Probing The Ecological Culture In The Ch'in And Han Dynasty

Among Chinese traditional ideology and culture, the ecological culture ideas, such as respecting the law of nature, cherishing lives, and advocating a harmonious relation between nature and human, have been of long standing and well established. The Ch'in and Han dynasty, as the formative period of Chinese traditional ideology and culture, is a key stage of the ancient ecological culture. In its huge and miscellaneous ideology and culture systems, abundant ecological culture was contained. Though scrappy, not systematic, it had developed into the height of the theory. People understood, utilized and improved ecological environment, and putted forward opinion and measures to protect it, which reflected ecological culture from material, spirit and system aspect separately in the Ch'in and Han dynasty. First, the ecological understanding in agricultural production had reflected the society's ecological consciousness. Because of the need of intensive cultivation agriculture, people not merely had concerned the source of water, lands, animals and plants closely, and cared for the relation of the climate, astronomical calendar and farming season very much. With the development of agriculture, people had accumulated the abundant ecological knowledge of agriculture, and utilized it. To improving ecological environment, people extremely paid close attention to the farming season, water and lands. Second, the thinkers not merely paid attention to the ecological harmonious and protective thought, and understood the ecological ethics thought. In the face of the deterioration of ecological environment, they got abundant ecological thought together, such as getting along with the natural harmony, paying attention to ecological ethics and advocating ecological protection. Third, the policies and decrees of the country reflected the ecological culture idea of the upper society. The guidance function of ecological culture was reflected by its impacts on people's social behaviors. The formulation of a series of environmental protection decrees, the attention to cultivating ecological resources, and the understanding of ecological calamity showed the enhancement of national ecological consciousness. In a word, The ecological culture in the Ch'in and Han dynasty derived and developed from the ecological thought of the thinkers in the pre-Qin period. Surrounding the need of agricultural production, people had the ecological consciousness of utilizing and protecting ecological resources rationally to improve the ecological environment, and made it rise to theory level, which formed abundant intention of ecological culture in the Ch'in and Han dynasty.