailed industrial pollution control policies and
regulations; Beijing, Anhui, Yunnan, Nanjing, and Qiqihar set up special funds
for pollution control; Wuhan formulated an industrial waste management plan.
In summary, from 1970 to before the first National Environmental Protection
Conference, under the leadership of the central government, China stepped
up environmental governance, and Chinese people’s environmental awareness
began to awaken. This created favorable conditions on organizational, ideological and experience accumulation fronts for the convening of the first national
environmental protection conference in August 1973 and the smooth development of environmental protection work following the conference. It can be said
that Zhou Enlai, the first UN Conference on Human Environment, early environmental protection efforts, and the national economic reform had paved the
way for the smooth convening of the first National Environmental Protection
Conference in 1973.
4 Conclusion
(1) Before the first National Environmental Protection Conference was held, the
new Chinese government had made efforts to step up environmental protection.
Even though these efforts were not properly planned and the results were less
than satisfactory, these efforts at least can prove that environmental protection
had not been lacking in China before the first National Environmental Protection Conference. Of course, most Chinese people’s environmental awareness
was low for most of this period, the Chinese government’s environmental
protection efforts were guided by the concept of “environmental sanitation”
which is different from environmental protection in the modern sense.
(2) The environmental protection policies before and after the first National
Environmental Protection Conference are mostly in the same vein. The “32character policy” for environmental protection approved at the first National
Environmental Protection Conference had already been proposed and put into
practice before the meeting. Environmental protection agencies established by
the central government and local governments after the first National Environmental Protection Conference were modeled after industrial waste management offices and other environmental protection agencies built before the
meeting. The focus of the environmental protection efforts of the Chinese
government before 1973 and during the period from 1973 to 1978 was the
treatment and reuse of industrial waste. The concept of preventing pollution at
its source was put forward in the 1950s. The three-simultaneous system and
the policy of rectification within a specified time limit established after the
first National Environmental Protection Conference had been proposed and
implemented prior to the conference. The environmental governance pattern
113
they would be relocated or shut down. Beijing, Guangdong, Heilongjiang,
Hubei, Yunnan, Shandong, Wuhan, Harbin, Qiqihar and other provinces and
cities issued more specific and detailed industrial pollution control policies and
regulations; Beijing, Anhui, Yunnan, Nanjing, and Qiqihar set up special funds
for pollution control; Wuhan formulated an industrial waste management plan.
In summary, from 1970 to before the first National Environmental Protection
Conference, under the leadership of the central government, China stepped
up environmental governance, and Chinese people’s environmental awareness
began to awaken. This created favorable conditions on organizational, ideological and experience accumulation fronts for the convening of the first national
environmental protection conference in August 1973 and the smooth development of environmental protection work following the conference. It can be said
that Zhou Enlai, the first UN Conference on Human Environment, early environmental protection efforts, and the national economic reform had paved the
way for the smooth convening of the first National Environmental Protection
Conference in 1973.
4 Conclusion
(1) Before the first National Environmental Protection Conference was held, the
new Chinese government had made efforts to step up environmental protection.
Even though these efforts were not properly planned and the results were less
than satisfactory, these efforts at least can prove that environmental protection
had not been lacking in China before the first National Environmental Protection Conference. Of course, most Chinese people’s environmental awareness
was low for most of this period, the Chinese government’s environmental
protection efforts were guided by the concept of “environmental sanitation”
which is different from environmental protection in the modern sense.
(2) The environmental protection policies before and after the first National
Environmental Protection Conference are mostly in the same vein. The “32character policy” for environmental protection approved at the first National
Environmental Protection Conference had already been proposed and put into
practice before the meeting. Environmental protection agencies established by
the central government and local governments after the first National Environmental Protection Conference were modeled after industrial waste management offices and other environmental protection agencies built before the
meeting. The focus of the environmental protection efforts of the Chinese
government before 1973 and during the period from 1973 to 1978 was the
treatment and reuse of industrial waste. The concept of preventing pollution at
its source was put forward in the 1950s. The three-simultaneous system and
the policy of rectification within a specified time limit established after the
first National Environmental Protection Conference had been proposed and
implemented prior to the conference. The environmental governance pattern