Chinese Approach to Sustainability

As a developing country with the largest population and diverse ecological system, China is striving for sustainable development to maintain economic growth, improve people’s living quality as well as protect the environment. This paper, introducing the tourism evolution and nature tourism resource administration in China, probes the challenges of the sustainability of nature tourism from both demand and supply sides. Significant characteristics of Chinese tourists are demonstrated in terms of travel time, preference, behavior and environmental awareness. The jurisdiction, administration and operation systems of nature tourism resource, environmental regulation implementation, and institutional framework for community involvement are analyzed. Based on the above analysis, the author provides suggestions including consideration of the Chinese cultural context, “enlightened mass tourism” philosophy, de-centralizing Chinese vacation time, classification and administration system reform of natural resource sites, economic, psychological, social and political empowerment for local community, as well as scientific survey and study.