Tracing back to the earliest appearance of the concept of “ecological civilization” in China, Ying Xue (of China Ecological Civilization on Substack) found Ye Qianji’s article Ecological Needs and the Construction of Ecological Civilization published in 1987. This was widely seen as the earliest academic paper defining “Ecological Civilization” in China. Ying Xue would like to share it with her readers.
Below is the English translation – the original Chinese version is available at the link. However first of all, Ying Xue provides a short introduction to Ye Qianji.
Introduction to Ye Qianji’s work
Ye Qianji was born in 1909 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. He was a member of the China Democratic League. He graduated from the College of Agriculture of Jinling University in 1933 and graduated from the Department of Agricultural Economics at the Graduate School of Cornell University in the United States in 1938. He was professor of Southwest University, Nankai University, the College of Agriculture of Chongqing Central University, and the Law School of Chongqing University there after. He was the author of works including Ecological Agriculture – The Future of Agriculture.
In 1982, Ye put forward the concept of ecological agriculture in China. He was regarded as the founder of ecological agriculture theory in China.
In 1986, Ye Qianji wrote the above article Ecological Needs and the Construction of Ecological Civilization, in which he put forward the concept of “ecological civilization”.
Even when he was 99 years old, he was still teaching and guiding doctoral students and publishing papers. He passed away in 2017 at the age of 108.
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Ecological Needs and the Construction of Ecological Civilization
Based on the thinking of ecological agriculture, social production should not only achieve economic benefits but also ecological and social benefits. This means that society needs to meet not only the material needs of human civilization but also the spiritual needs (such as culture, education, and political thought) and the ecological needs of human survival and development, relaxation and recreation, enjoyment of natural beauty, health and safety, and comfort and pleasure. In other words, in addition to material and spiritual needs, social needs should also include ecological needs. Consequently, social construction should encompass the construction of material civilization, spiritual civilization, and ecological civilization.
I. The Background of the Proposal of Ecological Needs
The proposal of ecological needs is due to the fact that the ecological environment is the fundamental basis for human survival and reproduction. It is the material foundation for social development and one of the sources of social wealth, as labor and nature are the true sources of wealth. To maintain psychological balance, humans require a beautiful, comfortable, and healthy ecological environment.
Human needs are diverse. In addition to the consumption of living and production materials, they should also include the consumption of natural beauty that is beneficial to human health and development, namely ecological consumption. Specifically, ecological consumption includes the consumption of natural resources for material production, the consumption of ecological environments, and the consumption of natural landscapes. Therefore, society should not only provide high-quality and abundant material products but also create a beautiful ecological environment for social health and human civilization to meet people’s physiological, psychological, and spiritual needs comprehensively.
The proposal of ecological needs has enriched the content of social needs. It is a higher form of integration of material and spiritual needs and essentially a social-natural need. It signifies the shift from the traditional concept of needs to a broader one. To meet human ecological needs, we must vigorously promote the construction of ecological civilization.
It is commonly believed that human civilization includes material and spiritual civilizations. The material achievements in transforming nature constitute material civilization. While transforming the objective world, people’s subjective world is also transformed, and social spiritual production and spiritual life develop, resulting in spiritual civilization. Clearly, the traditional concept of civilization essentially places humans in a position of conquerors outside nature, treating nature as an alien force. The development of material civilization becomes a one-way process of human exploitation of nature. Meanwhile, spiritual civilization focuses mainly on social quality and human relationships, neglecting the development of human natural qualities as partners of nature. Apparently, development as social beings is insufficient without development as natural beings.
II. The Concept and Construction of Ecological Civilization
Ecological civilization refers to a state where humans benefit from nature while also giving back to it, maintaining a harmonious and unified relationship with nature by protecting it while transforming it.
The proposal of ecological civilization has transformed the construction of material civilization into a two-way activity that both transforms and protects nature. The construction of spiritual civilization should not only establish comradely relationships among people but also foster a partnership between humans and nature. Therefore, proposing ecological civilization helps us abandon the traditional concept of civilization and form a modern, scientific one.
Human society has gone through the ages of barbarism, savagery, and civilization. From the perspective of ecological civilization, the civilized age is not one where humans are conquerors and nature is the conquered. Instead, it is an era where humans, as careful managers of nature, utilize and protect it, establishing a harmonious and coordinated relationship. In this sense, the true civilized age has only just begun.
For a long time, the relationship between humans and nature has been seen as that of conquerors and the conquered, with humans regarded as omnipotent rulers above nature. On one hand, nature is treated as an inexhaustible “provider,” with resources being exploited and squandered. On the other hand, nature is used as a “dumping ground” for waste from production and daily life. Such treatment of nature, the foundation of human survival and development, is undoubtedly uncivilized and extremely wrong.
The construction of ecological civilization is urgent and cannot be delayed. First, we must completely break away from old notions of the relationship between humans and nature and establish a “partnership” of harmony. We should use modern science and technology to actively engage with nature, develop natural resources, enhance the productivity of ecosystems, and protect their self-organizing capabilities to meet the comprehensive needs of social development. We should follow natural laws, protect and cherish nature, maintain the stability of the biosphere, and establish a harmonious unity between humans and nature to achieve coordinated development.
To meet human ecological needs and quickly promote the construction of ecological civilization, the urgent tasks are as follows:
First, abandon traditional old ideas and establish a scientific and rational concept of needs and civilization to guide our actions. This includes shifting from the notion of humans being separate from nature to recognizing humans as part of nature and the unity of humans, society, and nature.
Second, change the concept of humans exploiting and dominating nature to one of protecting it carefully.
Third, move from a narrow, short-sighted value view of developing and using nature for regional benefits to a sense of responsibility for the happiness and prosperity of future generations.
Fourth, transform the narrow concept of wealth as material and spiritual possessions to a broader one that includes ecological wealth.
Fifth, change from seeing nature merely as a material condition for human survival to obtaining beauty, comfort, and safety in harmony with the natural environment.
Throughout human history, material, spiritual, and ecological civilizations have always been closely interconnected and mutually restrictive. They are interdependent, rise and fall together, and cannot be neglected. This is an objective law that does not change according to people’s will. In the past, people did not recognize it, and recently some have begun to understand it, but many still do not face or respect it. However, more and more facts now prove that this law is playing a significant role.
An increasing number of scientists believe that the 21st century will see an “ecological explosion” globally, characterized by rising temperatures, sea-level rise, submersion of coastal areas and some islands, depletion of water resources, reduction of arable land, expansion of drought and desertification, abnormal climate, and frequent floods and droughts. This “ecological explosion” will eventually lead to the destruction of all civilizations. For example, the decline of ancient civilizations such as those of Egypt, Persia, and the Maya, as well as the ancient Chinese civilization, is believed by historians to be mainly due to continuous wars. In fact, wars, whether ancient or modern, cannot conquer or eliminate a nation’s civilization. Hiroshima in Japan was destroyed by the first atomic bomb, but it was rebuilt in less than 20 years and better than before.
However, the “Silk Road” and the “Tang-Xizang Ancient Road,” symbols of the brilliant ancient Chinese civilization, would probably be impossible to rebuild from the vast desert even after thousands of years. Wars, whether ancient or modern, have only regional, local, and temporary destructive power. In this sense, wars are not as terrifying as the destruction of nature and the ecological environment, which leads to natural retaliation and punishment. We are now experiencing this punishment, which has a vast geographical impact, often national or even global, and is permanent and destructive in terms of time.
The greatest historical mistake of humanity has been short-sightedness, indulgence in immediate benefits, and the greedy, violent, and barbaric exploitation of nature, which disrupts ecological balance and human living environments, ultimately leading to the destruction of all civilizations. The historical lesson of sacrificing the bigger picture for small gains and suffering irreversible disasters is extremely painful. Foreign visionaries believe that the 21st century will be the century of ecology, which is a scientific prediction. However, we believe it is more accurate to say that the 21st century should be the century of ecological civilization construction. Human efforts can fundamentally control the development of ecological crises, and the world will not face an end.
Source: China Ecological Civilization, Mar 04, 2025. https://substack.com/home/post/p-158337372
Professor Ye Qianji
China Environment News 