China can learn from Japan's past

During the course of Japan's rise to be the world's second-largest economy, the country paid a heavy environmental cost. Industrial waste and motor vehicle emissions threatened the nation. Because of drinking water and air pollution, some local residents suffered from Minamata disease and "itai-itai disease". "Damn GNP!" was a popular remark at that time in Japan.

Fortunately, since the 1970s Japan began to pay close attention to its environmental problem and has since made great achievements.

Japan as a "resource scarce country" was vulnerable to the two oil crises in the 1970s. Japan weathered the oil crises more smoothly than many resource-rich developed countries and further enhanced its industrial competitiveness and achieved remarkable results in environmental protection. With extraordinary courage, the Japanese government and enterprises went all out to adjust the industrial structure and vigorously develop energy-saving and nuclear energy technologies, and realized economic growth pattern transition.