Comments on Recent Mass Protests of Environmental Pollution in China

Abstract

After years of rapid economic development, environmental pollution has become a big concern to the general public in China. Numerous mass protests happened because of actual or perceived environmental pollution. This article makes a case study of three recent mass protests to find the features and deeper causes of mass protests for environmental issues. It concludes that, without sufficient information disclosure, the general public may still protest and the government may yeild, even if a project followed all governmental procedures and obtained all governmental approvals. This harms both the credibility of the government and the economy, and eventually the interests of the public. Chinese government has found the deeper causes and is working on the right direction.