ABSTRACT
Huanjing (environment) is a common word in everyday conversations in contemporary China. It is used to depict the investment environment (touzi huanjing), working environment (gongzuo huanjing), recreational environment (yule h uanjing), family environment (jiating huanjing), and the natural environment (ziran huanjing). The written character huan can variably mean ‘ring’, ‘link’ and ‘surround’, or ‘encircle’, while jing may mean ‘condition or situation’, ‘border’, ‘boundary’, or ‘area’ (Han Ying Cidian 1995). The term huanjing thus may reference the conditions that make something possible, such as the conditions that allow for good returns on one’s business investment. It also may depict the spaces in which something occurs, for example, the space of the city or the family; and it may help demarcate one site from another, such as in the comparison of two city environments.
