China's Environment: Resilient Myths and Contradictory Realities

An understanding of China’s environment poses a challenge of doubly difficult interpretation. To the general problem of disentangling complex environmental realities—a task done poorly by many Western experts even in their own countries—one must add the challenge of understanding the intricacies of a civilization whose inner workings are far from the Western experience and whose history mingles reverence and abuse of nature. ¹ Not surprisingly, this combination has resulted in memorable misinterpretations, ranging from pardonable, indeed unavoidable, mistakes to inexcusable apologies of a dictatorial regime as well as frightening visions of impending doom.