Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2024. US$28.00, paper. ISBN 9781503639294.
Circular Ecologies has been praised as “masterful storytelling” by Ralph Litzinger, one of the pioneering academics on environmental activism in post-reform China. The book chronicles the emergence of urban waste problems and the subsequent social, economic, and political responses through the lens of an anthropologist. The author Amy Zhang weaves historical accounts of urbanization and destruction of rural communities in contemporary China with meticulously narrated observations of bottom-up environmental activism, community DIY projects, recycling economies, policy campaigns, and the list goes on. The historical and anthropological writings, interspersed with interview notes taken while “mopping the floor and dusting old shelves” at a local nongovernmental organization’s office (129), black and white photos, quotes from academic luminaries (e.g., Bruno Latour’s “the connections between controversies” on 31), and intriguing analogies (e.g., “microbial advocacy,” 133), all come together and become an extremely accessible and persuasive explanation of one of the most effective cases of environmental activism in China in the past thirty to forty years.
Zooming in on Guangzhou, a globally connected metropolitan and manufacturing hub in southern China with over 14 million residents, Zhang’s book reveals multifaceted social practices and contemporary histories related to the transformation of waste management. Rather than focusing on the formal state and bureaucratic agencies, Zhang followed and researched five groups of social actors who have become the driving forces of waste circulation and whose everyday advocacy is having a profound impact on China’s sustainable futures. The central argument of the book is that the highly technological approach employed by the Chinese state to modernize the waste management system–for example, through waste incineration and a state-backed recycling market–can be counterproductive and even socially disastrous. Early state-led projects faced fierce resistance from various residential communities. Rising from discontent or sometimes fear and despair, grassroots activism and self-organizing have unexpectedly provided individuals and groups with new hope for innovation, change, and a sense of agency.
The emerging sector and ecological system of urban waste management in China have been explored by academics from various angles in recent years, including activism and social movements, contentious politics, policy networks, local experimentation, policy innovation and implementation, and the regulatory state. It is, to some extent, a booming sub-field and hot topic in China studies, interconnected with extended discussions on energy transition and climate, urban development, the circular economy, and more. Given the large number of publications and research outputs available, Amy Zhang’s book provides us with previously overlooked fieldwork data and refreshing interpretations. For example, the chapter on “the political economy of recycling” (107–128) unearths the reason behind a failed social experiment in recycling, primarily involving middle-class apartment owners from the “gated green communities.” The failure was not due to the repressive regime or incompetent local bureaucracies, but rather the often-invisible sanitation workers and informal waste collectors. Zhang’s interpretation of this cause, which centres on the notions of “moral economy,” “enclosed system” (fengbishi), and “liberalization of sanitation work,” is thought provoking.
Many of us who have followed environmental activism and waste politics in China for a long time will still keep a copy of Zhang’s book, maybe delving into the fascinating details, reflecting on the tacit biases embedded in our profession. The stories of sanitation workers in Guangzhou and its suburban areas, in contrast to the classic socialist working class as Zhang correctly notes (111), serve as a valuable reminder of the solidarity, moral actions, and self-organizing among the most marginalized in the least expected space.
By the end of the epilogue, I had one remaining question that I wish the author could have discussed more. On page 7, the author declared that “China’s approach of ecological urbanism is neither ‘purely’ technological nor does it fulfill the authoritarian visions of the state.” The book consistently demonstrates that the technological solutions to urbanism and waste management, primarily initiated by the Chinese state, have been either incomplete or disrupted on the ground. Step by step, Zhang shows us how this super-technological approach met with dead ends and resistance, and how individual activists, NGOs, workers, volunteers, and communities provided and, more importantly, implemented alternative ideas and methods to state-led campaigns and policies. However, the second part of the argument on the “authoritarian visions” is not straightforward, particularly considering the developments after the 2010s. The empirical component of the book dates back to 2012–2013. China’s journey to low carbon emissions, net-zero, and a circular economy is still ongoing, and whether it has failed, or at least weakened, the authoritarian state or its self-imagination remains to be debated. The technological approach can be and has been challenged by social forces; however, whether the state has taken responsibility for it and whether the success of environmental activism has been reaped by the state is not answered by this book.
Fengshi Wu
University of New South Wales, Kensington