HEEDING NATURES WISDOM,

PRESERVING HUMANKIND
By TANG XIYANG
2007 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee
for Peace and International Understanding
Presented at the 49th Ramon Magsaysay Awards Lecture Series
30 August, 2007, Manila, Philippines

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The earth is an organic entity, abundant and colorful, with thousands of
species. A blade of grass, a tree, an animal, a flock, an ecosystem; one
person, one family, one nationality, one society; all have resulted from the
unceasing evolution of nature and progress of society. Nature and human
society are distinct, but also bonded together.
Without the earths natural environment, human beings and all other
beings cannot exist. Yet there is only one earth, which is our cradle, our
home, and our paradise. The earth is vast but not boundless. She is
beautiful, but not everlasting. She is abundant but not inexhaustible.
Therefore, we must respect her, cherish her, understand and protect her.
We must learn how to keep in harmony with nature. What is ecological
wisdom? It is to treat nature as what it is and follow its own rules in
knowing, exploring, protecting and making use of it.
This kind of ecological wisdom is ancient, developing alongside scientific
progress. Today, I have three points to share with you:
First, learn the place of human beings in nature.

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Humans are one among many of the earths inhabitants. From this
perspective, humans are quite young. However, human wisdom, toolmaking skills, accumulated knowledge of culture and science, have
influenced the earth to an extent that exceeds that of any other species.
Since humans are only one species among many, only one part of nature,
living within nature rather than outside or above it, then we should follow
natures rules. But there are also people, like some academics in China,
who say that people need not revere nature. Let us imagine humanity
without nature. What we eat, wear, and use are all from naturethere is
nothing that does not come from nature, including our ideas, aesthetics,
philosophy and even our life.
To put it bluntly, nature tells us when to live, when to die, and when to
get sick. You say you dont want to live, that youd rather be a cow or a
horse, but you have no choice but to be born to your parents as a human
person. You say you dont want to die and want to have the longevity of
a turtle, but that cannot be.
It is difficult to live beyond 120 years and 237 days. That is the Guinness
World Record. You say you dont want to get sick, but getting sick or not
is decided by your genes and your environment; your genes come from
your parents and ancestors; the environment comes from the changes in
nature and the way we have behaved throughout history. Humanity has
overcome smallpox, cholera, typhoid fever, and the bubonic plague, but
at the same time has given rise to cancer, AIDS, mad cow disease, bird
flu, and SARS. It can be said that getting sick or not depends on the
person, but it can also be beyond human control. If this is true of
individuals, then it is true of humanity. Nature dictates life and death.
Without the earths environment, there can be no evolution. How then can
humanity emerge, exist, and prosper? In the process of evolution,
extinction is unavoidable, but there are many paths to it. When Mt.
Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines sixteen years ago, we can say that we

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were being given a small warning, or we can say that people dug their
own gravesby destroying nature, we accelerated the process of
destruction. Global warming can also be considered a small warning for
us. In going towards the same goal, people can passively accept their fate,
or exercise their power of choice. Someone said it well, The meaning of
life is not whether one is destroyed in the end, but whether the process
before destruction is good. It is like people who know that they will die,
but will still search for perfection in life. This is the philosophical insight
of environmental ethics, something for every conscientious person to
reflect on deeply.
Following this logic, just as a person in society cannot be concerned only
with the self, humanity in nature cannot be concerned only with itself. In
the relationship between humanity and nature, it is wrong to make the
human person the center, and it is also harmful for humankind to think in
this way.
Of course, it is only normal that people want to improve their lives, society
needs to progress, and nature never repeats itself. But we have only one
earth, with limited renewable and non-renewable resources. Gandhi once
said, The earth provides enough to satisfy every persons need, but not
every persons greed. Some have called attention to three extremes in
China: it has the largest population, the least per capita use of resources,
and highest level of human wants/desires. If we do not adopt a modest,
prudent and restrained attitude and adjust the route of economical
development and personal lifestyles, we will destroy our home and the
earth.
Second, learn to see the world from an ecological perspective.
People consider problems from different points of view. Politicians take
a political point of view, economists adopt an economics view while
ecologists have an ecological view. Moreover, different people have
different perspectives on the same problem. Some consider a problem
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from a personal or personal-expertise perspective, some see it from the

perspective of the country or ethnic group, and others think of the whole
of humankind in considering a problem. I think these are all inadequate.
We must learn to take nature and the eco-system as a whole into our
consideration when we try to solve a problem. Only with this wider view
in mind can we solve problems more realistically, more accurately, and
more scientifically.
For example, wolves are a threat to the livestock industry, so the human
solution is to destroy the wolves. But after the wolves have been
destroyed, we lose a major controlling element in the number of grasseating animals, resulting in an ecological imbalance. In order to revive the
grasslands and the ecological balance, the humans are forced to reintroduce wolves to the grasslands, like what some countries in Europe
and North America are now doing. This is a change in the learning process
from the human to the ecological perspective.
Another example is the first invention of pesticides, chemical fertilizers,
herbicides, and artificial hormones into products that seem to have many
benefits. After a process of ecological evaluation, perhaps there are no
benefits to humans, but rather harmful effects. Following the same logic,
cutting trees, reclaiming land, hunting animals, and overusing grasslands
seem harmless from a human-interest point of view, but from an
ecological perspective is equivalent to calling forth calamity for nature
and humanity.
Nature is great; the eco-system is complex and life is mysterious while
our knowledge is limited. If a forest just makes you think of timber, a river
only reminds you of hydropower, a grassland of mutton and pork, and an
animal of meat or medicine, you should think again. I would not say it is
absolutely wrong, but from an ecological perspective, there is far more to
it than that. Between species, between species and the environment,
between humankind and nature, these are all mutually dependent. They

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impact on each others growth by developing together, establishing

mutual controls and filling any vacuum. The eco-system must be kept in
balance and within the limit of its load and moreover, with the ecodiversity preserved and different species living in a balanced way. These
are natural laws. Only by following the laws can we protect humanity and
its interests. Therefore, with the emphasis on environmental protection,
there is also the promotion of eco-agriculture, eco-cities, eco-tourism and
other eco-friendly activities that reflect our effort to find a balance with
nature in an ecological civilization.
Third, learn to respect nature, respect history, and respect tradition.
A nature scientist once said, Nature never makes mistakes, because it
does not have a brain. My understanding of this sentence is that nature
moves forward according to its own laws, without any human subjectivity
involved. The human brain may be a good thing, but it can also be a bad
thing; it can be used for good or for evil. The good here is that human
beings can get to know nature and follow ecological laws in doing things;
the bad is that human beings can be self-centered, narrow-minded, greedy
and arrogant. That is why we must learn to respect nature, respect history,
and respect tradition.
Every being is growing, reproducing and evolving on the earth. Any
species in Mother Nature is the fruit of interdependence and every
biological chain has gone through natural selection. Human beings as a
small chain in Mother Nature are no different from other beings in needing
to preserve the balance of nature as society advances. Therefore, we
should take an ecologically panoramic view. We cannot see the trees but
not the forest. We cannot see the forest, but disregard forest ecology. We
cannot consider forest ecology, but not the biosphere. We should take
nature as a whole, including the interaction between human beings and
nature.

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The earth has a history of more than four billion years. That is to say, the
birth of a new species, the survival of a new ecological community and
the progress of society are historical processes. History flows with time
and we cant just focus on the present without considering the past and
the future. For example, a study of the natural and human history of the
Yellow River in China can give us an overall idea about the ecological
changes in the Yellow River and its relation with the rise and fall of the
Yellow River Civilization. By studying the history of the Yellow River,
we can consider how we must deal with the Yangtze River at the present
time. Similarly, the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Babylonia and India
were cradled along major rivers. They rose with the prosperity of the
rivers ecological system and declined with the fall of the rivers
ecological system. This shows that the river also has a life. It is flowing
and has an eco-system with a rich natural and human history. However,
some hydropower experts were blind to these facts and were driven by
profit. For the sake of electricity, irrigation and navigation, they blocked
the river and built over ten dams. Consequently, the river became a
reservoir, the innate nature was destroyed and the eco-system was
devastated. Therefore, we should heed the ecological and humanistic
wisdom that has come down to us from ancient times, and look for a new
way of developing an ecological civilization.
The ecological wisdom of our ancestors can be found in tradition. Our
ancestors had been immersed in nature for thousands of years, during
which they learned how to follow, respect and protect nature. The logic
of nature that they learned was expressed in traditional culture, religious
belief and folk sayings.
Ancient Chinese civilization was diverse and always embraced a green
culture. This was especially true in the Spring and Autumn and Warring
States periods. Most characteristically, Laozi (585 to 500 B.C.E.), the
sage of Daoism said, Natures law is to achieve balance by eliminating
the surplus and supplementing the deficiency; whereas human behavior is
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just the reverse in that it destroys the balance. Another sage in Daoism,
Zhuangzi (369-286 B.C.E.), said, Heaven and earth and I coexist. The
world and I are one. Moreover, Xunzi (313-238 B.C.E.), said, Nature
has its own law. It does not change because of the emergence of a good
king or a bad one. We gain if we follow it; we lose if we go against it.
These philosophical ideas reveal the deep thinking and broad-mindedness
of the ancient sages. These are great treasures of Chinese civilization and
an important part of our green culture. The reason that these ideas came
into being at that time is that people had freedom of thought and the
economy was at a very basic level of development. People basically lived
in nature and hence they had a deep experience and understanding of
nature. Succeeding generations have lived isolated from nature and
therefore do not share the wisdom of the ancients.
China has passed on to us many great engineering feats that demonstrate
ancient peoples ecological wisdom. One is Sichuan provinces
Dujiangyan irrigation system built in 256-251 B.C.E. The whole system
works automatically without any human interference. When there are
floods, the outer river leads the excess water into the Yangtze River.
When there is drought, the inner river irrigates the land. The natural
system has been there for over 2,200 years and is still serving people. As
a result, Sichuan Province has always been known as a heaven on earth
for its plenitude. In March 2001, Dujiangyan was declared a World
Cultural Heritage site.
(Dujiangyan is the oldest and only surviving no-dam irrigation system in
the world; and a wonder in the development of Chinese science. The
project consists of three important parts, namely Yuzui, Feishayan and
Baopingkou scientifically designed to automatically control the water
flow of the rivers from the mountains to the plains throughout the year.
Yuzui, like a big fish lying in the Minjiang River, is a watershed dividing
the river into two parts: inner river and outside river. Feisha Yan is a

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spillway that diverts the sand and stones of the inner river into the outer
river. Baoping Kou, like a neck of a bottle, is used to bring water into the
inner river from Minjiang. At the same time, Baoping Kou controls the
amount of the intake water due to its reasonable location. These three parts
interact with each other perfectly to form an effective water conservancy
project. During the low-water season, 60% of the Minjiang water is
brought into the inner river for irrigation while 40% of the water is drawn
into the outside river. The situation is reversed in the flood season
ensuring the water supply for irrigation and protection from flooding on
the Chengdu Plain.)
Another project is Lingqu in Guangxi Province. It was built thirty years
after Dujiangyan (during the reign of Chinas first emperor, Qin
Shihuangdi). This project has a ploughshare-shaped structure in the
middle of the Xiang River to divert it into the Li River and facilitate the
navigation of the two rivers. At the shallow part of the canal, dippershaped structures were built to raise the level of the water for safer
navigation. This can be considered the forerunner of the navigation lock,
and the earliest measures of canal navigation in the world.
(Lingqu Canal consists of a dam, a south channel, and a North Channel.
For over 2,000 years, although it has been modified several times, its
structure has remained almost unchanged.)
In the Pearl River delta, there is a system of production called the
mulberry dike-fish pond, which is a very good example of an artificial
ecological system with a history of over 500 years. Pond silt fertilizes the
mulberry trees that produce healthy leaves for the silkworms. Well-fed
silkworms produce more silk and more waste, which in turn feeds the fish
and enriches the silt. No wonder this is one of the richest areas in China
that can feed, on an average, 600 people per square kilometer.
(The close integration in mulberry cultivation, sericulture and fish
farming is one of the models of integrated fish farming to fully exploit the
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production potentials of the ecosystem. This type of integration is known

in China as mulberry dike-fish pond in the Pearl River delta and
mulberry plot-fish-pond in the Taihu basin. The development of the
integration of mulberry cultivation, silkworm rearing and fish farming has
promoted the development of silk reeling and other processing industries.
It is a more complete, scientifically based man-made ecosystem.)
These are examples of the harmony that can exist between human beings
and nature; all these are ways of respecting nature, following her laws,
and imitating her. From the perspective of human relationship with nature,
including human relationships, these examples are far superior to the
pyramids, the Great Wall, and the terra cotta warriors.
China is a country with many religions. And religion and nature have
always been closely related. Religion played a very important role in
protecting nature and the environment because religion in general
preaches nature worship, kindness, compassion and love of life. There are
many rare species of animals and plants and many places of scenic beauty
that have been preserved, because in times past, they were considered holy
forests, trees, streams, mountains, and animals. The well-known nature
reserve of Fanjing Mountain, Dinghu Mountain and Lu Mountain were
used historically as holy religious sites. Religious culture involves
philosophical explanations of life, society, nature and the universe. These
reflect the reality of society and nature from different aspects, and they
are an abundant spiritual heritage for green culture today.
In China, there are many ancient folk customs and proverbs about
environmental protection. For example, there are sayings to stop people
from cutting trees near their houses, to prohibit hunting eggs, to forbid
animal-killing and so on, which reflect the simple and primitive
understanding of the principle of conservation in Chinese culture. We
often hear ordinary Chinese say, The later generation enjoys the shade
of trees planted by the previous generations, So long as we have green

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mountains we have no worry about lack of fuel; Conserve the mountain

and the river if you depend on them for your livelihood; Do not shoot
spring birds, for their babies are waiting for food in the nest. These plain
words are all from their daily exposure to nature, but also reflect the
ecological culture of grass-roots people.
Perhaps because I have traveled and seen much, thought much, my mind
has developed a kind of natural philosophy. I can express it in Chinese in
sixteen words: Being and I are on the same boat, humankind and nature
are under the same sky. Respect history and protect nature. A direct
translation of these words may be misunderstood. All I mean is that when
people deal with nature, I hope they will take a holistic view of humanity,
ecology, and the universe, and adjust their lifestyles and economic growth
accordingly. In human society, there can be a new environmental ethics,
virtues, and civilization. What I want to say today is that we should learn
and promote ecological wisdom, through which people and nature live in
harmony. This is a sacred mission that history bestows on us.

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