| China is undergoing a transformation from a traditional planned economy to a market economy. The transition process is featured by high economic growth. The case of China provides many new interesting topics for the relationship between economic growth and pollution. Following the seminal work by some western economists, this paper focuses on the relationship between emissions and GDP per capita in China and studies the driving forces that determine the relationship between income and emissions.(1) The western economists' different views on the growth-environment nexus can be concluded in three: The first perspective addresses that economic growth will inevitably lead to an irreversible degradation on environment. They claim a negative link between economic growth and environment. At the other extreme, the second perspective states that economic growth is good for the environment. They assume a positive link between economic growth and environment. The third perspective which has been put forward by some economists since 1990s is the Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. That is, environment degradation will initially increase but eventually declines, as per capita income increases. In the early 1990s, a wide range of environmental data has become available through various monitoring stations, and environmental data compendia constructed at statistical offices. This provides the possibility for empirical research in this area. Numerous empirical studies have been done by western environmental economists by using cross-country or panel data for their empirical estimations. Chin's economy has developed rapidly since the "Reform and Opening Policy" has been adopted. By focusing on China's time series data, the present study can make a useful contribution to the research on the existence of an EnvironmentKuznets Curves.(2) In principle, given the constant population scale, observed changes in pollution as per capita income rise could come from six sources as followings: (a) the scale of economic activity; (b) the composition or structure of energy economic activity; (c) the changes in technology within sectors; (d) the structure of energy; (e) international trade; (f) the economic policy and the environment regulations. In this paper, the author tries to give further insight in these driving forces that determine the relationship between income and emissions in China.(3) China's regional development is featured by "eastern, middle and western" area disparity. Since the "Reform and Opening Policy" has been adopted, China's transition advanced, not only over time but also over distance. The present study tries to focus on the disparity relationship between China's regional development and regional pollution and discuss its driving forces that determine the relationship. The main findings of this paper is that there is a typical Kuznets pattern between per capita GDP and ten pollutants' variates, such as waste gas, sulfur dioxide, smoke and dust, waste water and industrial waste water, etc. But the other six pollutants' variates do not show an EKC result. These results indicate that economic growth is good for environment. The shape of the relationships between per capita regional GDP and pollutants in eastern middle and western region depend on the pollutants that is considered and on the specification variable. For waste gas and industrial wastes, the shapes of the relationships are similar, but for sulfur dioxide and waste water, there is a difference in different region. The regression results of eastern region show an Environment Kuznets Curve. But a typical EKC pattern can't be found in the middle and western region. The average level of China's economic structure, energy structure and technology are driving forces which determined that, for most pollutants, the turning points of EKC curve have not been reached. In the past two decades, changes in economic structure transition, technology and environmental policies have somewhat released China's environm...
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