I NTRODUCTION

the communities to be surveyed was carefully confirmed by the author and other students; basic information, such as the population, ratio of gender and age, and access to the survey sites, were confirmed and added in; materials used in the survey, such as an introduction letter, pens and other stationeries were prepared; the author helped to choose 20 students (including the author) from two graduated schools as the interviewers. In the fieldwork stage (Oct. 13- Oct.25), the author and the other 19 interviewers visited 100 communities of Hangzhou, and by face-to-face interview successfully finished 1011 interviews (around 50 interviews per interviewer). During the fieldwork, all the interviewers reported their complete status to the author every day. And in the post processing stage (Oct. 26-Nov. 15), the authored supervised and attended the conduction of data input (mutual work) and data checking (by the author).

The whole process of attendance in the social survey in Hangzhou made the author rethink the present environmental problems in more in-depth. As a student majoring in environmental law, the author realized that the solution to the current environmental problems lies not only in the perfection of the environmental legal system, but also to which extent the public are approving of and implementing the law. The desire to be closer to the needs of the public and society, and to describe the common people’s current situation and demands by using scientific methods fermented in the author’s mind.

After that the author was more active in all kinds of environmental activities, especially the fieldwork in rural areas. This fieldwork made the author aware of the emergency of the environment. Environmental problems were no longer an issue in the cities alone, but now also in the villages. Considering the poorer facilities and weaker environmental consciousness in rural areas, environmental problems are even more severe there. In November 2013, the fieldwork in Beichen village of Shandong province finally made the author decide to conduct a statistical survey in rural areas of China. Shandong is the major agricultural province in China.

However, in consideration of the man-power and material resources available, the survey was only conducted in Ningyang county of Shandong province. After more fieldwork was done in March 2014 in some villages of Shandong, the formal survey was conducted in June 2014.

In the formal survey, the author employed 10 high school students from the local area as the interviewers. After the training, the author and interviewers started the survey. The author and the interviewers visited 51 villages in Ningyang county (see Figure 3-2 to check the administrative level of Ningyang), and by face-to-face interview successfully finished 508 interviews. Although the sample size was much smaller than in the urban areas, the survey difficulty was much harder, since there was no available public transportation between different villages. The interviewers had to use bicycles or motorbikes to go to the selected villages. It was common for the interviewers to ride more than one hour by bicycle to reach the next village.

Another difficulty the interviewers met was the food supply. In the villages, it was difficult to find a restaurant. The interviewers had to take their lunch and water to most of the interviews.

During the above surveys, although had many difficulties, especially in rural areas, the author found it very necessary to conduct the social surveys in both rural and urban areas of China. As described in Chapter 1, rural China is a distinct society from urban China, and in the survey the author deeply felt this difference. However, in the previous studies less attention was paid to the environment and environmental consciousness in the rural areas of China. And there are even fewer studies focused on comparison of the environmental consciousness in rural and urban China. Sparse attention to environmental consciousness in rural areas in previous studies, and the remarkable rural and urban division in China make the author feel strongly the need to do the present compassion analysis in order to fully understand the environmental consciousness in China. The different social backgrounds in rural and urban areas supply us with a good context for understanding the diverse social facets of environmental consciousness,

and the same survey method and similar survey content (most of the survey questions are the same; questions that differ in the surveys are emphasized in the related following chapters) make this comparison possible. The data collected from surveys in both rural and urban areas are introduced and analysed in this study.

However, the author also found some limitations to this comparison. For example, the survey in rural areas was only conducted in Ningyang county of Shandong province due to the inadequate man-power and material resources. And there is also a time difference between the surveys in rural and urban areas. However, based on the clarification of these limitations, the present comparison analysis is still expected to supply some valuable information regarding the features and formation of environmental consciousness in China. Nevertheless, in order to make up for this time difference and supply more information about the surveyed areas, socioeconomic development (population, reginal GDP and urbanization rate) in 2014, and environmental conditions (including the quality of atmosphere, water, and eco-environmental status, and pollution discharge) in the past five years (from 2010 to 2014) are added in this chapter.

Shandong is one of the major agricultural provinces located in the northern part of China, where environmental condition, especially in its rural areas, is getting worsening. Beijing, where often makes headlines for its polluted air, is a metropolis in northern China which is geographically close to Shandong, and thus shares more similarities in environmental quality and regional culture. Hangzhou is a southern coastal city that typically has a good environmental condition as well as highly developed socioeconomic condition in China.

In this chapter, the socioeconomic situations of the surveyed areas are first introduced, the objective environmental conditions in the last five years then described, and finally, the specific sampling method and data collection are explained in detail.