Source
https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep25826.8 — original source (opens in a new tab; the file is not redistributed)
Summary
Policy chapter presenting Xi Jinping’s eco-civilization framework as a national governance model integrating economic development, environmental protection, and social development. Ramay traces the framework’s three-pillar philosophical foundation (Marxist man-nature relationship, traditional Chinese ecological wisdom, historical environmental governance), outlines five operational guidelines (ecological red line; rule of law; innovation/technology; systems thinking; people-centered cultural movement), and documents China’s headline outcomes — forest cover 8.6% (1949) → 21.5%, 28% renewable energy share at time of writing. The framework targets institutional completion by 2035 and “Beautiful China” by 2050. Governance principle: “Green mountains and blue water more important than gold mountains” — ecological integrity is prioritized over GDP growth. Source is a think tank chapter, not peer-reviewed; claims are policy-descriptive, not empirically validated.
Key thesis insights
- Eco-civilization as civilizational-scale governance concept: The framework integrates economic, environmental, and social development under a single governance logic — not as trade-offs but as co-equal requirements. Useful for contextualizing community self-sufficiency within a broader civilizational shift away from growth-at-all-costs; provides a governance-theory counterpoint to market-led approaches.
- Traditional wisdom as explicit pillar: The three-pillar foundation names traditional Chinese ecological wisdom alongside Marxist philosophy and modern science. Directly relevant to the thesis argument for I03 (Local Wisdom) — legitimizes indigenous and traditional knowledge as a substantive design input, not a cultural add-on.
- Rational consumption and sufficiency framing: “Massive production and consumption lead to massive emissions” — the framework explicitly promotes thrift, simple low-consumption lifestyles, and minimizing waste as governance objectives. This aligns with the sufficiency thesis argument and provides a national-scale policy precedent for the values underpinning community self-sufficiency design.
- Society participation as governance prerequisite: “The goal of better environment and living cannot be achieved without the active and meaningful participation of society” — validates community-level action as a necessary condition within a systemic framework, not an optional add-on to state-led policy.
- Ecological red line governance principle: Protection-first decision rule — ecological boundaries are set before development planning begins. Relevant to the thesis argument about governance sequencing in community technology adoption: define the ecological envelope first, then optimise within it.
- Environmental protection as national security: Formally elevated to national security status from 2017 — represents a governance precedent for treating ecological integrity as a non-negotiable public good rather than an economic trade-off.
Research targets
None identified.