Ecology and Environment in China
"Reflected in the concept of “heaven and humanity in harmony” ( tian ren heyi ), man is considered an integral part of the natural world and should follow the flow of nature’s rhythms..."
From Philosophy of Nature entry in Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Environment,
Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Environment by Publication Date: 2019 ( Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield,)Includes entries on Ecocities and Ecovillages, Ecological Disasters, Philosophies of Nature, the Three Gorges Dam and much more ,covering all aspects of the Chinese environment. Contains an extensive bibliography of books and articles, journals, films and websites.
Religion and Ecological Sustainability in China by Call Number: GF656 .R45 2014Publication Date: 2014 (Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge,)(Online also) This book sheds light on the social imagination of nature and environment in contemporary China. It includes chapters on "ecology and the classics" and "conceptualization of earth and land in classical texts," "finding nature in religion, hunting religion from the environment," feng shui and its compatibility with ecology, and more.
The Bad Earth: Environmental Degradation in China by Call Number: GF656 .S64Publication Date: 1984 (Armonk, N.Y. : M.E. Sharpe ; London : Zed Press,)Describes state of environmental problems in China in the 1980's. Covers land deforestation, erosion, desertification, losses of cultivated land; water resources and pollution; air pollution; disappearance of species; countryside and city environments.- The Political Economy and Socio-Economic Impact of China's Three Gorges Dam byPublication Date: 2001Asian Studies Review (Canberra) 25, no.1 (Mar 2001), pl 57-72. Study of the construction of the dam, its economic benefits and liabilities, the impact on farmland and environment, cultural relics, and human resettlements.
- The Conservation of Natural Resources in Medieval China byCall Number: https://catalog.library.cornell.edu/catalog/289335 (in Library Annex; also online).Publication Date: 1962Journal of the Economic and Social History of China, vol.5, no.3, Dec. 1962) p. 279-308.
Excerpts from Chinese texts included in this discussion of attitudes towards the environment -- spirits of mountains and rivers, royal prerogative, the Yueh ling; Lao-tzu, Confucianism, Buddhism. Also discusses almanacs and rural wisdom, and influence of urbanizing. - Mencius' Prescriptions for Ancient Chinese Environmental Problems byPublication Date: 1989Environmental Review vol.13, no.3/4, Autumn-Winter 1989, p. 13-27.
(4th century B.C. philosopher Mencius) "Historians...have given much attention to the naturalistic and pantheistic Taoists and less about the anthropocentric Confucianists. (The author) maintains that Mencius "represents the mainstream of Chinese thought to a greater extent than the Taoists and played a major role in forming the typical Chinese view of the environment and in influencing its treatment."
