538
F. Lu
The situation is different in modern times, when ecological destruction and environmental pollution are of a global scale. The deterioration of global environment will
bring unimaginable consequences to world civilization. The key to resolving this
problem lies in whether man can face up to the environmental consequences that
their behaviors have caused or may cause, and shoulder unshakable responsibilities
for natural degradation. To save the world and man themselves, the traditional way of
life, production and thinking all call for a profound environment-friendly revolution.
That is the only way to find a new development path and build a new civilization
highlighting environmental protection where man and nature develop in harmony for
common prosperity without hurting each other. This is ecological civilization. Shen
Xiaohui obviously used the term in a diachronic sense.
The earliest monograph on ecological civilization we could find in the National
Library’s catalogue is Zhang Haiyuan’s Productive Practices and Ecological Civilization published by China Agriculture Press in 1992. It must be the first book that
has “ecological civilization” in its title, which elevates environmental protection to
the level of ecological civilization. The author wrote in the preface, “given the reality
of environmental pollution, protecting the environment has become a pressing task
for the government and citizens of every country, and the precondition and result
of accomplishing this task is developing an ecological civilization in the new era.”
The book claims to have “answered why we should develop ecological civilization,
how to develop it and why we can succeed in developing it”. However, it doesn’t
define the term, but rather focuses on how to protect the environment in productive
practices. Therefore, it isn’t a monograph specific to ecological civilization.
The earliest monograph on ecological civilization is On Ecological Civilization
edited by Liu Xiangrong published in 1999, which defines ecological civilization as
an advanced form of civilization that pursues not only economic and social progress,
but also ecological development; not only the coordinated evolution between man
and nature, but also between economy-society and the biosphere. Developing an
ecological civilization is the overriding way out of the ecological crisis and a thorough
change of civilization. It is an unavoidable state in history and also a conscious choice
of man; it is the ideal we aspire for and also the reality that is already happening
around us. The ecological civilization in this book is similar to Fetscher’s diachronic
ecological civilization.
The convening of the 17th National Congress of the CPC in 2007 marked a turning
point both for the study and the development of ecological civilization. Before that,
only a handful of people studied this topic and their work and the results they got
received little attention. The 17th National Congress of the CPC proposed the ecological civilization strategy, the 18th National Congress of the CPC uplifted ecological
civilization as part of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan, and the 19th National Congress
of the CPC made the special point that “building an ecological civilization is vital to
sustain the Chinese nation’s development.” Today great importance is attached to the
study and development of ecological civilization. In the report of the 18th National
Congress of the CPC, former President Hu Jintao called for “striving to usher in a new
era of socialist ecological progress.” General Secretary Xi Jinping also said, “The
F. Lu
The situation is different in modern times, when ecological destruction and environmental pollution are of a global scale. The deterioration of global environment will
bring unimaginable consequences to world civilization. The key to resolving this
problem lies in whether man can face up to the environmental consequences that
their behaviors have caused or may cause, and shoulder unshakable responsibilities
for natural degradation. To save the world and man themselves, the traditional way of
life, production and thinking all call for a profound environment-friendly revolution.
That is the only way to find a new development path and build a new civilization
highlighting environmental protection where man and nature develop in harmony for
common prosperity without hurting each other. This is ecological civilization. Shen
Xiaohui obviously used the term in a diachronic sense.
The earliest monograph on ecological civilization we could find in the National
Library’s catalogue is Zhang Haiyuan’s Productive Practices and Ecological Civilization published by China Agriculture Press in 1992. It must be the first book that
has “ecological civilization” in its title, which elevates environmental protection to
the level of ecological civilization. The author wrote in the preface, “given the reality
of environmental pollution, protecting the environment has become a pressing task
for the government and citizens of every country, and the precondition and result
of accomplishing this task is developing an ecological civilization in the new era.”
The book claims to have “answered why we should develop ecological civilization,
how to develop it and why we can succeed in developing it”. However, it doesn’t
define the term, but rather focuses on how to protect the environment in productive
practices. Therefore, it isn’t a monograph specific to ecological civilization.
The earliest monograph on ecological civilization is On Ecological Civilization
edited by Liu Xiangrong published in 1999, which defines ecological civilization as
an advanced form of civilization that pursues not only economic and social progress,
but also ecological development; not only the coordinated evolution between man
and nature, but also between economy-society and the biosphere. Developing an
ecological civilization is the overriding way out of the ecological crisis and a thorough
change of civilization. It is an unavoidable state in history and also a conscious choice
of man; it is the ideal we aspire for and also the reality that is already happening
around us. The ecological civilization in this book is similar to Fetscher’s diachronic
ecological civilization.
The convening of the 17th National Congress of the CPC in 2007 marked a turning
point both for the study and the development of ecological civilization. Before that,
only a handful of people studied this topic and their work and the results they got
received little attention. The 17th National Congress of the CPC proposed the ecological civilization strategy, the 18th National Congress of the CPC uplifted ecological
civilization as part of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan, and the 19th National Congress
of the CPC made the special point that “building an ecological civilization is vital to
sustain the Chinese nation’s development.” Today great importance is attached to the
study and development of ecological civilization. In the report of the 18th National
Congress of the CPC, former President Hu Jintao called for “striving to usher in a new
era of socialist ecological progress.” General Secretary Xi Jinping also said, “The