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Jun Mai

Chinese President Xi Jinping has turned to Karl Marx and Chinese classic teachings to justify his battle against pollution.
Qiushi, the Communist Party’s journal, published in its January issue a speech Xi delivered in May in which he quoted extensively from Marx and Chinese classics such as the I Ching, or Book of Changes, and Tao Te Ching to stress that human must live in harmony with nature.
“To learn from Marx, [we] must learn Marxist thought on human and nature,” Xi said.
“If mankind conquers nature with science and creativity, nature will take revenge on mankind,” he added, paraphrasing Marx and fellow writer Friedrich Engels.
Xi went on to cite Engels’ Dialectics of Nature, saying that the ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Greece, Anatolia all saw their homelands become deserts after turning too many forests into fields.
Xi also cited the I Ching, a foundation text for feng shui masters, to make his point on the significance of preserving the environment.
He said also that Chinese thinkers such as Lao Tzu and Mencius highlighted the need to conserve the environment.
China vows ‘no leeway’ for officials who miss air quality targets in pollution fight
Although Xi gave the speech nine months ago, its full text was only made public by Qiushi.
Xi may be more focused on conservation than any state leader in the country’s past. He has made it a key part of officials’ appraisals and last year named it as one of the three “battles” – along with political and financial risks and poverty alleviation – the country has to fight.
Conservation was also named as one of five target areas for achieving the president’s “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”.


Xi’s focus on the environment was also highlighted by a political earthquake in two provinces in recent years – shake-ups that were carried out in the name of environmentalism.

In Shaanxi province in the country’s northwest, a provincial party chief and a handful of other officials have been sacked for corruption in the past two years, with state media accusing them of ignoring Xi’s instructions to demolish a string of villas encroaching on the Qin Mountains.
And in neighbouring Gansu to the west, the provincial party boss was sacked in 2017, castigated on state television for turning a deaf ear to Xi’s repeated instructions to handle a pollution site.


Xi also vowed to make an example of other unnamed top officials who condoned pollution.
“Certain regional chiefs were not only exempted from punishment but were promoted despite frequent ecological problems under their watch,” he said. “[We] must resolutely a handful of typical cases who did damage to the ecology.”
Xi’s emphasis on conservation comes after decades of breakneck economic growth that has raised incomes for many but at a huge cost to the environment and human health. Demand is growing for the damage to be reversed, and Xi’s environmental policies could go some way towards that – if he can deliver on them.
China steps up prosecutions for pollution with ‘zero tolerance’ for environmental crimes
And while the US has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement on climate change, Xi has pledged that China will keep its commitments and continue to invest in renewable energy and phase out carbon fuels as sources of energy.
Chen Daoyin, a Shanghai-based political scientist, said that by hearkening back to Marxism and traditional Chinese culture, Xi was trying to legitimise his green policies.
“He is trying to elevate his policy preference to the level of philosophy, which is the science of all science,” Chen said.
“He shows a strong preference for resorting to the ideology of communism and Chinese traditions for legitimacy of his policies.”


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China pollution

China’s Xi Jinping goes back to Marx and the classics to push a modern green agenda

Decades of breakneck economic growth in China have raised incomes for many but come at a huge cost to the environment and human health. Photo: Simon Song

Chinese pollution curbs must consider needs of businesses, says environment minister

Environment minister Li Ganjie warns officials against ‘crude’ blanket bans that could harm economy
               Pollution controls set to be eased this winter as growth stalls and US trade war starts to take effect

Li Ganjie, China’s Minister of Environmental Protection, speaks to the media at the Press Center of the First Session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing on Mar. 17, 2018. China's Ministry of Environmental Protection is set to be changed as Ministry of Ecological Environment. 17MAR18 SCMP/Simon Song

Pollution curbs on factories are set to be eased this winter. Photo: Reuters

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China

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President invokes Karl Marx and the ancients as the public demands answers to widespread pollution


President invokes Karl Marx and the ancients as the public demands answers to widespread pollution.


Xi Jinping

China’s Xi Jinping goes back to Marx and the classics to push a modern green agenda

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}President invokes Karl Marx and the ancients as the public demands answers to widespread pollution

President invokes Karl Marx and the ancients as the public demands answers to widespread pollution