Improving the Environmental Performance of China's Cities

The government of the People's Republic of China is extremely sensitive to international pressure, and it often reacts with outrage to what it considers unwarranted foreign attempts to interfere in its domestic affairs (Okabe 1998, 176). ¹ Therefore, it is not surprising that there is no evidence of Chinese pollution management policies being affected by either international economic or political pressure. ² Instead, the Chinese government's pollution management programs have largely been influenced by internal developments, particularly the partial liberalization of its economy that started in 1979 and the decentralization of decisionmaking that accompanied it.