EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Section 20 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 221 other parts of China hurried here to find work and settle. They transformed the “barbarian” low-lying wet- land into the”fertile farmland”. Following the decline of mining business since the nineteenth century, this glorious image had turned into the bleak picture of the dilapidated frontier land in the early twentieth cen- tury. Taking bazi land of northeastern Yunnan between 1700–1900 as examples, this paper aims to rethink how the dynamic relationship of environment and various groups were contextualized by social, economic and cultural conditions in Chinese southwest frontier. It also intends to explore the continuity and change of human environment interactions during the process of state building and social transformation in late imperial and modern China. Li Hongtao (Zhejiang University) Environmental APPs and Public Participation in Smog Control: A Case Study of “Blue Sky Map” Key words: social media, smog, APP, NGO, environmental governance With smog now constituting a daily health threat to Chinese people, many pollution tracking APPs have come into the market to meet a rising demand for smog related information. Most APPs only provide PM 2.5 data, Air Quality Index and suggest precautions to be taken. However, some grassroots activists also use them as alternative media to kickstart transparency of environmental monitoring and public participation in environmental governance. Drawing upon the literature on alternative media, environmental governance and social movement, this paper investigates a particular APP, “Blue Sky Map” ( 蔚蓝地图 ), formerly known as “Pollution Map” developed by a Beijing-based NGO, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE). Based on in-depth interviews with members of IPE and users of the APP, and a content analysis of the APP’s official weibo account, the paper seeks to understand the interaction between environmental NGOs, Chinese netizens, and polluters, as well as local environmental protection bureaus. The major questions addressed include: How does the NGO collect officially released data and make it accessible to the general public on its APP interface? How do Chinese netizens use social media to expose major polluters and exert public pressure on local authorities? What is the effect and implication of such participation on China’s environmental governance? Liu Zhaohui (Zhejiang University) The Risk of Air Pollution and the Promise of Wealth: the Complexities of ‘the Local’ Key words: air pollution, development, popular perceptions, individualization The inherent global nature of air pollution, moving across regions and causing climate change, requires both close international cooperation and loyal local implementation of new environmental regulations and standards. In China, recent political ambitions to combat pollution and secure economic growth without further damaging the environment pose unprecedented constraints and expectations on local officials, industrial managers, communities, and individuals. Consequently, vested interests are exposed in new ways, and while some groups and individuals find new space for voicing their concern, others seek refuge in silence or compliance. This paper approaches the issue of air pollution from the complex perspective of one city comprising also rural areas, in Zhejiang Province. Based on fieldwork and inter- views between 2014–2016 the paper discusses how different stakeholders among the general population within this locality perceive and respond differently to the risk of air pollution in light of the continued drive for rapid economic development. Taking theories of individualization into the Chinese cultural- political context, the paper attempts to better understand how and when people respond with individual solutions to collective problems of pollution, what the local inhabitants expect from their government and what prompts — or prevents — coordinated forms of agency in a Chinese community. (the paper is co-authored by Zhaohui Liu and Mette Halskov Hansen).