IntroductionAs continuing rapid economic growth takes its toll on China's environment, rising public concerns have led to instances of "supervision by public opinion" (quzhong yulun de jiandu) in which concerned citizens express their views about environmental problems. This is encouraged by front page newspaper stories about environmental problems and the loss of agricultural land to industry and urban encroachment.While the last Communist Party Congress in Beijing indicated that no political reforms were contemplated, rapid economic growth is typically followed by social and political development, an occurrence also noted by Karl Marx. "Supervision by public opinion", a reactive and very limited form of public participation, is reminiscent of the "Stop the (construction proposal)" of the 1960s in North America which soon gave rise to systematic and proactive citizen involvement in planning and decision-making. In turn, this led to university courses in participative planning, sections at professional conferences on public involvement and the founding of the International Association for Public Participation. (Note - the World Bank has recently proposed that "public involvement" be used as a generic term, "public consultation" for activities seeking the advice of the public, and "public participation" for sharing decision-making responsibility with the public. However, this usage is not yet established; many still use the three terms interchangeably.) This brief paper seeks to: identify some of the rationale for the development of public consultation in China, indicate some current and potential applications to help resolve environmental and land-use issues, and stimulate an exchange of comments, suggestions and experiences amongst newsletter readers.
In China Doesn't Want to be "Mr. No": Problems of International Strategy in Today's China (Shen, 1998), peaceful evolution (heping yanbian) is advocated as a means to deal with endemic parochialism and rigid hierarchies (fengjian thinking and behaviour) which is a serious problem for Chinese society as a whole (pp.222-227). The careful introduction of some forms of public consultation could be a kind of peaceful evolution to help deal with fengjian social and administrative paralysis. Very accessible insights into Chinese values and their relevance for public consultation are provided in Confucius: Work Ethic (Tan, 1992) which includes chapters on the protection of the natural environment, harmony (chung yung) and the culmination of the various elements in the Confucian work ethic in the moral person (jun zi). These draw on the earlier and larger Dialectica Reconciliae: The Dialectic of Reconciliation (Tan, 1983) in which he notes: "Chung Yung is the harmony between individual self-interest and community self-interest." (p.177). At the village level, the widespread use of local elections across China provides a stimulus for public consultation on other issues besides community leadership. Just as local leaders must now listen more closely to community residents, some bureaucrats may come to see public consultation as an aid rather than a threat to their management.
In each case, a program is developed which reflects and respects the characteristics of the various publics involved and affected, and the nature of both the proposal and the proponent. A systematic understanding of the communities affected is obtained by preparing a social profile of each. Information about the proposal is distributed, often in a Question and Answer format, with a means to reply. Then informal open houses enable interested residents to talk face-to-face with the staff of the proponent about their questions, comments and suggestions. Subsequently, workshops are held with the leaders of key groups to review issues and develop solutions for them (See Connor, 1997).
This limited and controlled form of consultation (technically, "information-feedback") is designed to be acceptable to administrators who have perhaps experienced "supervision by public opinion" and are understandably nervous about opening up the decision-making process. After some successful experience with the above method, they might be willing to try a more open and creative form of consultation, properly so called. This includes encouragement for participants to (1) review, revise and weight proposed evaluation criteria, (2) suggest additional alternative solutions and later (3) rank the final set of technically sound and administratively acceptable alternative solutions to an issue, problem or opportunity. This participative planning is usually a three stage process - Introduction, Alternative Generation and Evaluation & Recommendation. I have outlined this approach to public consultation in a presentation to several sets of Chinese delegates who visit the Canadian College for Chines Studies in Victoria, B.C. These people include senior aviation industry managers, human resources managers in the downsizing heavy steel industry, environmental managers, etc. Most seem to think that public consultation is feasible and even necessary, especially to increase the understanding, acceptance and support for the reforms being introduced. They indicate that the DAD system in place in China is under increasing pressure. An encouraging sign is provided by a $6 million community health worker training project in Yunan province sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency. Project director Nancy Edwards of the University of Ottawa says that the key is community involvement: "We want them to integrate clinical skills with learning how to involve local people in their own health care." See "Resurrecting China's 'barefoot doctors'" (Mickleburgh, 1998)
Connor, 1998 "Adapting Public Consultation to Different Political Cultures", a paper to the annual conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment in Christchurch, New Zealand, April 23, 1998; also available in the Library of my website www.connor.bc.ca/connor Connor, 1997 Constructive Citizen Participation: A Resource Book, 6th Edition, Development Press, Victoria, B.C., 232 pp. $49.00. Lasswell, Harold D. and A. Kaplan, 1950 Power and Society: A Framework for Political Enquiry, Yale University Press, 1950. Mickleburgh, Rod, "Resurrecting China's 'barefoot doctors'", Globe and Mail, July 18, 1998, p.D4. (This may be on www.theglobeandmail.com) Schwartz, S.S., 1994 "Are There Universal Aspects to the Structure and Contents of Human Values?", Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 50, No.4, pp.19 - 45. Shen, Jiru, 1998 China Doesn't Want To Be "Mr.No": Problems of International Strategy for Today's China, Today's China Publishing House, Beijing.(Review in Resources subsection of U.S. Embassy Environment, Science and Technology webpage www.usembassy-china.org.gov /english /sandt/sandsrc.htm Tan, Wee-Chong, 1983 Dialectica Reconciliae: The Dialectic of Reconciliation, Panda Books, Victoria, B.C. Tan, Wee-Chong, 1992 Confucius: Work Ethic, Canadian College for Chinese Studies, 853 Cormorant St., Victoria, B.C., V8W 1R2; tel. 250-385-6622; fax - 6704; email tancccs@islandnet.com
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