China: economic powerhouse, environmentally unsustainable - part two

A Chinese saying goes: “a sparrow may be small, but it has all five organs”. Similarly, the field of environmental protection is a microcosm of the issues facing China today. Attempts to solve these problems would be useful experiments for transforming China in a wider sense.

For example, coming up with an answer to the problem of green production would also help to solve the problem of core competitiveness. Solving the problem of environmental compensation would provide experience for the solution of societal injustices. Establishing a system for democratic environmental decision-making would open paths for reform of the whole system of government. Solving problems of environmental culture could provide a vibrant new ideological system suited to the rise of a green China.

It is for these reasons that I say that environmental protection is not a specialised, isolated issue, but an issue that concerns economy, society, politics and culture. It is, in short, a “global complex”. Only by placing the issue in an elevated position can we gain a wide enough visual field to truly understand the importance of environmental protection in today’s China. Only in this way can we understand the need to build a green China and how to go about its construction. One must learn how to participate in public life through a wide variety of channels.

Young China

What about the youth of China? When I was young, my aunts and uncles would always say to me: “The problems that our generation could not solve will be passed on to you. You have to do us proud and come up with solutions.”

At the time I was annoyed. “All the debts you accumulated will be passed on to us,” I would say. “And if we cannot pay them off, we will just pass them down to the next generation. If no one takes the initiative and makes sacrifices, lots of problems will never be solved.”

Now I am middle-aged myself, I can understand more what they were saying. Take the story of the early Chinese reformers. In Towards the Republic, after the allied foreign forces have entered Beijing, Liang Qichao asks Li Hongzhang to come to the north. Li says: “One generation can only do the work of one generation.” In many cases, it is not that the older generation does not want to solve the problem, but that they are stopped from doing so by historical conditions.

This is the case with the environment. Our generation may still comfort itself by saying: “China is so big, it will take at least 10 years to work everything out,” but the young generation will not have the same luxury. In 15 years, China’s GDP will have increased four-fold. Pollution will have increased by four to six times. China’s environment will not be able to take this pressure, so what is going to happen to you, the young people? The problem of the environment may not be your fault, but it is your responsibility to solve it. If you fail, you will pay the price. If you succeed, the credit will be all yours. This is your destiny.

Every generation has its own destiny, which becomes the framework for its own successes. My parents’ generation liberated China from imperialism. My generation started the process of China’s opening up and transition to modernity. And what is the younger generation’s duty? It is to find a path to sustainable development suited to China. In doing this, you will need a measure of idealism.

What do I mean by idealism? I mean the spirit of trying to achieve things that seem impossible. Looking at history, we see that every generation of young people has had its own ideals. Whether you agree with these or not, at least they had them. In the early 19th century, the young people who took part in the May Fourth Movement were fighting for an ideology. Those who went to it in the 1930s were fighting for independence. Those who volunteered to go far into the countryside in the 1950s and 60s did it to make China richer and stronger. Those who became Red Guards in the 1970s did so to keep the revolution alive. Those who went abroad to study in the 1980s and 90s went to learn from European and American ideas of how to build a strong country.

I do not really understand the younger generation. I would like to talk to you young people as I would to a friend, but to be honest, it is hard. I don’t communicate very well with my son. He worships individual freedom. He has seen a lot and understands many things, but he still does not understand the Chinese nation.

We often argue and don’t see each other very often, which makes me sad. I have put together a list of criticisms of your generation. I don’t know if you will really listen to them or not, but here they are: your generation has grown up in a rich and varied environment, but has no roots or foundation. You have an excessive passion for the future, yet almost no interest in history. You have hardly any of the constraints of tradition, and you lack any real beliefs. To put it simply, idealism is rare in your generation. Pragmatism and individualism have won out. This is not really a question of individual problems, but of a wider social climate.

In fact, pragmatism and individualism are not necessarily bad, but excessive pragamatism can lead to collective short-sightedness, and individualism that is not in tune with the current era can not create a social climate. You do not have to blindly listen to what our generation says, but you must have your own beliefs. These beliefs must be intimately related to the era in which we live. This is the era of the rise of the Chinese people. For yes, we are rising.