ABSTRACTS

The Body Category and Theoretical Prospect of EcocriticismWang Xiaohua

With a history of more than 40 years, ecocriticism is still on the way to exploring its own basic scope of development, let alone establishing a mature theoretical framework. According to the research on ecological concepts and corresponding types of knowledge, the body category can be the logical starting point of ecocriticism and can form the theoretical framework of ecocriticism. The introduction of the body category will enable ecocriticism to find out to which its own discourse belongs, e.g., the embodied existence of human, organism，“the flesh of world”, etc. Just as the ecological crisis stems from a dualistic view of the world from which emerges the dichotomy between man and environment, culture and nature, self and others, the solution lies in returning to a monism that starts with the body category. By introducing the body category, ecocriticism can be shaped into the self-consistent discourse and thus meet the challenges of the future.

The Turn to Somaesthetics and Its Significance to Ecopoetics: A Review of Prof. Wang Xiaohuas Somaesthetic StudyHu Zhihong

Somaesthetics has shown strong academic momentum and rapidly developed into a new aesthetic form since its emergence in Chinese Academia not long ago. With its theoretical framework already in sight, somaesthetics has successfully grafted the concept of body on ecology and integrated itself into ecopoetics. The rise of somaesthetics is directly driven by the inherent defects of traditional aesthetics and greatly motivated by the development of ecocriticism. However, its theoretical framework needs to be improved and its lack of an environmental justice dimension is a critical deficiency. Only by taking the environmental justice dimension of body into consideration when establishing somaesthetics can we make possible a new aesthetic form which is truly diversified, equal, inclusive and unbiased.

Reconstructing the Ontological Foundation of Ecological Culture on Somaesthetics: An Interview with Professor Wang XiaohuaWang Xiaohua & Zhu Yuchuan

Professor Wang Xiaohua in School of Humanities at Shenzhen University began to devote himself to the dissemination and research of ecological culture in early 1990s. Since then, he has published nearly 100 ecological essays and more than 200 papers in journals such as Foreign Literature Review, Academic Monthly, Du Shu （Reading）, Tian Ya （Frontiers）, Shanghai Literature, etc. He is also author of several books, including Ecocriticism, Between Modernity and Postmodernity, An Introduction to Somaesthetics, Somapoetics, etc. His works have been selected into dozens of anthologies, translated into several foreign languages, and reprinted in Xinhua Digest four times. Because of his influence in the field of ecological culture research, he has appeared in many publications like Exploration and Free Views, Free Forum of Literature, Journal of Shenzhen University（humanities and social sciences edition）, Cultural Shenzhen, Social Sciences Weekly as the cover scholar or honored author. He has also been frequently seen on the list of The Most Influential Scholars of Humanities in China. In the following interview, Professor Wang Xiaohua Shared his thought-forming process of constructing the ontological foundation of ecological culture that started from proving the legitimacy of ecological culture with his personal love and reverence for life at the beginning to putting forward the concept of inter-subjectivity and promoting the deepening of ecological culture research in the middle stage to laying a new foundation for ecological culture on somaesthetics in the present stage. His explicit theoretical construction of the “ecological schema” shows the academic aspirations and innovative spirit of an ecological humanist.

A Retrospective and Prospective Analysis of the 70-year Construction of Beautiful China

Li Juan

Upon the founding of New China, Mao Zedongs preliminary idea and practice of “beautifying the whole country” laid a foundation for Chinas ecological environment construction. Since the First National Conference on Environmental Protection, the cause of environmental protection in China has evolved from the stage of only preventing pollution to the stage of preventing pollution and protecting ecology together, from simply protecting environment to protecting environment and promoting economic growth together. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has integrated the construction of ecological civilization into all aspects and the whole process of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and propelled the construction of Beautiful China into a new era. The historic achievements of the construction of Beautiful China in nearly 70 years make us firmer in our belief that we must adhere to the development concept that “l(fā)ucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”, the all-round systematic construction of ecological civilization, the basic policy of ecologically benefiting the people and ecologically relying on the people, the strictest rule of law, the joint efforts of the international community to build a more beautiful world. Beautiful China not only embodies the natural beauty, but also implies the beauty of social ecology and human ecology.

On Chinas 70-Year Coordinated Development of Environment and EconomyJu Changhua

The history of Chinas coordinated development of environment and economy since the founding of Peoples Republic of China 70 years ago roughly falls into three phases: the unofficial policy period during the first 30 years, the framework construction period from 1979 to 2012, and the all-round policy facilitating period since 2013. In the new era, it is required that the ecological environment management should guide the construction of a green development pattern by managing and controlling ecological space, promote the supply-side structural reform by setting ecological environment constraints, and promote the development of green industries by protecting ecological environment. It is also required that differentiated policies of environmental economy should be set up and carried out in terms of the functional spheres of different subjects.

Seven Decades of Chinas Fishery: Policy Evolution and High-quality Green Development

Cao Jianhua & Sang Feier

Chinas fishery has made great achievements since the founding of Peoples Republic of China. Considering the critical nodes both in its development situation and in its major policy, the 70-year development and reform process of Chinas fishery can be divided into six stages, namely, production recovery, production fluctuation, re-construction of management organizations and production rebounding, market-oriented reform, the end of shortage with the rehabilitation policy, and sustainable development. Although different stages have different characteristics of development and policy, it is a consensus that the successful development of Chinas fishery relies much on adhering to Reform and Opening-up, following “rehabilitation first”, carrying out sustainable development strategy, going international, guiding management with laws, and encouraging innovation in science and technology. Chinas fishery in the new era is faced with the following problems: the double constraint of resources and environment, the pressure of transformation and upgrading, the increased uncertainty in international market, the dissatisfactory quality of aquatic products, etc. The future development of Chinas fishery needs to adhere to the green development of aquaculture, build a conservation-based fishing system, optimize the structure of the industry and the products, enhance international cooperation, and rely on science and technology, laws and regulations to improve the quality of aquatic products.

On the Practice of Constructing the Ecological Environment in Contemporary Jiangxi Province

Ma Hui & Li Zhimeng

The practice and exploration of constructing the ecological environment in contemporary Jiangxi Province witnessed a process from weak to strong implementation, from partial to holistic involvement, and from skin-deep to deepening understanding in the whole society. Jiangxis ecological environment construction has gradually merged into the main arena of economic and social development, striding towards a sustainable development way which coordinates ecology, environment and economy with Jiangxi characteristics. “Green ecology” has become the synonym of Jiangxi, symbolizing its biggest fortune, greatest advantage and best-known brand. The detailed analysis of Jiangxis history of constructing ecological environment helps the province promote its environmental governance and make a Jiangxi model of Beautiful China with higher standards. Meanwhile, the research offers the following lessons to achieve the goal: the belief that man and nature are life community should be widely spread, the green development pattern should be persisted on, the mutual development of industry and ecology should be accelerated, the resource distribution function of market should be facilitated and multi-subject participation should be adhered to.

On the Approach to Promoting High-quality Development in Jiangxi with Green Development

Xiao Wenhai & Xia Yu

Green development is not only the constraining prerequisite, important goal, and inexhaustible motive force for high-quality development in Jiangxi, but also the approach to turning premium natural resources into material fortune. The green development in Jiangxi Province is presently faced with such problems as weak technical support system, insufficient development in rural industries, incompetent operation ability of green brands, and non-optimized regional industrial layout. Therefore, to promote the high-quality development of Jiangxi with the help of green development, we should take Xi Jinpings thought of ecological civilization as the guide, strengthen strategic coordination and planning, and adequately meet both the requirements of the national construction of ecological civilization pilot areas and the challenge of fighting against pollution. Moreover, we need to gain new developmental momentum with the guidance of innovation, propel investment and entrepreneurship through reform, drive and improve brand operation by opening up, optimize the layout and coordinate regional development, turn “green” into “gold”, and follow the path of green and high-quality development with wealthy people, ecological beauty, and strong industry.

On the New Management Model of Urban and Rural Domestic Waste in Yingtan City

Liu Yueping? & Yang Chenbaixue

Urban and rural domestic waste management is among the key issues with high social concern, as well as a difficult problem to be solved in the field of peoples livelihood. Yingtan City takes the opportunity of pilot project focusing on coordinating the urban and rural domestic garbage management, and promotes the marketization of an all-round, whole processed disposal of household waste through the PPP project of government-enterprise cooperation. It starts from the Smart City construction, and applies IoT（Internet of Things）technology to the treatment of domestic garbage. Meanwhile, public products and services such as urban sanitation facilities, technology, services etc., extend to rural areas to build an integrated system for urban and rural domestic garbage disposal with the aim of not only propelling an integrated urban and rural development but also a deepening integration with precisely targeted poverty alleviation. Yingtan Citys practice of dealing with urban and rural domestic waste to some extent realizes the unity of economic, social, and ecological benefits, but also has problems like incomplete supervision and appraisal mechanism, reduced investment from enterprises, insufficient capital from government, and so on.

On the Ecological Protection Function of Forestry Inscriptions in Qingshui River Basin

Yan Qiyan

Forestry inscriptions have exerted an ecology-protecting function of facilitating the long-term sustainable development of forestry community in history. Qingshui River basin has always been a key man-made forest area and a model of perfectly combing forestry development and ecological protection in different historical periods. Forestry inscriptions in Qingshui River basin are not only the important marks of the prosperous timber trade since the reign of Emperor Qianlong in Qing dynasty, but also the true reflections of the destroyed forest and the historical evidence of local peoples voluntary protection of ecological environment. The existence of the stone tablets inscribed with orders to forbid deforestation is closely related to the quality of forest vegetation, and has played a significant role in protecting the environment. It is of great academic importance to study the ecological information in forestry inscriptions.

The Plants, Animals and the City Environment of Luoyang City 1500 Years ago:A Research Based on A Record of Buddhist Temples in LuoyangYue Yanru

During the period of Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, as the capital of Northern Wei regime and one of the most important cities at that time, Luoyang witnessed a gradually improved city construction. A Record of Buddhist Temples in Luoyang gives a very detailed description of the whole city in that period, including the plants and animals. Based on the sorting and analysis of the plants and animals recorded in the book, it is known that there were plenty of them which could be frequently found in various places like streets, temples, gardens, residences, and so on and which were characteristic of showing the prevailing aesthetics of landscape, fully incorporating into the urban environment and highlighting Buddhist culture. The distribution of plants and animals in Luoyang reigned by Northern Wei regime was closely related to peoples living demands, urban development status, social and cultural traits, and the local natural and geographical environment, reflecting the specific urban landscape then and there.

On Appreciation of the Ugly in Eco-filmsWang Kunyu

Ugly images and settings are important subjects and narrative factors of eco-films. The ugliness of eco-films includes the ugliness in nature and that caused by man. On one hand, the cinematic ugly images of nature offend the recipients inherent aesthetic views and on the other hand present a complete picture of nature and environment. The man-made ugliness is directed to human destruction of nature and human self-alienation. Through the images of the ugly in eco-films, human beings may have a deeper understanding of the connotation of eco-holism, expand the field of ecological perception, deepen ecological rationality, and finally reach the state of reflecting on ecological issues.

An Inquiry into the Ecological Identity in AvatarTang Meihua

The discussion on the relationship between natural place and human self-identity in the theory of place broadens the critical horizon of traditional identity theory and develops an ecological self-identity concept. It transcends the limits of racial and cultural identity and emphasizes the identification of self from an ecological perspective. The identity process of Jack，the hero in the eco-film Avatar, begins from his regaining control of his own body to make the first step into self-identity, to entering the ecological identity region, Pandora planet, then to encountering the crisis of self-identity and falling into the predicament of identity, and eventually to completing the final identity in the ecological place. All this conveys the message that only in the ecological place can human beings really confirm their identities, so they should respect nature and protect their own homeland, and this also expresses criticism and reflections on issues like the insatiable exploitation of nature and ecological justice.

Breaking through the Stylized Barriers of Eco-filmsLiu Yi

The Eco-film, as a cinematic form that pays much more attention to renewing the narrative structure than mastering the ecological aesthetic style, focuses on exploring the inherent characteristics of the film medium and the dimensions of ecological aesthetics, and meticulously creating abundant narrative texts. This in turn has important constructive effects on the stylization of eco-films. The function of juxtaposing the real embedded in the film medium promotes the pure and theoretical consciousness of the film art in order to truly try to broaden the coverage of the ecological film discourse criticism from the medium itself. Another approach to realizing the stylistic change in eco-films is by learning from and trying the elements of other successful film types, and continuously infusing contemporary ecological concepts into the film texts to convey the ecological consciousness. The construction of the aesthetic dimension of eco-films is to enable the producer and the consumer in the process of creation and reception to mutually agree on spreading ecological ideas in the cognitive scope. The purpose is to break through the stylized barriers of eco-films by thoroughly understanding the publics ecological awareness and continually broadening the aesthetic horizon in the future.

The Ecological Implication in Hitting and Killing a SheepNie Li

Hitting and Killing a Sheep is “a film that can be seen from the ecological perspective”. Imbued with the unique film aesthetics rooted in Tibetan culture, it is a complicated representation of the life channel where man and nature coexist harmoniously. In the poetic images of two Jinpas reflecting each other, a sheep, “my sun”, etc., appear two poles of killing and mercy, sin and redemption, secular and spiritual beliefs. These two worlds are finally connected in the dream at the end of the film with reconciliation. The film seems to tell a story about revenge, but in fact conveys a theme of “non-revenge” and “great compassion”. Rich in ecological ideas such as animism and reverence for life, the film is both an ecological allegory and a paean to life and humanity.

The German Energy Transition as a Regime ShiftSebastian Strunz

In this paper, I use the resilience framework to interpret the project of transforming the German energy system into a renewable energy sources（RES）-based system, the so-called Energiewende, as a regime shift. This regime shift comprises several transformations, which are currently altering the technological, political and economic system structure. To build my argument, I first sketch how technological, political and economic developments reduced the resilience of the conventional fossil-nuclear energy regime and created a new RES-regime. Second,I depict recent changes in German public discourse and energy policy as the shift to the RES-regime. Third, I highlight the challenges involved with increasing the resilience of the RES-regime. In particular, sufficient resilience of the electricity transmission grid appears to be crucial for facilitating the transformation of the whole energy system.