Green is the New Red

March 12, 2008 | Category: China, Environment, politics

The above photo, from a “water appreciation walk” organized by a Beijing environmental NGO last weekend, captures nicely what to me is the most stunning characteristic of China’s new green movement: It’s almost incomprehensible optimism. These people are standing next a shallow, fetid ribbon of water filled with algae blooms that runs (or rather, sits and festers) between a pair of sloping concrete banks along the western edge of the new Olympic park. The paper in the kid’s hands is a set of statistics detailing the doom that awaits Beijing as its water supplies dwindle. Yet he is smiling. His audience is rapt, not in the least defeated. The scene reminded me of another Chinese movement that once produced similar imagery (see below). Let’s just hope for better results this time around.

For more photos from the water walk, click here.

Tags: beijing, cultural revolution, Environment, water pollution

One Comments

Jonathan Hassid on March 12th, 2008
1
This is such an awesome photo, and I think the CCP is still putting out the occasional propaganda poster. You should shop it around.

And your optimism is justified to a point, I think, But it is also relevant that the people here all were either college students or retirees. Like a lot of other social activities, environmentalism requires people with free time, and that may limit its appeal in a place where free time is at such a premium. In other words, environmentalism in China may be a niche industry for a long time.

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About the Author

Josh Chin is a freelance journalist based in Beijing. He also once worked as a sous chef in a French restaurant in San Francisco. Neither job has been good for his health.