English Summary/英文概要： China’s spectacular economic growth over the past two decades has dramatically depleted the country’s natural resources and produced skyrocketing rates of pollution. Environmental degradation in China has also contributed to significant public health problems, mass migration, economic loss, and social unrest. In The River Runs Black, Elizabeth C. Economy examines China’s growing environmental crisis and its implications for the country’s future development.
Drawing on historical research, case studies, and interviews with officials, scholars, and activists in China, Economy traces the economic and political roots of China’s environmental challenge and the evolution of the leadership’s response. She argues that China’s current approach to environmental protection mirrors that embraced for economic development: devolving authority to local officials, opening the door to private actors, and inviting participation from the international community, while retaining only weak central control. The result has been a patchwork of environmental protection in which a few wealthy regions with strong leaders and international ties improve their local environmental situation, while most areas of the country continue to deteriorate, sometimes suffering irrevocable damage. Economy compares China’s response with the experience of other societies and sketches out several possible futures for the People’s Republic.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 二十年来，中国的经济增长正是建立在国家自然资源的大量减少和各种不同程度的污染之上，中国的环境退化已成为一个涉及公众健康，大量移民，经济损失和社会不安定的重大问题。在Elizabeth C. Economy的《发黑的河水》一书中，她讲到了中国环境危机的增长以及国家未来的发展。她通过历史取证，案例研究及与中国官员，学者，行动主义分子的商榷和讨论来证明她的观点。她觉得当前中国的环境保护正反映了其经济的发展，从国家当局到各地方政府都敞开大门邀请国际社会和团体来共同参与解决中国的环境保护问题，其结果为在一些富裕的地方其环境保护有着强大的领导者以及国际联系来改善当地的环境状况，但大部分地区的情况还在不断恶化着。本书通过讲述中国河流污染问题，进一步探讨如何保证环境保护、社会进步、经济发展三者之间的协调，以实现可持续发展。

Awards/获奖情况： "Elizabeth C. Economy’s book hits my ‘Top Ten’ list from the day it is published. It is a clear and compelling reminder that no engagement with China--commercial, diplomatic, cultural, intellectual--can afford to ignore China’s vast environmental dilemmas and the deep social, economic, and political structural problems that make environmental salvation an uncertain enterprise at best. The case for international engagement with China emerges even more strongly from this book; the case for ‘irrational exuberance’ is dashed to smithereens."---Robert A. Kapp, President, US-China Business Council

"An outstanding new book."---THE NEW REPUBLIC

"The scale of China’s environmental degradation is shocking. Economy’s book is particularly strong is its examination of the peculiarly Chinese reasons-beyond the country’s rapid development and huge population pressure-that lie behind this: the leadership’s obsession with short-term growth ot preserve social stability, whatever the ultimate cost, is one; the weak rle of law and a tradition of devolving power to the regions, where watchdogs and polluters are often in collusioin, is another."---THE ECONOMIST