Environmental Protection Attempts in the Early Days of the People’s Republic of China

The convening of the first National Environmental Protection Conference in August 1973 marked the beginning of modern environmental governance in China. Almost all retrospective studies on environmental protection in China regard this conference as the starting point of modern environmental governance in the country, while, due to the lack of information and other reasons, environmental protection activities prior to this conference are rarely discussed. Even if there is such discussion, the information given is usually quite vague. However, in fact, without the long-term efforts made by the Chinese government in environmental protection before the conference, it would be difficult for the country to kick-start the environmental efforts in the modern sense smoothly in 1973. This article aims to deepen people’s understanding of China’s environmental protection efforts before the first National Environmental Protection Conference. We have found and examined sufficient historical records on the environmental protection efforts of the Chinese government during that period, and laid out the characteristics of different stages and the connections of these efforts with environmental protection activities after the second National Environmental Protection Conference.