The history of environmental problems and policies in China is typically dealt with from one of two perspectives. The internalist perspective views the evolution of China's environmental problems and policies as primarily the result of China's political economy. Most scholars, including Judith Shapiro, Elizabeth C. Economy, Vaclav Smil, and the researchers associated with the Japanese Society for the Chinese Environment take this approach. The externalist perspective, in contrast, sees international trade and environmentalism as the main forces shaping Chinese environmental history. This perspective is taken by scholars who focus on China's environmental diplomacy and international trade. In my opinion, the two perspectives represent extremes that do not reflect the reality of the recent environmental history of China. Elsewhere, I have set China's environmental history in the context of the transformation of its political economy and society. Expanding on that study, I consider the Cold War context of China's environmental problems and policies in this essay. I argue that the evolution of environmental problems and policies in China has resulted from the interaction of internal forces and external forces.

SOCIALIST CONSTRUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, 1949–1972

China was economically and socially backward at the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC):