Some Gains from Learning Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological …
131
Nuwa mending the sky, and the archer Hou Yi shooting the sun, can better reflect
that of environmentalists in China.
2 The Overall Environmental Protection Has Been
Encouraging in New China Over the Past Seven Decades
In the four decades since the first Environmental Protection Law was enacted in
1979, environmental protection has changed remarkably. Only after exploring the
way forward at first, the “three major policies” (giving priority to prevention while
combining prevention with treatment, who pollutes and who treats, and strengthening environmental management) and the “eight systems” (environmental impact
assessment, the “three-simultaneousness” system, the charge system for sewage
discharging, the target responsibility system for environmental protection, the quantitative assessment system for comprehensive urban environmental improvement,
the sewage-discharging permit system, the system for pollution control within a
time limit, and the centralized pollution control system) were finally formulated and
implemented throughout the country, so that environmental protection, especially
environmental management, can be conducted in a rule-based manner. Now we must
push environmental protection to a broader domain with ecological civilization as
the main body. Party and state leaders have set the direction for the development
of ecological civilization, empowering us with the confidence in our path, theory,
system and culture.
Around 1980, environmental protection bureaus were set up across China, but
their staff members knew nothing about environmental protection. Some studying
chemistry or specializing in chemical engineering, if transferred to such bureaus,
would be technical backbones. Nowadays, professionals and those holding master’s
and doctor’s degrees make up a big proportion in the environmental protection team,
greatly enhancing the quality of the entire team.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the important periods for spreading knowledge about
environmental protection, almost everyone could not tell the difference between
environmental protection and sanitation, perceiving it as cleaning up streets. People
knew, of course, little about the discipline of environmental protection. Only a few
technicians in this sector had an idea about the term TSP (total suspended particulates), but now almost everyone knows about PM 2.5 (fine particulates) and wears a
mask in smoggy weather.
In 1987, the Environmental Protection Committee of the State Council held
a national conference on air pollution prevention and control in Taiyuan, Shanxi
Province, where pollution was much serious. According to a comrade from the environmental protection bureau, a biking to work would take him more than half an hour,
and, without glasses, dust always got into his eyes. When he wore glasses, his eye
parts were like the eyes of a panda. He could write words on his dark pants covered
with dust. At that time, there was also a popular saying in Lanzhou to describe the
131
Nuwa mending the sky, and the archer Hou Yi shooting the sun, can better reflect
that of environmentalists in China.
2 The Overall Environmental Protection Has Been
Encouraging in New China Over the Past Seven Decades
In the four decades since the first Environmental Protection Law was enacted in
1979, environmental protection has changed remarkably. Only after exploring the
way forward at first, the “three major policies” (giving priority to prevention while
combining prevention with treatment, who pollutes and who treats, and strengthening environmental management) and the “eight systems” (environmental impact
assessment, the “three-simultaneousness” system, the charge system for sewage
discharging, the target responsibility system for environmental protection, the quantitative assessment system for comprehensive urban environmental improvement,
the sewage-discharging permit system, the system for pollution control within a
time limit, and the centralized pollution control system) were finally formulated and
implemented throughout the country, so that environmental protection, especially
environmental management, can be conducted in a rule-based manner. Now we must
push environmental protection to a broader domain with ecological civilization as
the main body. Party and state leaders have set the direction for the development
of ecological civilization, empowering us with the confidence in our path, theory,
system and culture.
Around 1980, environmental protection bureaus were set up across China, but
their staff members knew nothing about environmental protection. Some studying
chemistry or specializing in chemical engineering, if transferred to such bureaus,
would be technical backbones. Nowadays, professionals and those holding master’s
and doctor’s degrees make up a big proportion in the environmental protection team,
greatly enhancing the quality of the entire team.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the important periods for spreading knowledge about
environmental protection, almost everyone could not tell the difference between
environmental protection and sanitation, perceiving it as cleaning up streets. People
knew, of course, little about the discipline of environmental protection. Only a few
technicians in this sector had an idea about the term TSP (total suspended particulates), but now almost everyone knows about PM 2.5 (fine particulates) and wears a
mask in smoggy weather.
In 1987, the Environmental Protection Committee of the State Council held
a national conference on air pollution prevention and control in Taiyuan, Shanxi
Province, where pollution was much serious. According to a comrade from the environmental protection bureau, a biking to work would take him more than half an hour,
and, without glasses, dust always got into his eyes. When he wore glasses, his eye
parts were like the eyes of a panda. He could write words on his dark pants covered
with dust. At that time, there was also a popular saying in Lanzhou to describe the