How is holistic river water governance possible in China?- the case of river chief system in Hunan Province

There has been debates on whether China's environmental governance is authoritarian, which has raised doubts about whether China's environmental governance can achieve a holistic governance model. To resolve the dispute, a thorough analysis was conducted using content analysis and manual coding of the Hunan Province River Chief System case. Field investigations were conducted from 2019 to 2022, during which 46 in-depth interviews were conducted with government officials involved in RCS. By analysing data from two rural counties and two urban areas, three key mechanisms for achieving holistic governance have been identified:1) cross departmental and cross jurisdictional integration; 2) Extensive information sharing and public participation; 3) two-way collaborative governance driven by goal alignment and accountability measures. This study also identified factors that promote holistic governance: 1) The strength of the CPC plays a key leading role; 2) Coordination and interaction of maintaining political party power, public participation, and bureaucratic accountability; 3)The accountability system embedded in the target system and performance evaluation is a key success factor; 4) Combination of voluntary and coercive tools to achieve governance goals. Research has shown that China adopts a state led environmental governance model. This study enriches the literature on authoritarian environmentalism and holistic governance.