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L. Zhang
combining regional governance and river basin governance had roughly taken
shape before 1973. The Chinese government had also made efforts in other
major aspects of environmental protection, such as environmental monitoring,
environmental status investigation, and environmental legislation, before the
first National Environmental Protection Conference. In fact, China’s environmental protection efforts in the modern sense started on the basis of its previous
environmental protection efforts.
(3) From the perspective of environmental protection initiation mechanism, the
leadership of the central government (i.e., top-down approach) has always been
a major feature of China’s environmental protection efforts, which is different
from the bottom-up approach in industrialized countries such as Japan and the
United States. It is mainly because China implemented a planned economic
system at that time, and under the planned economic system, the formulation
and implementation of important decisions mainly relied on the central government. At the same time, under the planned economy system, the opinions of
important national leaders often had a huge important on the country’s policymaking. For example, Zhou Enlai’s vision of environmental protection was a
key factor in the rise of modern environmentalism in the country. Therefore,
Zhou Enlai has been heralded as the founder of environmental movement in
the PRC.
L. Zhang
combining regional governance and river basin governance had roughly taken
shape before 1973. The Chinese government had also made efforts in other
major aspects of environmental protection, such as environmental monitoring,
environmental status investigation, and environmental legislation, before the
first National Environmental Protection Conference. In fact, China’s environmental protection efforts in the modern sense started on the basis of its previous
environmental protection efforts.
(3) From the perspective of environmental protection initiation mechanism, the
leadership of the central government (i.e., top-down approach) has always been
a major feature of China’s environmental protection efforts, which is different
from the bottom-up approach in industrialized countries such as Japan and the
United States. It is mainly because China implemented a planned economic
system at that time, and under the planned economic system, the formulation
and implementation of important decisions mainly relied on the central government. At the same time, under the planned economy system, the opinions of
important national leaders often had a huge important on the country’s policymaking. For example, Zhou Enlai’s vision of environmental protection was a
key factor in the rise of modern environmentalism in the country. Therefore,
Zhou Enlai has been heralded as the founder of environmental movement in
the PRC.