A Study On She’s Ecological Ethics

The She nationality is one of the main ethnic minorities in South China. Accordingto the demographic statistics in2010, the population of She throughout the country is708651, distributed in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangdong and other eight provinces.Although the She nationality is an ethical minority with the population for no more thanone million, it has been distributed in eight provinces. Through thousands of years, theShe nationality still keeps a strong national identity and cohesion, which is seen as ashocking cultural phenomena. The She people living in the southeastern mountain areafor generations show a distinct perception to the knowledge of natural environment andnatural resources. How to survive within the fragile ecological environment and scarcenatural resources is a key problem the She nationality have to face. If the issues ofhuman and society, man and nature are two fundamental issues for the survival ofmankind, then for the She nationality the first thing to solve is the issue of man andnature. What is the relationship between human and nature, what is the status of man innature, and how does man deal with his relationship with other living creatures, all ofthe reflections to these issues by the She nationality are called as She’s ecological ethics.The She’s ecological ethics centers around the relationship between human andnature. First of all, the special geographical conditions in the southeast mountain areaare the foundations for the formation of She’s ecological ethics. Due to the fragility ofecological environment and the scarcity in natural resources in mountain areas, She’secological culture has formed values centering on the preserving of the naturalenvironment and cherishing of natural resources. Second, through religious beliefs andnatural taboos, the concepts on respecting nature, acknowledging the intrinsic value ofother creatures have become the moral foundations of the She’s ecological ethics. Theyare also extended to the local rules and common laws, forming a set of relatively perfectsystem of social norms in environmental protection. At last, the ecological ethics culturedeveloping according to the natural environment of mountain areas have been deeplypermeated in all aspects of traditional She cultures. They have greatly affected thevalues, ethics and ways of life.The She nationality’s traditional philosophical ideas,customs, literature and art, languages all are closely connected with ecological ethics.Based on the logical structure of She’s ecological ethics’s formation, the thesis consists of three parts apart from Introduction and Conclusion.The first part is the discussion on the foundation and background of the formationabout the She’s ecological ethics. First of all, the development of ecological ethicalthoughts about the She nationality can not be separated from the distinct eographicalendowments and the growth of the society in mountain areas. Second, the core in She’secological ethics are unified with its earthy mountain farming civilization as well as thepure and honest, hardworking and thrifty national personalities.The second part is a detailed introduction and systematic induction about thecarrier of the ecological ethics of She nationality and its embodiment, including aspectsin religious belief, natural taboos, agricultural cultivation, diet and architecture. On thisbasis, the connotations of the She’s ecological ethics will be analyzed. Three importantconnotations of the She’s ecological ethics are: the integration of the patriarchal clanidea and ecological ethics, the unity of ecological ethics and ideal of life, as well as theecological ethics structure of the integration in life, production and ecology.The third part is modern transition to the She nationality. The thesis discusses thehistorical value and modern value of the She’s ecological ethics respectively. Thecontent mainly includes national unity, national cohesion, the protection of regionalecological environment and the enlightening to the construction of ecologicalcivilization. On this basis, the thesis proposes suggestions on reconstructing the She’secological ethics and constructing natural ecological environment protection system.