| Most environmental problems have roots in human relationships and are ultimately social, political, and cultural. Maoist China is an extreme example of human interference in the natural world during an era in which human relationships were unusually distorted. The period provides a transparent illustration of the relationship between human exploitation and environmental degradation, exemplifying the tragedy of this interface under extreme conditions.; The environmental dynamics of Mao-era China illustrate a congruence between abuse of human beings and abuse of nature. Mao's “war against nature,” revealed through interviews, newspaper and magazine articles, scholarly monographs, and books in Chinese and English, rested on four core themes around which this study is thematically and chronologically organized: political repression, utopian urgency, dogmatic uniformity, and forcible relocations. The study shows how each of four corresponding political campaigns—the Anti-rightist movement, the Great Leap Forward, the movements to “take grain as the key” and to “learn from Dazhai” in agriculture, and the relocation of youths to frontier areas to “open the wilderness”—damaged the natural world and caused human suffering.; Studying the confluence of poor inter-human relations and poor human-nature relations in Maoist China has value for broader understanding of the relationship between social and environmental activity. Repression of expression and other intellectual freedoms, urgency to achieve progress, application of models that ignore local traditions or conditions, and disruption of connections to the land exacted an enduring toll on China's human and natural worlds. The negative example of the Mao years points toward the importance of political participation, public deliberation and oversight, intellectual freedom and rule of law, respect for regional variation and local wisdom, and land tenure systems that provide a sense of shared future with the land. These principles may not in themselves be sufficient to shift China or any other nation off a self-destructive path. Nevertheless, free speech, participation in land-use decision-making, civil protections and enforceable regulatory frameworks, and respect for learning and information are all necessary to foster environmentally responsible behavior and sustainable development. |
