- China is racing ahead of America in the drive to go solar http://bit.ly/zzCvw #
- China more important than America in leading the way to a global economic recovery http://bit.ly/qJamj #
- People’s Daily: China must get over its former humiliation and seek a new model for being a great country, http://bit.ly/8RltW #
- Facebook Conversations Used As Evidence In Exam Cheating Case http://bit.ly/88L18 #
- What climate change means for religion in contemporary China. http://bit.ly/9suZp #
- my latest blog post: what climate change means for religion in china http://bit.ly/xs4bR #
- A rare news report of a rite of passage for teens in Taiwan. The ceremony is sponsored by Tainan city government. http://bit.ly/YvNgo #
- Secular media have got it all wrong. The rise of religion in China helps prove that faith will change the world. http://bit.ly/w7kX2 #
- Taiwanese Daoists oppose Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan http://bit.ly/9db7q #
Monthly Archives: August 2009
what climate change means for religion in china
Much intellectual discourse about Chinese philosophical and religious views of nature focuses on ideals such as harmony between humans and the natural world, or “forming one body with heaven and earth” (tian ren he yi). But when it comes to historical studies of Chinese environmental history, it’s hard to find instances of where this ideal was concretely realized. Mark Elvin concludes his monumental history of China’s environment with the following observation
The religious, philosophical, literary, and historical texts surveyed and translated in the foregoing pages have been rich sources of description, insight, and even, perhaps, inspiration. But the dominant ideas and ideologies, which were often to some degree in contradiction with each other, appear to have little explanatory power in determining why what seems actually to have happened to the Chinese environment happened the way it did. Occasionally, yes, Buddhism helped to safeguard trees around monasteries. The law-enforced mystique shrouding Qing imperial tombs kept their surroundings untouched by more than minimal economic exploitation. but in general, no. There seems no case for thinking that, some details apart, the Chinese anthropogenic environment was developed and maintained in the way it was over the long run of more than three millennia because of particular characteristically Chinese beliefs or perceptions. or, at least, not in comparison with the massive effects of the pursuit of power and profit in the arena provided by the possibilities and limitations of the Chinese natural world, and the technologies that grew from interactions with them.
But when it comes to the history of religion in China, (rather than philosophical ideas), the story is quite different. Chinese religions demonstrate a continuous attempt to grapple with the natural world, imploring the heavens to aid the productive bounty of the earth. For popular Chinese religion in particular, the natural world is also depicted as a dangerous force capable of producing death and destruction on a massive scale. (More…)
Weekly Updates for 2009-08-23
- As Asia follows Western economic models, the West asks there any point in fighting to stave off industrial apocalypse? http://bit.ly/HP3xY #
- Organic agriculture is the key to China's food security http://bit.ly/KNBwC #
- Shanghai mayor sees bankers bereft of conscience. Confucian values challenge development of financial entrepreneurship http://bit.ly/v55Ev #
Weekly Updates for 2009-08-16
- China closes factory after cadmium pollution protest
http://bit.ly/1a01Vo # - 138 children tested for excessive lead in blood in NW China
http://bit.ly/23S6SY # - Tainted tap water sickens 4,307 in N. China city http://bit.ly/6KcAS #
- China’s green leap forward | csmonitor.com http://bit.ly/5LmoN #
- From automotive to renewable energy manufacturing. If it can happen in Baoding, maybe it can happen in Ontario http://bit.ly/1arJFZ #
- On the silliness of measuring economies with GDP http://bit.ly/3wQaZJ #
- American futurologist Alvin Toffler predicts a religious revolution in China http://bit.ly/6wotl #
- China sets date for CO2 cut, but not till 2050 http://bit.ly/OvE9z #
- Chinese exporters of Christmas consumer junk hit by global recession http://bit.ly/fJJSP #