Ecological Civilization in a Historical
Perspective
Lihua Wang
Reality is the continuation and development of history, and civilization is the accumulation and update of history. The ecological civilization campaign is the grandest
undertaking and the most complicated and massive program in the modern world.
China being the first country to propose the development of ecological civilization
is both imperative and inevitable. The cause, though started in our generation, will
benefit many generations to come. We should try to have a comprehensive and deep
understanding of the immense and profound significance of this campaign from a
historical perspective, so as to come to a thorough and correct judgment.
1 Understanding Ecological Civilization from the Historical
Perspective of Human Survival and Development
The relation between man and nature and that between people make the two basic relations of human society that are constantly in development and changes. Respecting,
adapting to and caring for nature is the only right path forward for mankind.
Correcting our past mistakes, especially serious mistakes made after the Industrial
Revolution, and promoting man-nature harmony is the only right direction to sustain
civilization. This is because mankind is the outcome of the evolution of life system
on earth—it is part of nature and has to rely on the biosphere for survival.
More than 100 years ago, Marx and Engels stated clearly “the first premise of
all human history is, of course, the existence of living human individuals. Thus the
first fact to be established is the physical organization of these individuals and their
consequent relation to the rest of nature… The writing of history must always set out
from these natural bases and their modification in the course of history through the
action of men.” “… Nature is man’s inorganic body—nature, that is, insofar as it is not
L. Wang (B)
Center for China Environmental History Studies, Nankai University, Tianjin, 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_54
545
Perspective
Lihua Wang
Reality is the continuation and development of history, and civilization is the accumulation and update of history. The ecological civilization campaign is the grandest
undertaking and the most complicated and massive program in the modern world.
China being the first country to propose the development of ecological civilization
is both imperative and inevitable. The cause, though started in our generation, will
benefit many generations to come. We should try to have a comprehensive and deep
understanding of the immense and profound significance of this campaign from a
historical perspective, so as to come to a thorough and correct judgment.
1 Understanding Ecological Civilization from the Historical
Perspective of Human Survival and Development
The relation between man and nature and that between people make the two basic relations of human society that are constantly in development and changes. Respecting,
adapting to and caring for nature is the only right path forward for mankind.
Correcting our past mistakes, especially serious mistakes made after the Industrial
Revolution, and promoting man-nature harmony is the only right direction to sustain
civilization. This is because mankind is the outcome of the evolution of life system
on earth—it is part of nature and has to rely on the biosphere for survival.
More than 100 years ago, Marx and Engels stated clearly “the first premise of
all human history is, of course, the existence of living human individuals. Thus the
first fact to be established is the physical organization of these individuals and their
consequent relation to the rest of nature… The writing of history must always set out
from these natural bases and their modification in the course of history through the
action of men.” “… Nature is man’s inorganic body—nature, that is, insofar as it is not
L. Wang (B)
Center for China Environmental History Studies, Nankai University, Tianjin, 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_54
545