During the annual political sessions, environmental protection was definitely among the biggest concerns. Actually, it was also an issue that ancient Chinese paid great attention to. In fact, the world’s earliest environmental protection concept, ministry and laws were all born in China. So how did the ancient Chinese protect the environment?
In early ancient China, environmental protection was promoted to the political level. Xunzi, a famous thinker in Warring States Period, brought up the concept of “managing state affairs through environmental protection”. He stated in his book that vegetation should not be damaged at will. Guan Zhong, an official 400 years ahead of Xunzi, was also an environmental protection expert. During his term of office, he claimed that “a King who cannot protect his vegetation is not qualified to be a king”.
According to a record in Qing dynasty, the environmental protection ministry in early ancient China was called “Yu”, standing both for the institution and the official title. Although most of its functions were similar to such ministries today, the administration range of it was much larger, including the mountains, forests, rivers, lakes and so on.
The nine ministries established by Shun, an ancient Chinese emperor, already included “Yu”, the environmental protection ministry. The first “Yu” official was a man called Boyi, who was indeed an environmental protection expert. He was a capable assistant to Dayu, an ancient Chinese water-control expert. He invented wells, protecting people’s drinking water from pollution. He knew a lot about animals and also called for animal protection.
Environmental protection laws dated back to the ruling period of Dayu, which was more than 4,000 years ago. During his rule, he issued a ban, forbidding people to cut down wood in March or catch fish in June, the time when they were supposed to boom.
In Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period almost 3,000 years ago, “environmental protection laws” appeared in its true sense in Qin, which was recorded in Law of Fields and regarded as China’s earliest “environmental protection laws”.
【小题1】What can we know about Xunzi?| A．He was against any destruction of vegetate on. |
| B．He was an environmental protection expert. |
| C．He removed the disqualified king from the position. |
| D．He brought up the thought of environmental protection. |
| A．The ministry of Yu. | B．The Qing dynasty. |
| C．The term of office of Yu. | D．The modern environmental ministry. |
| A．Shun. | B．Boyi. | C．Xunzi. | D．Guan Zhong. |
| A．Politics and Environment | B．The Earliest Environmental Laws |
| C．Dayu — a Great Environmental Protector | D．How the Ancient Chinese Protect the Environment |
