Environmental participation in the shadow of the Chinese state

China’s environmental governance reforms are simultaneously strengthening state enforcement measures and encouraging citizen participation in monitoring and enforcement processes. State control over environmental protection and citizen participation appear to be in tension with each other. In discussing environmental governance under democracies, Börzel and Riesse, however, theorise that opportunities for citizen participation increase as a state increases its enforcement capacity, at least until the state becomes very strong. This article analyses changes in the regulatory field that have strengthened state coercive capacity to enforce environmental law, and two aspects of citizen participation: civil society monitoring of polluters and participation in environmental public interest lawsuits. The early evidence on citizen participation since the revised Environmental Protection Law took effect on 1 January 2015 is mixed. Civil society organisations have been allowed to serve as plaintiffs in a small number of high-profile environmental public interest lawsuits, but that domain remains dominated by state-backed organisations and local procuratorates. Finally, in reaction to the threat of new fines and penalties on illegal emissions, some grassroots civil society organisations are finding new opportunities to advise and monitor polluters.