Daoism and the Project of an Ecological Civilization or Shengtai Wenming 生态文明

Martin Schönfeld,Xia Chen

doi:10.3390/rel10110630

Martin Schönfeld, Xia Chen

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10110630

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Abstract

For China today, environmentalism is central. The socialist doctrine of “Xi Jinping Thought” prioritizes transitioning to sustainability in the goal of building an “Ecological Civilization”. This creates unprecedented opportunities for Daoist practitioners to engage in state-coordinated activism (part 1). We show how the science of the planetary crisis (part 2) resonates with Daoist values (part 3), how these values integrate in national policy goals (part 4), and how this religious environmental activism plays out in case studies (part 5).

Highlights

IntroductionDaoism is often described in Philosophy as the greenest of all schools of wisdom, and in Religious
Daoism is often described in Philosophy as the greenest of all schools of wisdom, and in ReligiousStudies as the faith that puts nature’s Way, the Dao 道, at the center of reverence.1 This understanding, while essentially correct, needs to be reconsidered for three reasons
One is that the crossing of planetary thresholds has altered the meaning of ‘nature’ and ‘green’. Another is that China has gone through profound changes since the Cultural Revolution, which affect Daoism and environmentalism alike

Summary

Introduction

Daoism is often described in Philosophy as the greenest of all schools of wisdom, and in Religious. 社会主义), known as “Xi-Jinping Thought” (xi jinping sixiang 习近平思想), is a future-oriented outlook that grounds policy in science and draws from China’s legacy of philosophical and religious traditions This ideological sea change has created unprecedented opportunities for Daoist practitioners to engage in environmental activism, coordinated by the Communist Party towards the construction of an ecological civilization. This alliance is historically a step beyond the integration of the Chinese Daoist Association in the socialist state. While Deng regarded religions as neutral, Jiang declared them to be “positive forces” (jiji liliang 积极力量) for building socialism with Chinese characteristics

The Shifting Conception of Environmental Activism

Daoist Environmentalism

Aspiring to an Ecological Civilization

Findings

Environmental Activism and Case Studies