*3.3. Decorative Lighting*

Decorative lighting refers to outdoor lighting installed for decorative or recreational purposes [16]. The ordinance provides lighting limits for decorative lighting in the form of mean and maximum permissible luminance values. Table 4 shows the allowable lighting levels for decorative lighting.


**Table 4.** Permissible luminance values for decorative lighting.

### **4. The laws of China**

Attention to light pollution is a recent activity in China, and theoretical research results are relatively limited. Light pollution prevention legislation is also scarce. So far, China has not issued special light pollution preventions or control legislation. The current law has failed to e ffectively solve China's current light pollution problems. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the status quo of China's light pollution prevention legislation.

### *4.1. Relevant Provisions of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China*

According to Article 26 [18], "The state protects and improves the environment in which people live and the ecological environment. It prevents and controls pollution and other public hazards". This provision can be regarded as the basis and premise for all laws and regulations on environmental pollution prevention, but it is only a principled provision of the general outline. It does not specify which types of pollution should be controlled. The expression of "other public hazards" is also vague. It cannot be used as a direct legal basis for relief.

### *4.2. Relevant Provisions of the General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China*

According to Article 83 [19], "In the spirit of helping production, making things convenient for people's lives, enhancing unity and mutual assistance, and being fair and reasonable, neighboring users of real estate shall maintain proper neighborly relations over such matters as water supply, drainage, passageway, ventilation, and lighting. Anyone who causes obstruction or damage to his neighbor, shall stop the infringement, eliminate the obstruction, and compensate for the damage". Article 83 is a provision on the principles of neighbor relations. The law states that it is necessary to correctly deal with the problem of "lighting" in neighbor relations. The so-called "lighting" means that the light is su fficient without interference from external adverse factors and harmful light. In the current case of light pollution, the court's judgment is mostly based on neighbor relations. Therefore, it is not di fficult to see that the limitations of the law in application of the case must first satisfy the condition of occurrence between adjacent real estate. This makes the neighboring right seem to be a little powerless in the relief of light pollution.

### *4.3. Relevant Provisions of the Property Law of the People's Republic of China*

According to Article 90 [20] , "An oblige of immovable shall not, in violation of State regulations, discard solid waste or discharge hazardous substances, such as air and water pollutants, noises, and optical and electromagnetic radiation". In the legislation, the Property Law is the first to incorporate light pollution into the scope of legal regulation. It strictly prohibits destruction of the light environment and sets mandatory restrictions for emitted light. However, the provisions on light pollution in this article are too simple and have obvious limitations. This article stipulates that "obligations" are mainly restricted to real estate owners, and light pollution regulations in China require further improvement.

### *4.4. Relevant Provisions of the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China*

According to Article 24 [21], "Units that cause environmental pollution and other public hazards shall incorporate the work of environmental protection into their plans and establish a responsibility system for environmental protection, and must adopt e ffective measures to prevent and control the pollution and harm caused to the environment by waste gas, wastewater, waste residues, dust, malodorous gases, radioactive substances, noise, vibration, and electromagnetic radiation generated in the course of production, construction, or other activities."

### *4.5. China's Local Laws and Regulations*

Although China lacks national laws and regulations on light pollution prevention, the governmen<sup>t</sup> has introduced many measures to prevent and control light pollution. Table 5 summarizes the lighting specifications issued by four di fferent cities and the regulations and targets related to light pollution. Table 6 summarizes relevant preventive measures and related standards from relevant specifications. These standards illustrate which cities provide more comprehensive and e ffective measures.


**Table 5.** Some of the existing regional ordinances against light pollution.

**Table 6.** Light pollution prevention measures in various cities.


### 4.5.1. Urban Environmental Brightness Area Division

According to CIE (Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage) [22], there are four types of environmental regions; namely, a naturally dark environmental region, a low-brightness environmental region, a medium-brightness environmental region, and a high-brightness environmental region, as detailed in the "Guide on the Limitation of the Effects of Obtrusive Light from Outdoor Lighting Installations". Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing also use the division of environmental areas to understand night lighting design and light radiation environmental managemen<sup>t</sup> [23–25]. Only Tianjin does not categorize brightness areas. Table 7; Table 8 show the division of urban environmental brightness.


**Table 7.** Division of urban environmental brightness in Shanghai.

**Table 8.** Division of urban environmental brightness in Beijing.


### 4.5.2. Prevention and Control of Light Pollution in Urban Environmental Lighting

In the prevention and control of light pollution in urban environmental lighting, the laws of Shanghai are clearly against direct light falling into residential buildings. All lighting facilities opposite residential buildings must take corresponding measures to prevent stray light from entering a home. To achieve this goal, building decoration materials should not use floodlighting materials [23]. According to paragraph 2 of article 14 of the Tianjin City Lighting Management Regulations, the establishment of urban lighting facilities shall conform to the control standards of light pollution and shall be coordinated with the surrounding environment [26]. Guangzhou Municipality stipulates that outdoor advertising, sign lighting, etc., should strictly abide by national and local lighting design standards, technical specifications, and light environment control zoning, and a rational selection of lighting sources, lamps, and lighting methods is necessary to reduce the effects of artificial lighting on the environment [24]. Beijing has also imposed restrictions on artificial lighting at night. The specification proposes that light trespass and light interference be considered in the design of lighting systems [25].

### 4.5.3. The Maximum Value of the Upward Light Output Ratio (ULOR) on a Luminaire

To better view the night sky, the brightness of the earth atmosphere must be reduced, so the upward light output ratio (ULOR) of outdoor lamps is important. Shanghai has a standard for the ULOR of different areas. Only Shanghai has this standard among many cities [23]. Table 9 shows the maximum ULOR of luminaires in Shanghai (the upward light output ratio, sometimes called "upward efficiency of the luminaire", is the fraction of the luminous flux emitted by the lamp going outside the luminaire in the upward direction. It is expressed in per cent [26]).

**Table 9.** The maximum upward light output ratio (ULOR) of luminaires in Shanghai.

