Environmental NGOs and the Anti-Dam Movements in China: A Social Movement with Chinese Characteristics

Abstract

The nature of state-society relations in China has been undergoing a process of change over the past few decades. It is a process that cannot be obscured, in which the state and society are incessantly shaping and re-shaping their relations. In the wake of market-oriented reforms, and due to the emergence of environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Chinese state has also gradually opened up to the international community, allowing the linkages between international and domestic NGOs to be enhanced, and this has further transformed state-society relations in China. Focusing on the development of environmental NGOs, this article provides insights into China`s changing state-society relations and explores the key factors that greatly facilitate the transformation of these relations. The anti-dam movements, which have developed in reaction to the Three Gorges Dam and the Nujiang project, as well as the issues of resettlement and environmental protection associated with the dam construction, have caused a new wave of interaction between the state and society and resulted in a new social movement with Chinese characteristics.