Abstract
With the introduction of the “Reform and Opening-up Policy” in 1978, China has entered a new period of social transition, but the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization has increased the burden on the environment, and serious environmental pollution has spread throughout China.
Although the central government has made it clear that it is aiming for a drastic solution to the environmental problems that are becoming increasingly serious, and is actively strengthening its policies, the uniform implementation of these policies has had a not insignificant impact on people's lives and has caused further problems. In particular, we would like to focus on the fact that although it has been pointed out that modern Chinese society has entered a “risk society,” it is derived from a “compressed modernity,” unlike the modernization of the West.
Since contemporary China is in a situation where “government-led environmental governance” has been formed, most of the previous studies have discussed the issue from the macro-relationship of “state and society,” either from an external perspective based on international relations surrounding China, or in response to China's own system.
In this special issue, therefore, we would like to focus on environmental issues in globalizing China and look at the structural challenges of governance in response to these issues from unique political, economic, and social perspectives. At the same time, we would like to pay particular attention to the life practices and activities of people living through the drastic social transition in China. We compiled this special issue in the midst of the unprecedented two-year COVID-19 pandemic, and we hope that 7 papers in this special issue will convey to our readers the importance of reexamining the issues from the perspective of people living in each region.
