Call for Green China

Chinese actors Han Tongsheng and Feng Xianzhen performing ”An Enemy of the People”.

“An Enemy of the People” concerns a local doctor who discovers that the spa that is the source of the town’s economy is dangerously polluted, but his efforts to organize a clean-up are thwarted by the mayor and by the local people who fear the decline of the economy and the loss of jobs.

The staging was part of “Call for Green China,” a unique event melding environment and culture held at the Poly Theater on March 2, sponsored by China’s State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), the Government of Norway, and the World Bank.

The evening, organized by the China Environmental Culture Promotion Association (CECPA), brought together Chinese and Western musicians, dramatists, and filmmakers in a remarkable East-meets-West celebration of the importance of environmental protection.

Growth and the Environment

In his video remarks that opened the event, Bank Group President Paul Wolfowitz commented, “One of the most pressing balancing acts of our generation is to meet the double challenge of achieving growth while leaving a smaller environmental footprint.  We have a responsibility to safeguard our planet and address the issues of climate change and the continued degradation of our air, land, and water systems.”

Call for Green China highlights the importance of environmental protection and enhances the environmental awareness of the public.

SEPA Vice Minister Pan Yue emphasized that for China, “the development of a new culture in harmony with the environment is as important as the development of new technologies.”

The Norwegian Ambassador Tor Christian Hildan also addressed the gathering. A series of cultural performances drew the audience’s attention to China’s environmental challenges.

First, a short version of the Ibsen play was performed in a symphonic setting by well-known Chinese actors including Han Tongsheng and Feng Xianzhen, with the China National Symphony Orchestra and music by Eyvind Solaas. The play was performed in Chinese with English text titles above the stage.

The second half of the evening saw the premiere of “A Green Call,” a multimedia concerto arranged by the Bank’s Senior Environmental Specialist Jostein Nygard and orchestrated by the composer Julie Giroux.

Related Links Conference Website Environment in China The World Bank in China

Results as Art

Themes from the Yellow River and Emerson piano concertos were synchronized with a film by John Liu and his environmental NGO on the pollution and devastation of the Yellow River, followed by its gradual restoration under the World Bank-sponsored Loess Plateau Project.

The concertos were performed by the China National Symphony Orchestra, with guest conductor Terje Mikkelsen, and featuring the gifted young Chinese pianist Chen Sa and the American pianist Timothy Smith.

The Emerson Piano Concerto No. 1 was composed by rock star Keith Emerson, formerly of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. He made his first trip to China for this event and joined the China National Symphony Orchestra for an unscheduled encore, performing his version of Alberto Ginastera’s Malambo at the end of the evening.

The gifted young Chinese pianist Chen Sa playing with the China National Symphony Orchestra at the first performance of “A Green Call,” a multimedia concerto with themes from the Yellow River and Emerson piano concertos.

A retired government official in his 70s gave an enthusiastic “thumbs-up” along with his colleagues. After the performance, the theater was filled with words like “fantastic,” “sensational,” and “incredibly innovative and thought provoking.”

The Cost of Pollution in China

The cultural event was scheduled to coincide with a SEPA-Norwegian-World Bank conference reviewing a new study on the health and non-health costs of air and water pollution in China. It brings together the first complete estimates based on Chinese data.

Among other things, the project surveyed households in Chongqing and Shanghai about their willingness to pay for improvements in air and water pollution that would reduce health costs.

Based on this analysis, and in close cooperation with the Ministry of Health and its Center for Disease Control, the health costs of air and water pollution were found to be about 4.3 percent of GDP in China.

Keyboard wizard Keith Emerson received applause after energizing the audience with his version of Alberto Ginastera’s Malambo as an encore at the end of the evening. Hear an interview with Keith Emerson (3:47)

In close cooperation with the Ministry of Water Resources, the project is also estimating water pollution impacts, especially in a water-scarce part of Northern China. By adding the non-health impacts of pollution, which are estimated to be about 1.5 percent of GDP, the study indicates that the total cost of air and water pollution in China is about 5.8 percent of GDP.

Repeat Performance

The event was filmed for nationwide television broadcasting by China’s Central Television Station. It will be repeated live on March 27 in Beijing, when the Prime Minister of Norway visits China as part of a new sustainable sevelopment and environmental protection program.

The Bank team and its partners are considering a range of follow-up events, including performances in other Chinese cities and distribution of a DVD that includes the cultural event, a short summary of the study’s main results, and key steps needed to reduce air and water pollution in China.

Photos by CECPA, the China Environmental Culture Promotion Association and Kosima Weber Liu.