Ecological Civilization in a Historical Perspective
549
The heave of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, the formation of the Himalayas, the
cycle of hot and cold weather, the up and down of eastern sea level, the aeolian
dust deposition on the loess region and plateau, and the evolution of the Yellow
River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and other major water bodies… these natural
movements and changes have created an environment suitable for human survival.
From the tertiary to the quaternary geological period (about three million years ago),
human activities appeared in China, as evidenced by many ancient human relics
discovered by archaeologists. However, the latest molecular anthropology studies,
especially Y-chromosome DNA studies, indicate that those ancient humans were only
remote relatives rather than immediate ancestors of Chinese people. The immediate
ancestors emigrated from the African continent after the end of the ice age in the
quaternary period 50,000–100,000 years from now. They were the second batch, or
much later, of “African immigrants to China.” They were wandering, collecting and
hunting in dense forests, until 10,000 years from now, crop planting and fowl and
poultry breeding began to appear in different places. That marked the beginning of
Chinese ancestors’ change of living as they began to control and renovate natural
species and the environment.
China crossed the threshold to civilization 5000 years ago. Since then the Chinese
nation has continuously exploited natural resources, changed the ecological environment, developed agriculture and animal husbandry, and created the Chinese civilization. From the remote ages of Xia, Shang, Zhou through the Qin, Han, Sui and
Tang dynasties to the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the Chinese nation and
the state of China kept evolving and integrating into a massive civilization system.
In the past 5000 years, Chinese people have created proud and resplendent cultural
achievements, such as bronze, ritual and music, the Great Wall, the Great Canal,
poetry and painting, agriculture, traditional Chinese medicine and the four great
inventions. There have also been magnificent social movements, bloody wars and
turmoil, ever-changing political situations and precarious ups and downs… which
often make historians retrospective and thoughtful. All these achievements of civilization and stories of man have taken place in the colorful natural environment,
closely related with the multitudes of other species also living on the vast Chinese
territory.
The underlying history is perhaps not the joys and sorrows of man, but the
profound changes in the relation between man and nature. Ever since Chinese forebears came to the agricultural age and lived in settlements, the rural villages that
used to be scattered like stars over the sky have been replaced by crowded cities
of various sizes, and people seem to get farther and farther away from nature. The
advent and development of agriculture not only changed the way of resource utilization thoroughly, but also augmented the ecological bearing capacity considerably.
Over the past tens of thousands of years, hundreds of animals and plants have been
domesticated or cultivated, and those represented by the five grains and six animals
have lived in mutual benefits and common evolution with man. They have sustained
the continuation of Chinese nation and enabled the once rare population to keep
propagating and reproducing into a huge population of nearly 1.4 billion, most of
whom have lived in the east of the Hu Line where conditions are good for farming.
549
The heave of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, the formation of the Himalayas, the
cycle of hot and cold weather, the up and down of eastern sea level, the aeolian
dust deposition on the loess region and plateau, and the evolution of the Yellow
River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and other major water bodies… these natural
movements and changes have created an environment suitable for human survival.
From the tertiary to the quaternary geological period (about three million years ago),
human activities appeared in China, as evidenced by many ancient human relics
discovered by archaeologists. However, the latest molecular anthropology studies,
especially Y-chromosome DNA studies, indicate that those ancient humans were only
remote relatives rather than immediate ancestors of Chinese people. The immediate
ancestors emigrated from the African continent after the end of the ice age in the
quaternary period 50,000–100,000 years from now. They were the second batch, or
much later, of “African immigrants to China.” They were wandering, collecting and
hunting in dense forests, until 10,000 years from now, crop planting and fowl and
poultry breeding began to appear in different places. That marked the beginning of
Chinese ancestors’ change of living as they began to control and renovate natural
species and the environment.
China crossed the threshold to civilization 5000 years ago. Since then the Chinese
nation has continuously exploited natural resources, changed the ecological environment, developed agriculture and animal husbandry, and created the Chinese civilization. From the remote ages of Xia, Shang, Zhou through the Qin, Han, Sui and
Tang dynasties to the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the Chinese nation and
the state of China kept evolving and integrating into a massive civilization system.
In the past 5000 years, Chinese people have created proud and resplendent cultural
achievements, such as bronze, ritual and music, the Great Wall, the Great Canal,
poetry and painting, agriculture, traditional Chinese medicine and the four great
inventions. There have also been magnificent social movements, bloody wars and
turmoil, ever-changing political situations and precarious ups and downs… which
often make historians retrospective and thoughtful. All these achievements of civilization and stories of man have taken place in the colorful natural environment,
closely related with the multitudes of other species also living on the vast Chinese
territory.
The underlying history is perhaps not the joys and sorrows of man, but the
profound changes in the relation between man and nature. Ever since Chinese forebears came to the agricultural age and lived in settlements, the rural villages that
used to be scattered like stars over the sky have been replaced by crowded cities
of various sizes, and people seem to get farther and farther away from nature. The
advent and development of agriculture not only changed the way of resource utilization thoroughly, but also augmented the ecological bearing capacity considerably.
Over the past tens of thousands of years, hundreds of animals and plants have been
domesticated or cultivated, and those represented by the five grains and six animals
have lived in mutual benefits and common evolution with man. They have sustained
the continuation of Chinese nation and enabled the once rare population to keep
propagating and reproducing into a huge population of nearly 1.4 billion, most of
whom have lived in the east of the Hu Line where conditions are good for farming.