Constructing a Discourse of "Scientific Development" and "Ecological Civilisation" in China. Ecology and Ideology in Chinese Thought

Seán Golden, member of the Inter-Asia research group, spoke at the 9th EastAsiaNet Research Workshop at Universidade de Aveiro (Portugal, 19-21 April 2012) dedicated to risk and the environment in East ASia on the subject of Constructing a Discourse of "Scientific Development" and "Ecological Civilisation" in China. Ecology and Ideology in Chinese Thought.

Abstract

Hu Jintao introduced the concept of “scientific development” into official Party discourse. This is understood to refer to the need for better environmental management, the reduction of environmental degradation and conservation of the environment. Think tanks of the Central Committee have elaborated a discourse of “Ecological Civilisation” to accompany the previously constructed discourses of “Material Civilisation” (the economy), “Spiritual Civilisation” (culture) and “Political Civilisation” (democracy and the rule of law). References to Nature in an environmental or ecological context are rare in the history of Chinese thought, much more associated with Daoism than with Confucianism, but they do exist. Lynn White (“The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis”) pointed out long ago that the book of Genesis lies behind Western notions of the exploitation of nature. Frans de Wahl (The Ape and the Sushi Master) suggested that Japanese primatologists made important discoveries about the role of culture among primates earlier than their Western counterparts because of their grounding in a Shinto perception of the natural world. This study proposes to compare and contrast the ideological bases of Euroamerican and East Asian approaches to the environment.