This paper is based on research in Chinese cities. It addresses the issues related to urban
environmental performance and sustainability in emerging Chinese cities. The result shows
that: (1) To basically control the degradation of urban environment the minimum per capita
GDP should be about 1000 USD in China. This amount is only one third of that in the
developed world; (2) The average share in GDP necessary for environmental investments is
2.9%. Such an amount would help to avoid further urban environmental degradation in Chinese
big cities. 1.7% of GDP would be necessary for medium-sized cities. These environmental
investments will have a positive impact on local economic growth and social progress; (3)
Cities are in different stages from non-sustainability to sustainability, and the major
characteristics of cities in these different stages will be presented in this paper; (4) It is obvious
that significant differences in urban environmental management exist in cities that were
identified and which are at different stages of urban sustainability
