A statue of Confucius at Chaotian Palace in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Photo: IC

Frustrated with the problems of modern society, many people have turned to ancient wisdom for answers. Could the cure for environmental woes also lie in the ancient teachings of Confucius?

Earlier this year the International Confucian Ecological Alliance (ICEA) was founded. Led by Tu Weiming, a professor at Harvard University and Peking University and a renowned Confucian scholar, the alliance includes several Confucian institutions and academies in China.

In their statement on ecology, the ICEA quoted texts from classic Confucian writings. Ming dynasty scholar Wang Yangming (1472-1529), for instance, wrote that, "The great man regards Heaven and Earth and the myriad things as one body."

The statement says, "Confucianism sees mankind as having a deep and cosmic significance. This significance manifests itself in partnership with both Heaven and Earth forming the classic Chinese trinity of Heaven, Earth and Man, together manifesting the true embodiment of nature itself."

Confucianism also holds that the Earth is alive and that the "Golden Rule" - do not do to others what you don't wish done to yourself - and the benevolence that Confucianism champions, applies not only to other people, but also to nature.

ICEA is a member of ARC, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, a UK-based organization founded in 1995 that aims to bring faith and conservation together and is now working with 12 faiths around the world.

It's not the first time such a link between Confucianism and the environment has been drawn. Pan Yue, now deputy minister of the Environmental Protection Ministry, said in 2007 that the core of traditional Chinese culture, both Confucianism and Taoism, is harmony between Man and nature and it should be revived as a way to tackle today's environmental problems.

The Daoist Association is also a member of ARC and has announced plans to promote and apply Taoist teachings to the environment.

Fan Ruiping, a professor at the City University of Hong Kong, also wrote about the relationship between Man and nature in his 2010 book Reconstructionist Confucianism. He wrote that in Confucianism, "As finite and embodied beings, humans naturally use the environment as their home, while incessantly performing proper rituals to transform nature so as to pursue the profound meaning of the cosmos and maintain harmony with Heaven."

Grand plans



The ICEA has drawn up an eight-year plan of action. Its goals include educating people about the "Confucian approach to environmental issues" through temples and academies and cooperating with the cultural and propaganda authorities to deliver 100 lectures on the subject, according to the ARC website.

They plan to develop Beijing's Haidian district, home to universities including Peking University and Tsinghua University as well as the Summer Palace, into a "Confucian Ecological Town," though it didn't specify what that term means.

They plan to develop a network of 500 Confucian centers around the world by 2015, which "will serve as models of a simpler way of life, treading more gently on the Earth."

Part of the plan is to address the "environmental impact on Deng Feng, a major Confucian destination that receives 8 million visitors a year."

Feng Zhe, director of the Sihai Confucius Academy in Beijing and also deputy secretary of the ICEA, has talked about his idea of a "Confucian cultural ecological town" on several occasions.

In ancient times, people related by blood lived together, forming the foundation of Chinese society which emphasized filial piety, harmony among neighbors, and where everybody knew their place in society. In the Confucian town that Feng envisions, people would live according to Confucian thought and every aspect of people's lives would reflect Confucian concepts, from architecture and city planning to clothing and economy, according to an article on the academy's blog.

Feng said the Confucian Town aims to use Confucian teachings to guide people's behavior, their way of interacting with each other and to foster a traditional way of life. He said it's probably different from the term "ecology" as understood by environmentalists.

Man over nature



Sam Crane, a professor at Williams College in the US who teaches Chinese politics and ancient Chinese philosophy, acknowledges that there is a certain environmental concern in The Analects and an interest in maintaining a kind of balance among various natural elements.

But the philosophy is, at its core, anthropocentrist, meaning it puts Man above nature. Human relationships remain at the center of Confucianism, he said.

"I think Tu and others are correct in arguing that a modern application of Confucianism would bring with it a certain concern for the extreme environmental degradation that rapid industrialization has brought to China and other parts of the world," said Crane in an e-mail to the Global Times. But Confucianism takes something like a "conservationist" approach to the environment, namely, it must be preserved and cared for in order to promote human development, he added.

Feng Yongfeng, an environmentalist and founder of Beijing-based NGO Green Beagle, doesn't hide his doubts about using Confucianism or Taoism to fix the environment, calling it "pure nonsense."

He said that many of the interpretations today about Confucian teachings are wishful thinking. "The relationship between Man and nature in ancient times was based upon their specific, limited conditions, namely, low productivity and limited knowledge of nature; nor did they have the ability to protect nature," said Feng.

"The awe, fear or love of nature back then is different from the respect, love and protection we are talking about today," he said.

People today often praise the classical gardens of Suzhou, saying they are the embodiment of traditional Chinese philosophy as well as ecological philosophy. "Such a line of argument is ridiculous, because the gardens try to artificially contain and confine nature in a garden, which is the polar opposite from real ecological concepts," said Feng.

Since 2004, Feng has also been combing through ancient literature to study Chinese people's attitudes towards nature. He found that while in works such as Book of Songs there were vivid descriptions of nature, this was scarce in later times.

Even though elements of nature also appear in ancient Chinese poems, most of them were not observations of nature, but rather the poets' imagination, said Feng. Elements of nature became highly abstract, symbolic and even stereotypical. For instance, the plum flower, bamboo, orchid and the Chrysanthemum were always used to refer to the Confucian concept of the gentleman.

Feng said the evidence people today find from the scriptures doesn't hold. "If Confucianism, which has dominated Chinese civilization for most of our history, is as ecologically conscious as they claim, then why hasn't it produced a single book on natural history?" said Feng.

Feng acknowledges that some mountains where Taoist temples exist are well protected, but that is not necessarily the result of Taoism. Instead, it could be a result of local people holding a sense of awe toward a somewhat mysterious religion. "Areas surrounding tombs are also usually quite green, what does that tell you?" said Feng.

Political agenda



The past decade has seen a comeback of Confucianism as a cultural symbol of the rise of China. Confucian academies have mushroomed across the country. Many cities and townships have experimented with "Confucian towns." Most of the efforts include promoting the teaching and reciting of classic Confucian teachings in schools and among residents.

It has also gained support from the authorities. China first raised the concept of "ecological civilization" in 2007 during the 17th Party Congress and the concept was again emphasized at the 18th Party Congress last year. It is very much on the government's agenda.

Since becoming president, Xi Jinping has made the rejuvenation of the country an overriding goal. Late last month he visited the birthplace of Confucius and spoke publicly about applying Confucianism to modern times in a positive way.

Addressing the Songshan Forum in September, Tu referred to Confucianism's role as a social force, and said that "tackling China's growing ecological problems is an absolute necessity if Confucianism is to be of any lasting significance," according to the ARC website.

"It's a shame that these people are now popping up, seeing that ecological civilization is a trendy concept much talked about by the authorities," said Feng Yongfeng.

Yuan Weishi, a professor at Sun Yat-sen University, observed that there's a sense of blind national egoism and some explanations are too much of a stretch. For instance, when it comes to environmental protection, some say that "tian ren he yi (harmony between Man and heaven)" is the best philosophical foundation for solving environmental problems.

"But is the best environmental solution today in the East or the West? The concept of environmental protection also comes from the West," the Southern Weekly quoted Yuan as saying in an article in 2010.

In recent years, different people have tried to use Confucianism and other traditional culture in different ways in order to solve today's problems, political, moral, and now environmental. "So far we haven't found any great cures to the ills of modern society from Confucian teachings," Yuan told the Southern Metropolis Daily in September.

Efforts to mobilize religious and philosophical arguments in favor of environmental protection can have some effect, as it could certainly raise people's awareness, said Crane, who recently published a book entitled Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Dao: Ancient Chinese Thought in Modern American Life.

But the fact that Confucianism has always been close to those in power has also raised concerns. "Whatever the best intentions of contemporary Confucian philosophers, Confucianism has tended to be too close, and even co-opted by, centralized political power," he said.

"Without a stronger critique of institutionally vested interests that benefit from environmental degradation, it is hard to see any real, concrete progress being made," he cautioned.