China’s Green Leap Forward: Recent Developments In China’s Move Towards Cleaner Energy

In 1959 Mao Zedong's infamous "Great Leap Forward" had reached its pot-and-pan-melting climax in an effort to transform with unprecedented haste China's agrarian economy into an industrialised nation to rival the United States. As we now know Mao's plan amounted to a momentous step in the wrong direction. Ten years later, Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the Moon and famously declared it to be "a small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind". Now, in these early years of the second millennium, it is clear to one and all that China (and for that matter, the rest of the world) must proceed with unprecedented haste towards cleaner energy production. It is fair to say that China's efforts to revamp its approach to energy production have been more akin to "small steps" than "giant leaps". Yet, as the famous Chinese aphorism declares, "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a