The document discusses how both communism and capitalism have contributed to environmental degradation and pollution in China. Under Mao Zedong's communist rule, nature was seen as a tool for humans to exploit, resulting in widespread environmental destruction through large-scale state-led projects like the Great Leap Forward. Currently, China has a more capitalist economic system, but coal mining continues for its profitability despite harmful pollution, as the government has not done much to reduce coal use.

1. The People’s Republic of China is a communist country, but it
now has a more capitalist economic system. Communism and
capitalism both have ties to environmental degradation and
pollution in China.
Mao Zedong left a legacy of environmental destruction that
said that nature was supposed to be only a tool for humans to
use.
“Mao and the Communist Party launched a series of economic
and social policies and large development projects that
transformed and degraded the environment.”
-Judith Shapiro, author of Mao’s War Against Nature
Most of these projects are seen in the Great Leap Forward from
1958 to 1961. The Communist government of China was also
greatly influenced by the Soviet Union, which had also run several
huge, state-led projects.
Coal mining is one of the main causes of pollution in China, and
so far the government of China has not done much to cut down
the amount of coal mining that is done.
According to the United Nations Statistics Division,
“Energy consumption in China last year reached 3.62 billion tons
of standard coal, accounting for 20 percent of the world’s total.” –
China Daily
Introduction
Data
Historical Context
This table shows the production, trade, and the supply of coal.
Measurements are -thousand metric tons of coal equivalent and kilograms
per capita. China’s production of coal is much higher than
There are great capitalist incentives to keep mining coal, despite the
environmental damage the practice does in China. The health of the
citizens of China and Japan can also be affected due to air pollution.
Examples
“Yangzhou Coal Mining Co, China’s third largest
listed coal miner by market value, saw 1.95 billion
yuan (about $317 million) in net profit in the first
three quarters of 2014.”
-China Daily
“China is expected to rely on coal to
power much of its future development
because of its abundant domestic
reserves and low costs, and because the
nation’s infrastructure is better developed
at this time for coal than other energy
resources.”
-Humphries Marc, US Congress Session
106-1
China’s communist government notoriously known for hiding their
environmental or pollution statistics from the rest of the world.
The amount of pollution and environmental degradation there is
however very apparent and not much seems to have been done to solve
the problem.
There have been some movements by China to head towards more
renewable energy sources.
China recently, has stopped any new coal plant projects (NY Times),
and instead there has been a noticeable shift to creating huge solar
farms.
“Man Must Conquer Nature”
“Greater, Faster, Better,
More Economical”
Place in Political
Geography
Policy
Power
Territory/
Environment
How the capitalist/communist pairing
works relative to environmental issues
with coal mining in China?
Research Question
These environmental statistics show the amount of emissions
China has released in a year. China is notoriously known for
hiding their environmental or pollution statistics from the rest
of the world. This data was found through the United Nations
website and news articles from China.
(mostly from China Daily).
Coal Mining
Conclusion
These images show
the correlation
between where
people in China live
and pollution
Legacy of Mao Zedong
Communism
Capitalism
Communist Party
Environmental
Degradation
Pollution
Great Leap
Forward
Coal
Mining
Government
Control and
Profit
Development
By Aubree Payne
Mao Zedong