National parks in China: Parks for people or for the nation?

In 2017, China announced its first policy framework for establishing a national park system, along with ten pilot national parks. Rather than viewing the announcement from a techno-bureaucratic perspective, this paper considers the politics of the proposed national park system. Basing my argument upon a case study and employing discourse analysis, I argue that the top-down approach is prioritised in the planning and management of the national park system, and that the involvement of civil society groups in the making of China’s national parks does not guarantee an inclusive and bottom-up approach. From the 1970s onwards, worldwide the conservation paradigm gradually shifted to recognise the importance of a participatory and inclusive approach to protected area management. China’s moving away from such understanding and practice may eventually undermine the rights of local communities and threaten to hamper the conservation goals that the national parks aim to achieve.