Voices of Protest Against Industrial Pollution in Hubei, China, During the 1970s and 1980s

Yun Liu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article examines local official records to find voices of protest against industrial pollution in Hubei, China, during its early reform era from the 1970s to the 1980s. Archival evidence from unpublished official documents indicates that to some extent local officers responded to citizens’ petitions against two main forms of industrial pollution: air pollution and soil pollution. Air pollution mostly affected urban residents but elicited more contention. Soil pollution got comparatively less exposure but caused more direct damage to impacted peasants. Both rural and urban victims of industrial pollution projected their own voices of protest typically by submitting group-authored and signed or anonymous whistle-blowing letters. Protests against pollution emerged with inter-group conflict negotiation in public or semi-public venues as well as in local investigation reports. The findings discussed here help to explain how local environmental governance evolved through increasing public awareness at subnational levels in China’s early reform years.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)601-620
Number of pages20
JournalEnvironment and History
Volume28
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • China
  • Hubei
  • conflict negotiation
  • environmental govern-ance
  • local protest
  • public awareness
  • rural and urban pollution

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Voices of Protest Against Industrial Pollution in Hubei, China, During the 1970s and 1980s'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this