ABSTRACT
The People's Republic of China's extraordinary economic success has come at significant cost to its environment. Despite the leaders' environmental awareness, their raft of impressive policy initiatives and their access to advanced environmental technologies, they have not, however, managed to turn the environmental situation around. According to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, about 20% of the fine particulate matter that is most damaging to human health, arises from automobile exhaust emissions. Even more significant than assessments of the overall costs of environmental pollution and degradation, however, are the economic impacts experienced by particular regions. China's environmental leaders have developed a formal mechanism for managing citizens' environmental concerns through local hotlines, and many Chinese write letters to local environmental protection bureaux to complain about air, water and noise pollution. The international community exerts a significant impact on China's environmental practices in many ways.
