The Brilliant Ecological Wisdom
603
drive up the mountain today, the mountain road still has a lot of bends, some of
which are steep S-shaped ones. However, the Hani people wouldn’t have worked the
wonder today without the “choice of no choice” back then. When their ancestors
walked deep into the forests to work on nature and fight for survival, they learned
how to make use of nature. This reminds me of the story of Yu Gong, the foolish old
man who removed the mountains recorded in the Book of Mountains and Seas. Were
the Hani people inspired by him in any way? Both Yu Gong and Hani people are
upbeat and optimistic with the perseverance and philosophical wisdom to overcome
difficulties. The difference is that Yu Gong chose to move the obstacle away while
Hani people chose to use it. From the modern environmental perspective, a massive
project like Yu Gong’s moving of mountain can hardly pass the environmental impact
assessment, but the “Hani terrace” project, which is equally massive but aimed at
the harmonious co-existence between man and nature, would be more acceptable.
It seems that the story of Yu Gong is destined to be a legend, but the Hani terrace
is a real miracle on earth that has lasted for more than 1000 years, not only rearing
generations of Hani people, but also passing down and carrying on a profound spirit
of mountainous farming.
Mankind is always forced to take the initiative to fight for survival and the continuation of life. Such potential and wisdom stemming from human instinct has been
driving social progress and pushing human civilization forward. Where there is
demand, there is struggle; where there is struggle, there is creation; where there
is creation, there is progress—that is how the wheels of history keep rolling forward,
mostly toward civilization but sometimes toward barbarism. The natural space allows
for creation, but some creations are based on adaptation and utilization while others
cause pollution and destruction. As we are facing tremendous environmental pressure today, the ecological wisdom of Hani people should enlighten us on what we
should and should not do, and what we can and cannot do. But our problem today is
that we haven’t employed our wisdom to achieve the harmonious co-existence with
nature, but have wasted it on struggling and competing with man. The intelligent
Chinese nation has created countless miracles in the world, and I expect more in the
new era.
3 Beautiful Terrace—A Gift from Nature
The terraces are beautiful because they are natural and, more importantly, because
of the children’s pure heart. I saw a kindergarten by the Hani terrace, where a female
teacher of the Yi ethnic minority was taking a group of Hani children to the field,
laughing and romping to their heart’s content under the sun. Under the guidance of
the teacher, the children were creating paintings by arranging leaves on the paper.
Watching them, I couldn’t help but think of those children in cities who are “closed
up” in kindergartens. They cannot run around or make noises, they have to be very
careful and cautious, following the teacher sentence by sentence and drawing on
paper what they imagine nature is like, everyone drawing the same, standardized
603
drive up the mountain today, the mountain road still has a lot of bends, some of
which are steep S-shaped ones. However, the Hani people wouldn’t have worked the
wonder today without the “choice of no choice” back then. When their ancestors
walked deep into the forests to work on nature and fight for survival, they learned
how to make use of nature. This reminds me of the story of Yu Gong, the foolish old
man who removed the mountains recorded in the Book of Mountains and Seas. Were
the Hani people inspired by him in any way? Both Yu Gong and Hani people are
upbeat and optimistic with the perseverance and philosophical wisdom to overcome
difficulties. The difference is that Yu Gong chose to move the obstacle away while
Hani people chose to use it. From the modern environmental perspective, a massive
project like Yu Gong’s moving of mountain can hardly pass the environmental impact
assessment, but the “Hani terrace” project, which is equally massive but aimed at
the harmonious co-existence between man and nature, would be more acceptable.
It seems that the story of Yu Gong is destined to be a legend, but the Hani terrace
is a real miracle on earth that has lasted for more than 1000 years, not only rearing
generations of Hani people, but also passing down and carrying on a profound spirit
of mountainous farming.
Mankind is always forced to take the initiative to fight for survival and the continuation of life. Such potential and wisdom stemming from human instinct has been
driving social progress and pushing human civilization forward. Where there is
demand, there is struggle; where there is struggle, there is creation; where there
is creation, there is progress—that is how the wheels of history keep rolling forward,
mostly toward civilization but sometimes toward barbarism. The natural space allows
for creation, but some creations are based on adaptation and utilization while others
cause pollution and destruction. As we are facing tremendous environmental pressure today, the ecological wisdom of Hani people should enlighten us on what we
should and should not do, and what we can and cannot do. But our problem today is
that we haven’t employed our wisdom to achieve the harmonious co-existence with
nature, but have wasted it on struggling and competing with man. The intelligent
Chinese nation has created countless miracles in the world, and I expect more in the
new era.
3 Beautiful Terrace—A Gift from Nature
The terraces are beautiful because they are natural and, more importantly, because
of the children’s pure heart. I saw a kindergarten by the Hani terrace, where a female
teacher of the Yi ethnic minority was taking a group of Hani children to the field,
laughing and romping to their heart’s content under the sun. Under the guidance of
the teacher, the children were creating paintings by arranging leaves on the paper.
Watching them, I couldn’t help but think of those children in cities who are “closed
up” in kindergartens. They cannot run around or make noises, they have to be very
careful and cautious, following the teacher sentence by sentence and drawing on
paper what they imagine nature is like, everyone drawing the same, standardized