462
D. Hong
1 Social Construction: From Developing Environment
to Protecting Environment
If the social security and the improvement of livelihood is the focus of social construction, the chief task at the beginning of reform and opening-up is eliminating poverty
and improving people’s lives. In 1978, China’s per capita GDP was only RMB 385,
ranking way back in the world, and 97.5% of its rural population lived in poverty
with insufficient clothing and food according to the current standard. Under such
circumstances, translating environmental resources into goods and services on a
larger scale, at a faster pace and with a higher efficiency to lift people out of poverty
was naturally the top priority, so the development and utilization of environment was
the main social activity.
The book Poverty of Abundance published in 1986 was very influential at the time.
It analyzed why the western region fell behind the eastern region and pointed out the
path for it to step out of poverty—by improving human quality, changing the basic
social structure, taking a new look at environmental resources, and changing the way
of resource exploitation and utilization. Marveling at the abundant resources in the
west, the author explained why the people there “failed to do things in spite of the
resources that could have made them succeed in everything”—it was because of the
“traditional socioeconomic structure and the people with low quality of commodity
production couldn’t effectively develop and utilize the resources and create more
wealth. In return, the low level of resource development and utilization and human
quality dragged the change of basic social structure, resulting in a vicious cycle of
childish social system and its poverty.” The author deemed agriculture and animal
husbandry as the root cause of western region’s poverty and backwardness. “In
the relation between human production and natural resources, the modern production mode makes multi-layered development and multi-time utilization of natural
resources.” Therefore, it is necessary to change people’s ideas and their ways of
production and life, and develop and utilize environmental resources according to
commodity economy laws to shake off poverty. Though focused on the western
region, this book is to a large extent applicable to China’s development in general,
and its views on the relation between man and environmental resources are typical
in the early stage of reform and opening-up.
Indeed marketization, industrialization and urbanization have dramatically
changed people’s development and utilization of resources, boosted economic
growth and improved people’s lives. China’s achievements in poverty alleviation
and economic growth since its reform and opening-up have benefited all people in
the country and astonished the world. Yet we must be mindful of the louder voices
for environmental protection and improvement instead of simple development and
utilization as reform and opening-up goes deeper. In addition to the basic state policy
of environmental protection (1983) and the sustainable development strategy (1995),
the CPC Central Committee proposed to build an environment-friendly society at a
symposium on population, resource and environmental work held in March 2005,
and the Fifth plenary session of the 16th CPC Central Committee held in October that
D. Hong
1 Social Construction: From Developing Environment
to Protecting Environment
If the social security and the improvement of livelihood is the focus of social construction, the chief task at the beginning of reform and opening-up is eliminating poverty
and improving people’s lives. In 1978, China’s per capita GDP was only RMB 385,
ranking way back in the world, and 97.5% of its rural population lived in poverty
with insufficient clothing and food according to the current standard. Under such
circumstances, translating environmental resources into goods and services on a
larger scale, at a faster pace and with a higher efficiency to lift people out of poverty
was naturally the top priority, so the development and utilization of environment was
the main social activity.
The book Poverty of Abundance published in 1986 was very influential at the time.
It analyzed why the western region fell behind the eastern region and pointed out the
path for it to step out of poverty—by improving human quality, changing the basic
social structure, taking a new look at environmental resources, and changing the way
of resource exploitation and utilization. Marveling at the abundant resources in the
west, the author explained why the people there “failed to do things in spite of the
resources that could have made them succeed in everything”—it was because of the
“traditional socioeconomic structure and the people with low quality of commodity
production couldn’t effectively develop and utilize the resources and create more
wealth. In return, the low level of resource development and utilization and human
quality dragged the change of basic social structure, resulting in a vicious cycle of
childish social system and its poverty.” The author deemed agriculture and animal
husbandry as the root cause of western region’s poverty and backwardness. “In
the relation between human production and natural resources, the modern production mode makes multi-layered development and multi-time utilization of natural
resources.” Therefore, it is necessary to change people’s ideas and their ways of
production and life, and develop and utilize environmental resources according to
commodity economy laws to shake off poverty. Though focused on the western
region, this book is to a large extent applicable to China’s development in general,
and its views on the relation between man and environmental resources are typical
in the early stage of reform and opening-up.
Indeed marketization, industrialization and urbanization have dramatically
changed people’s development and utilization of resources, boosted economic
growth and improved people’s lives. China’s achievements in poverty alleviation
and economic growth since its reform and opening-up have benefited all people in
the country and astonished the world. Yet we must be mindful of the louder voices
for environmental protection and improvement instead of simple development and
utilization as reform and opening-up goes deeper. In addition to the basic state policy
of environmental protection (1983) and the sustainable development strategy (1995),
the CPC Central Committee proposed to build an environment-friendly society at a
symposium on population, resource and environmental work held in March 2005,
and the Fifth plenary session of the 16th CPC Central Committee held in October that