732
D. Zhu
characteristics is to combine industrial civilization with ecological civilization, or to use the principles of ecological civilization to transform traditional
industrial civilization. In essence, Chinese ecological civilization is actually
new industrial civilization. Generally speaking, in the years to come, China
should neither follow the traditional industrial civilization nor enter the postindustrial ecological civilization in advance; instead, it should seek ecological
industrial civilization with its own characteristics. The mainstream ecological
civilization in the next 20 to 30 years should emphasize three integrations:
the first is to integrate into new urbanization, emphasizing that urban development should shift from spatial sprawl and material waste to compact space
and material intensiveness; the second is to integrate into the transformation of
industrialization, emphasizing that industrial development should shift from a
linear, high-carbon economy to a circular and low-carbon one; the third is to
integrate into modern life, emphasizing that the life mode should shift from
ownership-orientation to share-orientation.
3 Strengthening Cooperative Governance for Ecological
Civilization for the Post-2020 Five-Year Plans
Starting this year, China will study and formulate the 14th Five-Year Plan for national
economic and social development, the first top-level policy blueprint for realizing
China’s modernization by 2035. Traditionally, the five-year plan is deemed a development plan without much attention to cooperative governance. In fact, the goal of
ecological civilization is about development at a superficial level and about governance at a deeper level. Therefore, it is necessary to accentuate cooperative governance for building ecological civilization in the five-year plans conceived for periods
after 2020.
(1) The post-2020 five-year plans need to develop the inclusion model. China’s
five-year plans over the past four decades have evolved, from a simple to a more
complicated form, in terms of ecological civilization and green development.
A brief dip into history reveals that the guiding ideology of the “6th FiveYear Plan,” the “7th Five-Year Plan” and the “8th Five-Year Plan” was the
growth model, where social progress received the same amount of attention as
economic growth, yet the resource and environment sectors were not specially
listed. The guiding ideology of the “9th Five-Year Plan” and the “10th Five-Year
Plan” was the parallel model, in which the resource and environment sectors
were paid equal attention as economic growth and social development, thanks
to the introduction of the concept of sustainable development, but they were
limited to the end-of-pie pollution control. The guiding ideology of the “11th
Five-Year Plan” and the “12th Five-Year Plan” was the intersection model,
where the concepts of low-carbon economy, cycle economy, energy intensity,
and resource productivity were emphasized, with green development shifting
from the end to the beginning of the economic and social process. The guiding
D. Zhu
characteristics is to combine industrial civilization with ecological civilization, or to use the principles of ecological civilization to transform traditional
industrial civilization. In essence, Chinese ecological civilization is actually
new industrial civilization. Generally speaking, in the years to come, China
should neither follow the traditional industrial civilization nor enter the postindustrial ecological civilization in advance; instead, it should seek ecological
industrial civilization with its own characteristics. The mainstream ecological
civilization in the next 20 to 30 years should emphasize three integrations:
the first is to integrate into new urbanization, emphasizing that urban development should shift from spatial sprawl and material waste to compact space
and material intensiveness; the second is to integrate into the transformation of
industrialization, emphasizing that industrial development should shift from a
linear, high-carbon economy to a circular and low-carbon one; the third is to
integrate into modern life, emphasizing that the life mode should shift from
ownership-orientation to share-orientation.
3 Strengthening Cooperative Governance for Ecological
Civilization for the Post-2020 Five-Year Plans
Starting this year, China will study and formulate the 14th Five-Year Plan for national
economic and social development, the first top-level policy blueprint for realizing
China’s modernization by 2035. Traditionally, the five-year plan is deemed a development plan without much attention to cooperative governance. In fact, the goal of
ecological civilization is about development at a superficial level and about governance at a deeper level. Therefore, it is necessary to accentuate cooperative governance for building ecological civilization in the five-year plans conceived for periods
after 2020.
(1) The post-2020 five-year plans need to develop the inclusion model. China’s
five-year plans over the past four decades have evolved, from a simple to a more
complicated form, in terms of ecological civilization and green development.
A brief dip into history reveals that the guiding ideology of the “6th FiveYear Plan,” the “7th Five-Year Plan” and the “8th Five-Year Plan” was the
growth model, where social progress received the same amount of attention as
economic growth, yet the resource and environment sectors were not specially
listed. The guiding ideology of the “9th Five-Year Plan” and the “10th Five-Year
Plan” was the parallel model, in which the resource and environment sectors
were paid equal attention as economic growth and social development, thanks
to the introduction of the concept of sustainable development, but they were
limited to the end-of-pie pollution control. The guiding ideology of the “11th
Five-Year Plan” and the “12th Five-Year Plan” was the intersection model,
where the concepts of low-carbon economy, cycle economy, energy intensity,
and resource productivity were emphasized, with green development shifting
from the end to the beginning of the economic and social process. The guiding