Growth economy and its ecological impacts upon China: An eco-socialist analysis

Abstract

While identifying the emerging features of China's economy as a growth economy, this chapter argues that the real ecological threat is the increasing dependence of Chinese economy and society on economic growth itself, and that building socialist ecological civilisation, or a new pattern of eco-socialism, may function as a greener and more fruitful political ecology to resist or reverse this tendency. After 30 years of carrying out the reform and openness policy, in the author's observation, China is standing at a crucial crossroad: not very much in terms of the stages of its economic growth, but whether or not it can move forward to a sustainable future. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.