Study On The Environmental Ethics Of Ancient Travels In China

Since ancient times, the practice of human society is closely related to the natural environment. Since modern times, nature has suffered serious damage, "ecological problems" has been to the point of non settlement. To get out of the present ecological dilemma and properly handle the relationship between man and nature, we should not only sum up the present developing experiences, but also look back upon the philosophy wisdom in history.The ancient Chinese travelogue, an important literature legacy left by ancient people, originated from early Qin Dynasty, further developed in Wei and Jin, became mature in Tang and Song and were most prevalent in Ming and Qing. On describing some topics of travelogue, ancient Chinese literati expressed their aesthetic perceptions and ideals of pursuing spiritual values of nature, formed initial thoughts on the relationship between man and nature. As for the above relationship, they saw more of the harmony and affinity. Descriptions and responses of the nature were the most important theme in ancient Chinese travelogues as well as the directest presentation of the relationship between man and nature, which gave rise to a sharp contrast in terms of those immoral behaviors of travelers today.In this way, rich environmental ethics implications were shown, including the following aspects as protecting nature by respecting it and cherishing resources, ensuring the value of nature by keeping company with landscapes and appreciating nature, approaching a harmonious relationship between heaven and man of blending in nature and forgetting all. Meanwhile, some important features can also be seen in ancient travelogues. For example, the philosophical foundation is to stick to the overall view of nature, the basic orientation is advocating an harmonious relationship between man and nature and the special perspective goes to concerning people’s spiritual ecology.The environmental ethics in ancient Chinese travelogues provide natural culture soil for present construction of ecological civilization. They give us some rational ideas of thinking and solving environmental problems as well. In terms of thought inspiration, they are good for stimulating people’s reflection and increasing awareness of environmental ethics; as for referring resources, they help a lot in inheriting ideological resources and promoting the development of local environmental ethics; in the case of guiding behaviors, they do good to carrying forward the traditional ecological wisdom and docking the modern life.