Blue Skies over Wuhan

China is one of the world’s largest industrial polluters, and balancing the environmental concerns of citizens, the demands of industry, and the interests of the nation is a complex challenge.

Blue Skies over Wuhan uses Hubei Province – and particularly its sprawling industrial capital, Wuhan City – as a case study of growing environmental awareness in China in the 1970s and ’80s. Yun Liu painstakingly sifts through a wealth of incident records from the period to explore the evolution of environmental protection policy. As citizens became aware of the extent of environmental damage, a grassroots movement for reform emerged. Agencies were established at the local level to adapt and implement regulations to address air pollution, industrial effluent, and soil contamination. Reports document repeated sectoral conflicts in this early system of public crisis management, when measures to contain industrial emissions largely failed because of inadequate policy implementation and environmental goverance.

Nonetheless, the close attention that Blue Skies over Wuhan gives to newly uncovered evidence reveals a symbiotic relationship between communities and state actors that shaped the trajectory of pollution regulation. An agenda focused on economic growth priorities ultimately gave way to a more mature, state-led approach to environmental governance.