This paper investigates a grassroots Chinese movement called the New Rural Reconstruction Movement (NRRM). Drawing on field visits, surveys, interviews and social media posts regarding a NRRM project and relevant literature I link the NRRM to the degrowth movement. This is likely the first research analysing a Chinese grass-roots movement from a degrowth theoretical perspective. This link is designed to bring greater awareness of the NRRM to western environmentalists and greater awareness of degrowth to Chinese scholars, in the expectation that the two movements will find it beneficial to engage in collaborative research. This paper demonstrates similar progressive environmental based arguments are being debated in places with different geographical and socio-political contexts. It suggests there is the possibility that the NRRM and degrowth could work together to help achieve shared goals.

Ecological Economics, vol. 161, July 2019, pp. 261-269