Implementation Problems of Rural Ecodevelopment Policy in China

Abstract

All throughout China's modern period the so-called "livelihood of the people" has been a burning issue. One of the problems associated with this is how to maintain the balance between the exigencies of economic growth and development and the preservation of the environment. As an issue this is nothing really new and every Chinese administration has attempted to deal with it to some degree. This article examines the shape of eco-development policy since the Chinese government has been headed by Deng Xiaoping who returned to power in the middle of 1977. Policies on both the micro and macro scales are examined, and of these, two types are analysed in detail: firstly, transformative policies or in other words those which attempt to transform and control the natural environment (through irrigation projects, for example) and secondly, adaptive policies which attempt to react and adjust to the exigencies of a given environment (through a policy of migration, for instance). On both the micro and macro levels there is a further analysis of each type of policy in terms of two variables 1) the administrative structures which impinge upon policy implementation and 2) practical problems of management. Finally, the prospects for success are assessed in terms of wider issues of political economy which have a bearing upon eco-development policies, including the role of international finance, trade and cooperation.