Rebuilding Government Credibility in Chinese Environmental Resident Activism

摘要

Environmental activism gives hope for better environmental governance in the future not only in developed countries but also in China.1 Compared with other forms of environmental activism, such as grassroots campaigns and legal suits on the grounds of environmental infringement, neighborhood-based environmental resident protest is the most common form of environmental activism in China. Chinese environmental resident activities occur frequently where there are high levels of urbanization and industrialization. Worldwide-known activities include protest incidents against paraxylene (PX) chemical plants in Xiamen and Dalian, trash incinerators in Beijing and Guangzhou, and maglev rail in Shanghai. For example, on August 14, 2011, thousands of residents of Dalian, a northeastern Chinese port city, gathered in front of the municipal government office to demand the relocation of a PX chemical plant.