ABSTRACT
China has suffered severe environmental problems in urban industrial and rural areas, but has pursued an environmental policy that has remained surprisingly consistent despite significant changes in China's political situation. Unfortunately, China has also been consistent in its failure to fully implement all of the environmental measures proposed over the years. China contributed significantly to the ecodevelopment approach - that is, to environmental sustainability - because it has maintained the conviction that environmental considerations are an integral part of development policy. But just as development policy in China since 1949 has oscillated between a strategy of distribution first and then growth and growth first and then distribution, there has also been a double tradition of gentle adjustment and massive transformation in relation to nature and environment.
