Ecological Civilization—The Chinese
Path
Mouchang Yu
President Xi Jinping said, “The path we take determines our destiny,” which has
proved a truth in history. From the perspective of human civilization development,
the Chinese path—the 5000-year-long history of Chinese civilization—has taken
three major steps that decide China’s future. The first step is in the agricultural age
when the Chinese agricultural civilization, guided by core social values then, climbed
to the world’s top in its accomplishments and made great contributions to mankind.
The second step is in the industrial age when China, due to the inertia of agricultural
civilization, failed to shift to a new track, and therefore was reduced to a dumping
field of products from advanced industrialized countries and was plundered by them
for resources, leading to a century of humiliation and misery. The third step is in
the age of ecological civilization when China, under the firm leadership of the CPC,
has pioneered on the path of ecological civilization for the great rejuvenation of the
Chinese nation. China will be great again!
1 Ecological Culture—A Prelude to Ecological Civilization
Culture is the precursor and soul of social development and the leading force of
economic development. The rise of ecological culture symbolizes the arrival of a
new age for human race—the age of ecological civilization. In the mid-twentieth
century, the eight environmental hazards astonished the world and triggered a great
environmental protection movement. Scholars in developed countries began to reflect
M. Yu (B)
The Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
© China Environment Publishing Group Co., Ltd. 2021
J. Pan et al. (eds.), Beautiful China: 70 Years Since 1949 and 70 People’s Views
on Eco-civilization Construction, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6742-5_51
517
Path
Mouchang Yu
President Xi Jinping said, “The path we take determines our destiny,” which has
proved a truth in history. From the perspective of human civilization development,
the Chinese path—the 5000-year-long history of Chinese civilization—has taken
three major steps that decide China’s future. The first step is in the agricultural age
when the Chinese agricultural civilization, guided by core social values then, climbed
to the world’s top in its accomplishments and made great contributions to mankind.
The second step is in the industrial age when China, due to the inertia of agricultural
civilization, failed to shift to a new track, and therefore was reduced to a dumping
field of products from advanced industrialized countries and was plundered by them
for resources, leading to a century of humiliation and misery. The third step is in
the age of ecological civilization when China, under the firm leadership of the CPC,
has pioneered on the path of ecological civilization for the great rejuvenation of the
Chinese nation. China will be great again!
1 Ecological Culture—A Prelude to Ecological Civilization
Culture is the precursor and soul of social development and the leading force of
economic development. The rise of ecological culture symbolizes the arrival of a
new age for human race—the age of ecological civilization. In the mid-twentieth
century, the eight environmental hazards astonished the world and triggered a great
environmental protection movement. Scholars in developed countries began to reflect
M. Yu (B)
The Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
© China Environment Publishing Group Co., Ltd. 2021
J. Pan et al. (eds.), Beautiful China: 70 Years Since 1949 and 70 People’s Views
on Eco-civilization Construction, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6742-5_51
517