Abstract
This chapter examines the consequences of social protests for environmental governance in China. Environmental protection is a policy area where the party state has allowed civil society to play an increasingly important role. Chinese citizens can take part in state-sanctioned forms of political participation, but one of the most important ways they can influence policy is by protesting. If we are to understand environmental governance in China, we must study the impact of such protests. Students of social movements in China have made great efforts to understand what explains protest success in that country. The authors contend that, in order to understand environmental governance, we must look at all the different outcomes of a social protest. In most cases a protest elicits at least some concessions from the authorities, even when the protesters themselves perceive it as a failure. This study examines urban environmental governance by looking at the varying outcomes of three different waves of environmental protest in Hangzhou. Protests may lead to the development of new institutional tools such as dialogue platforms, or involve external actors like courts or NGOs. Through these mechanisms, citizen protests form a new and important element in China’s fragmented governance system.
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Notes
- 1.
In another paper (Almén and Burrell forthcoming), we analyse various social protests in Hangzhou from a social accountability perspective.
- 2.
There are many different surveys on citizen satisfaction in China. One example is the Chinese Institute for Economic Experiments (中国经济实验研究院) that recently reported that Hangzhou residents are the second most satisfied in China: http://news.sohu.com/20160703/n457484600.shtml. Accessed 29/8 2016.
- 3.
Interview (HZ-020) with provincial people’s congress official, April 2009
- 4.
Interviews (HZ-021) with the head of the Hangzhou city evaluation office, June 2009 and November 2013
- 5.
- 6.
Interview (HZ-021) with the head of the Hangzhou city evaluation office, November 2013
- 7.
Interview (HZ-021) with the head of the Hangzhou city evaluation office, June 2009.
- 8.
The area consisted mainly of commodity housing (shangpin zhuzhai商品住房) of an upscale and expensive kind. Thus, the people moving in, among them well-educated university staff, were fairly well-off. They saw their housing as an investment offering better living standards. There were also many young families with pregnant mothers and small children, and they were keen to ensure a healthy living environment (Interview HZ-012, HZ-013, HZ-014).
- 9.
Commodity housing residents have formed homeowners’ associations to protect their legal and economic interests vis-à-vis real estate management or the local community. Their significance as a platform for residents’ grievances in urban China has been previously documented by Tomba (2004, 2005) and Cai (2005).
- 10.
This is regulated both in the central cadre responsibility system and in the local performance assessment system.
- 11.
Many old factories in this area had been established 20 years earlier. They produced steel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, processed paper, and rubber tyres. Thus, even if they had not broken any environmental standards in a strict sense, they were bound to produce a lot of noise and an unpleasant air quality in the community (Interview HZ-012, HZ-015).
- 12.
According to the city planning department, the relocation of these polluting factories to nearby rural counties was already decided as part of a 5-year schedule. The relocation, however, was a slow and time-consuming process. The totality of industries in Gongshu district employed maybe 30,000–40,000 workers, and it was difficult to transfer their work and housing to other locations. In addition, there was the issue of determining the levels of compensation (for land, etc.) for the factories that had to move away. On top of that, the factories had to ensure that the proper infrastructure (water, power) was in place in their new location of Jiande. Otherwise, they would be unable to start production and would lose money, as confirmed by representatives of these companies (Interview HZ-015).
- 13.
We do not have any precise information about this factory (Binjiang luneng laji fenshao fadianzhan), or about the exact relationship between it and the city government of Hangzhou. However, our impression is that this is a state-owned enterprise. We also know that the original decision to place it in Binjiang district was a point of controversy between the Hangzhou city government and the Binjiang district government. It is worth noting that Hangzhou has several other incineration plants for handling large volumes of municipal garbage and that the siting of their operations is always a sensitive and contentious issue (Interview HZ-011).
- 14.
A suggestion carries less weight than a motion (yian 议案), but it still requires swift action from the responsible department. The suggestion can be read on the Hangzhou People’s Congress webpage. (http://60.191.40.91/rd_yajy_cx.html), which states that the Binjiang district government had been designated as the responsible government department for handling the suggestion.
- 15.
One problem is that the waste products have not been properly sorted, which results in more toxics during incineration. In addition, while the recommended incineration temperature is 900 degrees Celsius, it seems the Binjiang plant only operates at 700 degrees Celsius (and burning waste at a lower temperature result in higher dioxin levels). The decision to burn at lower temperatures is probably based on economic calculations. However, in March 2013, the Hangzhou EPB claimed that the toxic substances emitted by the Binjiang garbage plant were still far below hazardous levels (Interview HZ-003, HZ-004, HZ-009).
- 16.
Cai Xin, June 17, 2014, NGO诉杭州环保局信息不公开再败 [NGO that sued Hangzhou EPB for not disclosing information lost again] accessed at http://china.caixin.com/2014-06-17/100691456.html
- 17.
The management of domestic waste is a huge problem in China. In 2010–2015, about 300 waste incinerators were planned to be built to meet the national target of 35% of household waste to be incinerated. (See Shanghaiist.com, 11 May 2014: “Hangzhou halts waste plant construction following bloody protests”. Accessed at http://shanghaiist.com/2014/05/11/hangzhu-halts-waste-plant-construction-following-bloody-protests.php.)
- 18.
See BBC online: “China waste plant protest in Hangzhou ‘injures dozens’.” Accessed on the internet at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-27360779.
- 19.
Xu Wen, “Waste incinerator generates hot question”, 13 May 2014. Accessed at http://www.hicenter.cn/columns_detail.asp?id=436232
- 20.
Reuters online, 10 May 2010 (via Voice of America): “Protesters in East China clash with police”. Accessed at http://www.voanews.com/content/protesters-in-east-china-clash-with-police-over-waste-incinerator-plan-/1911828.html
- 21.
Reuters online, 11 May 2014, “China says no waste plant without support after protests” Accessed at
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/11/us-china-protests-idUSBREA4904320140511
- 22.
Reuters online, 11 May 2014, “China says no waste plant without support after protests”. See footnote 20.
- 23.
According to The Telegraph (11 May 2014), Chinese cities produce 160 million tons of waste per year, and the country is planning 300 waste incinerators within the coming 3 years to handle the problem. Accessed at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10822917/Bloodshed-as-Chinese-environmental-protest-sparks-riot.html
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Field Interviews
HZ-001, Interview in Hangzhou (June 2013) with environmental NGO*
HZ-002, Interview in Hangzhou (June 2013) with environmental NGO**
HZ-003, Interview in Hangzhou (June 2013) with newspaper journalist**
HZ-004, Telephone interview (Oct 2013) with Lawyer He Rongming*
HZ-005, Interview in Beijing (Oct 2013) with environmental NGO*
HZ-006, Interview in Hangzhou (Nov 2013) with Gongshu district EPB*
HZ-007, Interview in Hangzhou (Nov 2013) with Hangzhou city evaluation office*
HZ-008, Interview in Hangzhou (Nov 2013) with environmental NGO**
HZ-009, Interview in Hangzhou (Nov 2013) with environmental NGO**
HZ-010, Interview in Hangzhou (Nov 2013) with social science researcher**
HZ-011, Interview in Sweden (Dec 2013) with Hangzhou-based environmental NGO**
HZ-012, Interview in Hangzhou (March 2014) with Hangzhou and Gongshu EPB officials**
HZ-013, Interview in Hangzhou (March 2014) with Gongshu, Dabeiqiao neighbourhood committee**
HZ-014, Interview in Hangzhou (March 2014) with Gongshu, Dabeiqiao homeowner association**
HZ-015, Interview in Hangzhou (March 2014) with Gongshu, Dabeiqiao Miles Industrial Corp.**
HZ-016, Interview in Hangzhou (Nov 2014) with university academic at ZU*
HZ-017, Interview in Hangzhou (Nov 2014) with environmental NGO*
HZ-018, Interview in Beijing (Nov 2014) with environmental NGO**
HZ-019, Interview in Hangzhou (March 2015) with environmental NGO**
HZ-020, Interview in Hangzhou (April 2009) with a Zhejiang provincial people’s congress official*
HZ-021, Interview in Hangzhou (June 2009; Nov 2013) with the head of Hangzhou city evaluation office*
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Burell, M., Almén, O. (2019). The Role of Social Protests in Environmental Governance in Hangzhou. In: Delman, J., Ren, Y., Luova, O., Burell, M., Almén, O. (eds) Greening China’s Urban Governance. ARI - Springer Asia Series, vol 7. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0740-9_10
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