Falling lands, rising nations: Environmental-nationalism in China and Central Asia

Environmental movements worldwide are giving rise to social and political action. Because of intrinsic ties that bind national identity to place, the upsurge of environmental concerns has often been paralleled by an increase in nationalist sentiments. In the case of Soviet Central Asia, environmental and national concerns grew in synergy, as protests originating in environmental grievances fanned national movements to challenge centralized control. Ultimately, the rise of national movements in the name of protecting ethnic homelands from environmental assault became a major social force leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union.; In China today, these same factors are fueling minority unrest. In the larger context of Chinese and Soviet nationality and development policies, this study addresses rising environmental-national movements in China and Central Asia, and specifically in the Chinese Central Asian realms of Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang), Tibet, and Inner Mongolia.; From their unique position on China's geographic and social periphery, minority nationalities in China have maintained their own geographies and historiographies distinct from those taught by the state. In addition, China's minorities, in particular Eastern Turkestanis, Tibetans, and Mongols, have strong ties with co-nationals living abroad. These alliances provide unique opportunities for voicing grievances not only to the Chinese government but also to a larger international community. Consistent with their position in the lead of several fronts of dissent, China's peripheral peoples, with their profound ties to homeland and extensive external support networks, have similarly been seen at the vanguard of environmentalism in China.; Recent economic reforms in China have granted greater regional autonomy to create incentives for growth. This push for decentralization, exacerbated by an increasing pull of external forces, has China searching for a new unifying principle and suppressing dissent in the name of "social stability." Ironically, by providing a "unity" of cause and experience for the environment, crackdowns on environmental protests in China have led to a common bond of victimization in the realm of environmental justice. As environmental concerns in China are crossing ethnic boundaries, providing issues that all nationalities can relate to, this study shows that environmental-nationalism is fueling the potential for political fracturing within the Chinese state.