{"id":30530,"date":"2012-12-20T10:57:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-20T10:57:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-05-14T18:43:17","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T18:43:17","slug":"5530-what-happened-in-china-in-2-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/5530-what-happened-in-china-in-2-12\/","title":{"rendered":"What happened in China in 2012?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>January<\/b><span><br \/>\n<\/span><span><span>The year got off to a bang &ndash; literally. The customary fireworks set off for Chinese New Year (around 600 million yuan&rsquo;s worth in Beijing alone) triggered a dangerous spike in levels of fine particulates (PM2.5), a pollutant linked to asthma and lung cancer. As a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/blog\/4740-Toxic-toll-of-China-s-fiery-skies\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>debate about the environmental hazards<\/span><\/a><span> of China&rsquo;s explosive festivities got under way, however, there was a glimmer of good news: the spike was reflected in an air-pollution index just launched by Beijing&rsquo;s authorities, giving credence to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/4734-What-the-smog-can-t-conceal-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>government promises<\/span><\/a><span> to improve public air quality data in 2012. Air pollution remained a hot topic throughout the year &ndash; even prompting a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/totobobo.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/pm2-5-theme-of-the-midi-music-festival-in-beijing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>PM2.5-themed rock concert<\/span><\/a> in Beijing.<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><b><span><br \/>\nFebruary<\/span><\/b><span><br \/>\n<span>Conservationists welcomed an announcement from upmarket Shangri-La hotels that the chain would <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/blog\/4763-Shangri-la-hotels-drop-shark-fin\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>no longer serve shark fin<\/span><\/a><span> at any of its hotels and resorts and planned to phase out Bluefin tuna and Chilean sea bass during 2012. The news followed long-running campaigns to raise awareness about the impacts of overfishing and eating endangered species in China. Momentum appears to be picking up: a proposal to ban shark fin from government banquets also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/4806-Greening-the-two-sessions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>featured among the green proposals<\/span><\/a><span> put forward during China&rsquo;s annual parliamentary session in early March.<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><b>March<\/b><span><br \/>\n<span>A coalition of Chinese NGOs conducted an investigation into whitening cosmetic products, finding <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/english.peopledaily.com.cn\/90882\/7783105.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>23% of samples<\/span><\/a><span> contained hazardous levels of mercury. It wasn&rsquo;t the only incident to fray public nerves over the safety of everyday products this year: in April, CCTV revealed a factory in Hebei province had been selling gelatine made from leather scraps for use in medicine capsules. And in May, a student&rsquo;s database of food-safety scandals <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/4946-Catalogue-of-a-crisis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>crashed after getting 25,000 hits in two hours<\/span><\/a><span>. While public despair over China&rsquo;s food safety crisis grew, Chinese official Wang Guowei shrugged off the panic in an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/5098-Official-shrugs-off-public-food-panic-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>interview with <i>chinadialogue<\/i><\/span><\/a><span>, saying the Chinese people had a &ldquo;poor understanding&rdquo; of the issues.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/reports\/5374-Food-safety-in-China\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>Also see: chinadialogue&rsquo;s special report &ldquo;Food safety in China&rdquo;<\/span><\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><b>April<\/b><span><br \/>\n<span>State media reported that another 100,000 people may have to be <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/blog\/4886-Fresh-concerns-over-China-s-dams\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>moved from the Three Gorges Dam area<\/span><\/a><span> over the next three to five years due to heightened risk of landslides. News of the probable relocations &ndash; coming after 1.2 million people were already moved to make way for the US$30 billion structure &ndash; bolstered concern about the links between mega dams and geological disasters. A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/5261-Mega-dams-in-China-s-earthquake-zones-could-have-disastrous-consequences-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>report from campaign group Probe International<\/span><\/a><span>, which looked at 130 dam sites in western China, claimed 48.2% lay in zones of high to very high seismic hazard, adding fuel to the fire.<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><b>May<\/b><span><br \/>\n<span>May 17 saw China&rsquo;s first auction of drilling rights for shale gas exploration as the country <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/5064-Will-China-exploit-its-shale-gas-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>seeks to replicate US success<\/span><\/a><span> in the unconventional gas market. Though many argue China&rsquo;s potentially vast reserves of shale gas could help wean it off carbon-intensive coal, the development had a mixed reception. Environmentalists <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/5062-Bill-McKibben-China-should-rethink-gas-fracking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>urged caution<\/span><\/a><span>, pointing to the large quantities of water needed for drilling in water-scarce regions of China and tales of America&rsquo;s poorly regulated fracking boom. The government is aiming for 6.5 billion cubic metres of shale-gas production per year by 2015.<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><b>June<\/b><span><br \/>\n<span>A move to launch boating tours on one of Tibet&rsquo;s sacred lakes sparked a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/5114-Tibetans-fight-tourism-on-holy-lakes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>public outcry<\/span><\/a><span> and eventually suspension of the project. Opponents argued that Yamdrok Lake, where monks come to pray when &ldquo;Living Buddhas&rdquo; such as the Dalai Lama die, would be turned into a &ldquo;money-making playground for local government and tourism companies&rdquo;. Tourism is now firmly on the list of perceived threats to the fragile Qinghai-Tibet plateau, along with dam construction, wildlife poaching and grassland degradation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>July<\/b><br \/>\n<\/span><span>The events of July confirmed 2012 as China&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/5438-Officials-struggling-to-respond-to-China-s-year-of-environment-protests-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>year of environmental protests<\/span><\/a><span> and shone a light on the struggle of officials to respond to the growth of civil unrest. Mass demonstrations broke out first against construction of a copper factory in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/5049-Shifang-a-crisis-of-local-rule\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shifang<\/a><span>, Sichuan province, and later over a planned pipeline to take wastewater&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/UserFiles\/Image\/Blog\/BeijingFloods.jpeg\" alt=\"Beijing Floods\" width=\"200\" height=\"131\" vspace=\"10\" hspace=\"10\" align=\"left\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span><span>from a Japanese-owned paper plant to the sea in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/blog\/5076-Qidong-protest-another-polluting-project-cancelled\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Qidong<\/a><span>, Jiangsu. The autumn saw another huge protest, in Ningbo city, this time against expansion of a paraxylene (PX) plant. In each case, the offending project was cancelled.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>July was also a tragic month for Beijing, where at least 37 people died after the heaviest rains in at least 60 years saw <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/5061-Beijing-floods-not-enough-prevention\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>flash flooding<\/span><\/a><span>, causing hand-wringing over the capacity of the capital to deal with extreme weather. Flooding official Cheng Xiaotao told <i>chinadialogue <\/i>the city had focused too heavily on disaster response rather than prevention.<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><b>August<\/b><span><br \/>\nChina published its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/blog\/5095-China-publishes-Five-Year-Plan-for-renewables\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">12<sup>th<\/sup><span> Five-Year Plan for renewable energy<\/span><\/a><span> in August, with a particular emphasis on hydropower, wind, solar and biomass. Targets include 290 gigawatts of installed hydropower capacity, 100 gigawatts of wind and 21 gigawatts of solar by 2015, as part of a government commitment to source 9.5% of total energy from clean sources by the same year. Emission-cutting ambitions were also reflected in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/blog\/5090-China-to-toughen-up-car-emissions-standards-next-year\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>environment ministry&rsquo;s announcement<\/span><\/a><span> that cars would be subject to tougher exhaust standards as of next year. It&rsquo;s worth noting, however, that previous attempts to improve car fuel standards have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/4778\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>hit stumbling blocks in China<\/span><\/a>.<br \/>\n<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><b>September<\/b><span><br \/>\nPresident Obama <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/5194-Obama-blocks-Chinese-owned-wind-farm-in-the-US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>blocked Chinese company Ralls Corp from buying four wind farms<\/span><\/a><span> near a US navy base in Oregon, citing national security concerns. His tough stance was interpreted by many as a play to voters&rsquo; anti-China sentiment in the run-up to the presidential elections. <span>But it&rsquo;s also symptomatic of an increasingly hostile global clean-tech market. <\/span>The US this year announced plans to impose 15% tariffs on solar imports from China to offset subsidies it blames for flooding the market with cheap PV panels. EU regulators have made <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/11\/09\/business\/global\/europe-intensifies-chinese-solar-panel-investigation.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>similar accusations<\/span><\/a>, and are meanwhile <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/5327-Exploding-the-myths-of-the-EU-China-aviation-row\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>locked in a dispute with China<\/span><\/a><span> over plans to include airlines in their cap-and-trade scheme. <\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><b>October<\/b><span><br \/>\n<span>Global clothing brands including Armani, Calvin Klein and Zara, were linked to devastating water pollution in China in an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/blog\/5203-Top-clothing-brands-linked-to-water-pollution-scandal-in-China\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>investigation into the Chinese textile industry<\/span><\/a><span>. A coalition of Chinese NGOs, led by the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, identified 49 top brands it said were using polluting factories to manufacture their clothing lines.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><b><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/UserFiles\/Image\/Blog\/great%20hall%20of%20people.jpg\" alt=\"The Great Hall\" width=\"200\" height=\"150\" vspace=\"11\" hspace=\"11\" align=\"right\" \/>November<\/b><span><br \/>\n<span>All eyes turned to China in November as the country&rsquo;s next generation of leaders was formally unveiled at the 18<\/span><\/span><sup>th<\/sup><span> National Party Congress. Party chiefs placed renewed emphasis on the environment at the once-in-five-year event, with outgoing president Hu Jintao reiterating his call for construction of an &ldquo;<\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/5339-An-insight-into-the-green-vocabulary-of-the-Chinese-communist-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>ecological civilisation<\/span><\/a>&rdquo;.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/blog\/5315-Eight-major-challenges-for-China-s-new-leaders\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>Also see: Eight major challenges for China&rsquo;s new leaders<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><i>chinadialogue <\/i><span>also held its first ever live, online discussion, bringing together energy experts from both China and the US, plus members of the public, to discuss climate policy and the relationship between the two superpowers. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/blog\/5255-LIVE-DISCUSSION-the-US-China-relationship\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>Read the full transcript of the discussion.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>December<\/b><br \/>\nThe final month of the year saw the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/blog\/5429-Environmentalist-Liu-Futang-found-guilty-of-illegal-business-activities-\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">conviction<\/a><span> of Chinese environmentalist Liu Futang for &ldquo;illegal business activities&rdquo; in a court in Hainan, south China. Liu, winner of the citizen journalist category in <i>chinadialogue<\/i>&rsquo;s 2012 environmental press awards, was accused of profiting illegally from self-published books about environmental destruction on Hainan island, despite the fact he gave most of his books away for free. He was given a three-year suspended prison sentence and fined 17,000 yuan. Coming just weeks after the Chinese government&rsquo;s high-profile advocacy of an ecological civilisation, the verdict left many <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/blog\/5467-Liu-Futang-s-verdict-causes-worry-amongst-China-s-green-activists\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>questioning the authorities&rsquo; commitment<\/span><\/a><span> to environmental protection.<\/span><\/span><span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>\n\n\n<style>\n \/* Style Definitions *\/\n table.MsoNormalTable\n\t{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\";\n\tmso-style-parent:\"\";\n\tline-height:115%;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\"Calibri\",\"sans-serif\";}\n<\/style>\n\n\n<![endif]--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From mass protests to trade wars, shale-gas drilling to hazardous cosmetics, it&rsquo;s been a topsy turvy 12 months for China&rsquo;s environment. Here&rsquo;s a quick refresher of the year that was.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":603,"featured_media":56199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[758,760],"tags":[],"hashtags":[],"country":[],"class_list":["post-30530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-pollution"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What happened in China in 2012? | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From mass protests to trade wars, shale-gas drilling to hazardous cosmetics, it&rsquo;s been a topsy turvy 12 months for China&rsquo;s environment. 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Here&rsquo;s a quick refresher of the year that was.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/5530-what-happened-in-china-in-2-12\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dialogue Earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-20T10:57:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-14T18:43:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/2603034641_576ddc3110___.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"299\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Olivia Boyd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/5530-what-happened-in-china-in-2-12\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/5530-what-happened-in-china-in-2-12\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Olivia Boyd\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/73d5514bc82e9db156b8eca6bfbbfe9f\"},\"headline\":\"What happened in China in 2012?\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-20T10:57:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-14T18:43:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/5530-what-happened-in-china-in-2-12\/\"},\"wordCount\":1240,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/5530-what-happened-in-china-in-2-12\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/2603034641_576ddc3110___.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Pollution\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/5530-what-happened-in-china-in-2-12\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/5530-what-happened-in-china-in-2-12\/\",\"name\":\"What happened in China in 2012? | Dialogue Earth\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/5530-what-happened-in-china-in-2-12\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/5530-what-happened-in-china-in-2-12\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/2603034641_576ddc3110___.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-20T10:57:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-14T18:43:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"From mass protests to trade wars, shale-gas drilling to hazardous cosmetics, it&rsquo;s been a topsy turvy 12 months for China&rsquo;s environment. 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