Airborne: Pollution, Climate Change, and Visions of Sustainability in China (completed)

• Aunan, Kristin; Hansen, Mette Halskov; Liu, Zhaohui & Wang, Shuxiao (2019). The Hidden Hazard of Household Air Pollution in Rural China. Environmental Science and Policy. ISSN 1462-9011. 93(March), p. 27–33. doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2018.12.004. Full text in Research Archive
• Svarverud, Rune (2019). Genealogy of Chinese Perceptions of “Polluted Air”: Conceptual Change and the Terminological Landscape of Air Pollution in Modern China. 東亞觀念史集刊. ISSN 2303-9205. 17. Show summary

  This article addresses Chinese concepts of air quality and air pollution by applying theoretical and methodological perspectives from the field of conceptual history, arguing for the relevance of these perspectives for the study of modern conceptual change in China, particularly in the period from the 1920s to the 1970s. By analyzing terms for the perceived relationship between air and health in Chinese discourse since the 1840s, a link can be made between conceptual changes and China’s social history. Questions about air quality were first attached to ideas about modern hygiene, translated and transposed as knowledge from the West. Later smoke emissions from industry became part of the Chinese discourse on air and health, after which, in the 1970s, generic concepts of air pollution were popularized in China. With some modifications, the criteria developed as traits of modernity by Koselleck and other advocates of conceptual history are well suited to analyze conceptual shifts and modernity. This article argues that the period between the 1920s and the 1970s was a period of major conceptual transformation with regard to air and health in China and is found to demarcate a saddle period in Chinese conceptual history with regard to air pollution.

• Hu, Ruolan; Wang, Shuxiao; Aunan, Kristin; Zhao, M.J.; Chen, L. & Liu, Zhaohui [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2019). Personal exposure to PM2.5 in Chinese rural households in the Yangtze River Delta. Indoor Air: International Journal of Indoor Environment and Health. ISSN 0905-6947. 29(3), p. 403–412. doi: 10.1111/ina.12537. Full text in Research Archive
• Ahlers, Anna Lisa & Shen, Yongdong (2019). Blue Sky Fabrication in China: Science-Policy Integration in Air Pollution Regulation Campaigns for Mega-Events. Environmental Science and Policy. ISSN 1462-9011. 94, p. 135–142. doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2018.12.005. Full text in Research Archive
• Ahlers, Anna Lisa & Shen, Yongdong (2018). Local Environmental Governance Innovation in China: Staging ‘Triangular Dialogues’ for Industrial Air Pollution Control . Journal of Chinese Governance. ISSN 2381-2346. 3(3), p. 351–369. doi: 10.1080/23812346.2018.1486347. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov; Li, Hongtao & Svarverud, Rune (2018). Ecological civilization: Interpreting the Chinese past, projecting the global future. Global Environmental Change. ISSN 0959-3780. 53(November), p. 195–203. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.09.014. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Ecological civilization (shengtai wenming) has been written into China’s constitution as the ideological framework for the country’s environmental policies, laws and education. It is also increasingly presented not only as a response to environmental degradation in China, but as a vision for our global future. In this article, scholars from the disciplines of media science, anthropology and sinology analyse media representations of eco-civilization in order to explore which values and visions this highly profiled state project actually entails. The article argues that eco-civilization is best understood as a sociotechnical imaginary in which cultural and moral virtues constitute key components that are inseparable from the more well-known technological, judicial, and political goals. The imaginary of eco-civilization seeks to construct a sense of cultural and national continuity, and to place China at the center of the world by invoking its civilization’s more than 2000 years of traditional philosophical heritage as a part of the solution for the planet’s future. It is constructed as a new kind of Communist Party led utopia in which market economy and consumption continue to grow, and where technology and science have solved the basic problems of pollution and environmental degradation.

• Svarverud, Rune (2018). Ventilation for the Nation: Fresh Air, Sunshine, and the Warfare on Germs in China's National Quest for Hygienic Modernity, 1849-1949. Environment and History. ISSN 0967-3407. doi: 10.3197/096734018X15254461646558. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article analyses ideas about indoor air pollution, fresh and foul air, ventilation and modern hygiene in China during the century between 1849 and 1949. The main focus is on conceptions of and provisions against air pollution in China during this period. The article scrutinises the early history of air pollution in China through a study of the introduction of scientific information, the foreign inspiration for health, hygiene and ventilation, the popular discourse, and the dissemination of knowledge about air quality, fresh air and ventilation. Air pollution in this article is understood in a broad sense involving all airborne substances seen to have adverse health effects on humans, thus including ideas about the positive and negative health effects of clean and fresh air, dust particles, germs and sunshine. This is a story of how science and technology formed part of the history of transmission of knowledge from West to East and how this knowledge took on new and indigenous forms in its Chinese context. This analysis can serve as a historical grounding for understanding current interpretations of fresh and foul air in China today.

• Zhao, Bin; Zheng, Haotian; Wang, Shuxiao; Smith, Kirk R.; Lu, Xi & Aunan, Kristin [Show all 14 contributors for this article] (2018). Change in household fuels dominates the decrease in PM2.5 exposure and premature mortality in China in 2005–2015. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. ISSN 0027-8424. 115(49), p. 12401–12406. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1812955115.
• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Liu, Zhaohui (2018). Air Pollution and Grassroots Echoes of “Ecological Civilization” in Rural China. The China Quarterly. ISSN 0305-7410. 234(June), p. 320–339. doi: 10.1017/S0305741017001394. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article places the study of rural environmental activism in the wider context of the Chinese government's promotion of Ecological Civilization (shengtai wenming 生态文明). Ecological Civilization is, we argue, a top-down imaginary of China's future that opens up space for environmental agency while setting authoritative standards for how to frame protests in a logic of science and social stability. The article compares how residents in a small cluster of villages in Zhejiang province dealt with different sources of air pollution over a span of ten years: how, when and why they chose to negotiate with local officials and industrial managers to prevent or reduce air pollution, and what the outcome was. We found that in addition to a consciousness of the right to protest, villagers had come to regard the ability to evoke science in negotiations with officials and industrial managers as crucial for success. We suggest that the forms of environmental activism we observed were in effect “containable protests” that befit the state-initiated national imaginary of an ecologically civilized world.

• Aunan, Kristin; Hansen, Mette Halskov & Wang, Shuxiao (2018). Introduction: Air Pollution in China. The China Quarterly. ISSN 0305-7410. 234, p. 279–298. doi: 10.1017/S0305741017001369. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This introduction provides an overview and analysis of key scientific data regarding air pollution in China. It constitutes a reference for understanding how policymakers, media and population in China make sense of and deal with air pollution, as discussed in the other articles of the section. We summarize the major characteristics and trends regarding air pollution in China, including its main sources and composition, levels of population exposure across the country, attributable mortality, and mitigation efforts. We also compare current levels of air pollution in China with other parts of the world and in a historical perspective. While the situation remains dire in many regions, particularly the Northeast, we conclude that there are signs of relief, or at least a halt to the increase in ambient air pollution levels. At the same time, critical issues regarding unequal levels of exposure remain, and health damaging levels of air pollution in cities will undoubtedly remain high for a long time to come. The rural population residing in areas close to industry and polluted cities and still depending on solid household fuels will likely be the worst off when it comes to air pollution exposure.

• Li, Hongtao & Svarverud, Rune (2018). When London Hit the Headlines: Historical Analogy and the Chinese Media Discourse on Air Pollution. The China Quarterly. ISSN 0305-7410. 234, p. 357–376. doi: 10.1017/S0305741017001400. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article analyses how Chinese media make sense of smog and air pollu- tion in China through the lens of London’s past. Images of London, the fog city, have figured in the Chinese press since the 1870s, and this collective memory has made London a powerful yet malleable tool for discursive con- testation on how to frame China’s current air pollution problem, which con- stitutes part of news media’s hegemonic and counter-hegemonic practices. Although the classic images of London as a fog city persist to the present day, the new narrative centres on the 1952 Great Smog, which was rediscov- ered and mobilized by Chinese news media to build an historical analogy. In invoking this foreign past, official media use London to naturalize the smog problem in China and justify the official stance, while commercialized media emphasize the bitter lessons to be learned and call for government action.

• Aunan, Kristin; Ma, Qiao; Lund, Marianne Tronstad & Wang, Shuxiao (2018). Population-weighted exposure to PM 2.5 pollution in China: An integrated approach. Environment International. ISSN 0160-4120. 120, p. 111–120. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.07.042. Show summary

  Fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) is a major risk factor for premature death globally. Studies of the PM2.5 health burden usually treat exposure to ambient air pollution (AAP) and household air pollution from solid fuels (HAP) as separate risk factors. AAP and HAP can, however, be closely interrelated. Taking as the starting point that the total exposure to PM2.5 is what matters for health, and recognizing the curvilinear form of exposure-response functions for important health effects, we develop a method for estimating the total annual mean population-weighted personal exposure, denoted integrated population-weighted exposure (IPWE). To establish the IPWE in China, we used recent emission inventories, Chemical Transport Models, China Census data on population and residential fuel use, and estimates of the PM2.5 exposure among solid fuel users. We found an IPWE of 151 [123-179] microgr/m3, of which 62-74% was attributable to residential solid fuels through HAP exposure and the residential sector emissions’ contribution to AAP. We found large disparities in the PM2.5 exposure burden, with an estimated IPWE in rural populations nearly twice the level in urban populations. Using the IPWE metric, we estimated that 1.15 [1.09-1.19] million premature deaths were attributable to PM2.5 exposure annually in the period 2010-2013. Using the same data set, but calculating premature deaths from AAP and HAP in isolation, the estimated number was nearly 50% higher. The IPWE metric enables integration across AAP and HAP in policy analyses and could mitigate the concern of a potential double counting of the health burden that may arise from treating AAP and HAP as separate health risk factors.

• Ahlers, Anna Lisa & Shen, Yongdong (2017). Breathe Easy? Local Nuances of Authoritarian Environmentalism in China's Battle against Air Pollution. The China Quarterly. ISSN 0305-7410. 234, p. 299–319. doi: 10.1017/S0305741017001370. Full text in Research Archive
• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Ahlers, Anna Lisa (2017). Air Pollution: How Will China Win its Self-Declared War Against it? In Sternfeld, Eva (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Environmental Policy in China. Routledge. ISSN 1138831115. Full text in Research Archive
• Svarverud, Rune (2014). The Terminological Battle for 'Air' in Modern China. Wakumon. ISSN 1345-9899. 26, p. 23–44. Full text in Research Archive

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• Hansen, Mette Halskov; Svarverud, Rune & Ahlers, Anna Lisa (2020). The Great Smog of China: A Short Event History of Air Pollution. Association for Asian Studies. ISBN 9780924304927. 184 p. Show summary

  The Great Smog of China traces Chinese air pollution events dating back to more than 2,000 years ago. Based on the authors’ fieldwork, interviews and text studies, the book offers a short and concise history of selected air pollution incidents that for varying reasons prompted different kinds of responses and forms of engagement in Chinese society. The three authors, from the disciplines of anthropology, China studies and political science, identify traceable incidents of smog and air pollution that have been communicated in different media and came to impact society in various ways. This also informs a discussion of what it takes to transform people’s experiences of health and environmentally related risks of pollution into broader forms of socio-political agency.

• Hansen, Mette Halskov & Liu, Zhaohui (2018). A Window on the Sky: Chinese and Foreign Scholars Discuss the Atmospheric Environment and Its Governance. Zhejiang University Press. ISBN 978-7-308-18125-9. 193 p.

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• Flatø, Hedda (2019). Polluted perspectives: Perceived air quality, economic well-being and trust in China’s local governments.
• Aunan, Kristin (2019). Luftforurensning i India - årsaker og helseeffekter. [TV]. NRK Urix.
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Miljø i grisens år.
• Svarverud, Rune (2019). Programpost om miljø og klima i Kina. [Radio]. Radio Nova.
• Flatø, Hedda (2019). Studio 2, P2: Kinesiske holdninger til klima og luftforurensning. [Radio]. NRK Radio.
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). The hidden hazards of air pollution in China: The gender and class of household air pollution.
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Luftforurensning som game changer i Kina.
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Imagining Eco-Civilization and Protesting Air Pollution in China.
• Schmitt, Edwin & Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Solar Energy in China. [Internet]. Sci-Tech Asia.
• Hansen, Mette Halskov (2019). Kina - vår verden.
• Svarverud, Rune (2019). Air pollution before air pollution: Smoke nuisance, fresh air and dust in the air before air pollution became an issue in China.
• Ahlers, Anna Lisa & Shen, Yongdong (2018). 中国城市大气污染治理的政策与行动. In Hansen, Mette Halskov & Liu, Zhaohui (Ed.), 仰望窗外的天空--中外科学家对话空气环境与治理 (A Window on the Sky - Chinese and Foreign Scholar Discuss the Atmospheric Environment and Governance). Zhejiang University Press. ISSN 978-7-308-18125-9. p. 146–154.
• Ahlers, Anna Lisa (2018). Let a blue sky shine again: Air pollution governance in the German Ruhr area. In Hansen, Mette Halskov & Liu, Zhaohui (Ed.), 仰望窗外的天空--中外科学家对话空气环境与治理 (A Window on the Sky - Chinese and Foreign Scholar Discuss the Atmospheric Environment and Governance). Zhejiang University Press. ISSN 978-7-308-18125-9. p. 133–145.
• Aunan, Kristin (2018). Exposure matters: Integrated Population-Weighted Exposure as a metric for cost-effective and equitable air pollution abatement.
• Flatø, Hedda (2018). Class, air pollution and air quality awareness in China.
• Flatø, Hedda (2018). Risk, inequality and popular demand for government environmental protection in China.
• Aunan, Kristin (2017). China's 'Airpocalypse'. Impacts on human health and current efforts to reduce air pollution .
• Aunan, Kristin (2017). Muligens godt nytt: Kina puster tungt. [Newspaper]. Vårt Land.
• Aunan, Kristin & Wang, Shuxiao (2017). The role of household energy for population exposure and equitable air pollution policies.
• Ahlers, Anna Lisa (2017). Something’s in the air as environment becomes new battleground for China’s cadres. [Newspaper]. South China Morning Post.
• Ahlers, Anna Lisa (2017). invited book review - "Ma Jun, 'The Economics of Air Pollution in China: Achieving Better and Cleaner Growth', New York: Columbia University Press, 2017". The China Quarterly. ISSN 0305-7410. p. 814–815. doi: 10.1017/S0305741017001138.
• Aunan, Kristin & Wang, Shuxiao (2016). Air pollution in China. Concentration levels, exposure, and health damage – status and trends.
• Shen, Yongdong (2015). Protest against Industrial Air Pollution: A Case from Hangzhou City, China .
• Ahlers, Anna Lisa (2015). 鲁尔区“变回蓝天”对北京的启示 (Title of English version: "How the Sky over the Ruhr Became Blue Again - Or: A German researcher’s optimism about China’s opportunities to tackle the problem of air pollution"). 小康 Xiaokang (Insight China). ISSN 1672-4879.
• Ahlers, Anna Lisa & Munro, Neil (2020). Polluted Perspectives: Environmental Troubles and Popular Political Attitudes in China. Universitetet i Oslo.

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