The shock of the tsunami at the turn of the year has not only rocked countries lining the Indian Ocean, but also triggered a wave of debate among the general public and academia in China on how nature ought to be viewed. Even as the consequences of the deadly tide ebb, the debate continues to rage.

In China at least it all began with an article entitled "Man should be in awe of Mother Nature," written by Wang Yongchen, a journalist with China National Radio in Beijing and an environmental activist. In the article, she listed a string of disasters in recent years which have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, and concluded that: such "catastrophes are a warning from Mother Nature, cautioning us not to harm it any more, but to revere it with awe."

The article, carried by the Beijing News, a popular tabloid daily on January 3, incurred the criticism of He Zuoxiu, a physicist and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He responded with an article in the bi-weekly Globe on January 10, entitled "Man needs not revere Nature."

While acknowledging that many environmentalists and ecologists are right to warn the public not to ignore the need to protect the environment and ecology, and agreeing unnecessary damage has been caused in recent years as a consequence of human activities, He says environmentalists and ecologists are "one-sided" in certain respects.

"In handling relations between man and nature, should we put man, or the environment, or ecology first?" he asks.

"This is a profound philosophical issue. I hold that human beings should top our concerns. The purpose of protecting the environment and ecology is for the benefit of people. Sometimes we have to do a little necessary `damage' and make some changes to the environment and eco-system also for the benefit of man," he argues.

Citing reservoir construction to justify his argument, he says: "China is suffering from a shortage of electric energy and we need to dam the rivers for hydropower, which will inevitably wreck some parts of the environment and eco-system." Here he argues for the need to weigh the gains and losses, the deciding factor should be the interests of human beings.

To hold nature in awe, he says, is to inhibit human initiative when faced with natural forces. Such an attitude "is anti-science, especially when confronting natural disasters like the tsunami or epidemic outbreaks." "Reverence and awe make no sense," He says. "We should put our confidence in the power of science and try to prevent or curb the impact of such calamities."

Growing debate

Standing by the academician's contentions is Fang Zhouzi, who holds a doctorate in molecular biology and is known for an anti-pseudoscience Chinese website based in the United States. In an article carried by the Beijing News on January 13, Fang says to be in awe of nature is actually to fear it, which indicates a psychology similar to that of the primitives of ancient times who regarded nature as Manitou, a supernatural power, possessing a soul, and who might be aroused to exact revenge if offended.

The premise of modern science, Fang makes clear, holds that the material world is objective and without consciousness, while the laws governing nature are independent of man's will.

"To make people keep a respectful distance from nature is contrary to science, at odds with the scientific approach to it, and in opposition to the use and transformation of nature through the application of scientific principles."

Their views have stirred a variety of opinion among various groups.

Liang Congjie, founder and president of Friends of Nature, a leading environmental NGO in China and member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, had this to say: "Calling people to revere nature and hold it in awe doesn't mean doing nothing. Reverence is an attitude cautioning us to think twice before reaching a decision, with a vision of a possible negative impact. And to be in awe implies humility and humbleness. After all, science is not omnipotent and we are still not far-sighted enough to predict the future."

Yang Bin, a part-time environmental activist who works with an investment company, also takes issue with He and Fang on what he terms "human-centralism" in relation to nature. As one of the numerous species of creatures on this planet dating back 4.6 billion years, he observes: "Human beings claim a history of existence of no more than 6 million years. Why should man think he has a right to live at the price of other creatures?"

Yang is of the opinion that the attitude of He and Fang and those likeminded do harm to both nature and man. Human beings "are part of nature and should try to learn about it so as to live in harmony with it."

Some enthusiastic high school students also participated in the debate. A 14-year-old eighth grader who identifies herself as Xin'er, had her article published in the Beijing News. She argued: "To revere nature and regard it with awe is a common sense which has been cultivated (in us) since primary school. Seeing even such a simple truth becoming controversial, I wonder if you adults are blinded by the pursuit of profit. Some people say that reverence and being in awe are just slogans, if so why is sustainable development encouraged?"

It is out of concern for nature that sustainable development has been promoted and man should hold nature in awe, says Wang Yongchen.

"We have had too many negative lessons in this respect in the past decades," she says.

The Sanmenxia Reservoir, built in the 1950s, and once hailed as a great project to harness the Yellow River, China's second longest, has proved a failure as it has neither been able to solve the problem of sedimentation or generate power to its design capacity. At the same time soil erosion, caused by deforestation, has left many areas more vulnerable to flooding, even at times of not very heavy rainfall.

Chen Guojie, an ecologist with the CAS Institute of Mountainous Disasters and Environment in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu, drew a literary metaphor. "The Yangtze River will not flow down from the sky," as poets of old wrote, "but from the staircase, as a string of hydropower cascades are planned for the upper reaches of the river."

The social and environmental impact will be enormous, says Wang. "Many species will be affected, together with those who have inhabited the river valleys for centuries.".

"Many dam projects are planned without fully considering their socio-economic and environmental impact. That's why I feel it necessary for we human beings to revere nature and be in awe of it," she added.

Yang Bin compares nature to a dark hall, about which mankind, very much a newcomer, is still ignorant. "What we need to do is to use science as a torch to get a clearer view of the hall, rather than to bungle around causing irreversible results," he cautions.

As the debate escalated, both sides were invited to present their arguments in the popular Chinese website Sina.com's chat rooms and engage in online dialogue with netizens.

According to Xiao Lei, the chat room host, the response has been "very satisfactory." An online poll on whether man should regard nature with awe shows 72.1 per cent of the 17,518 respondents support the views of environmentalists, with 23.87 per cent opposed.

Beijing News, which sparked and sponsored the debate, has carried nearly 30 contributed articles on the topic, says its editor Ai Jun. "They have been selected from about 100 articles submitted not only from around China but also Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States." The newspaper plans to invite more officials from relevant government departments to express their views.

Even some people not directly involved in the debate have followed the discussions with interest. Hao Xin, Chinese representative of the US-based Science magazine, has read the articles of both sides on the Internet from the United States.

"It seems there is a lack of the most basic vocabulary - which should be the starting point of the discussion - on both sides" she says.

"For instance, how do you define the Chinese expression jingwei? If it means to be awed by nature, what's wrong with that? At least those who love nature often feel awed by its beauty and wonder, especially at such sites as the Grand Canyon in the US and Jiuzhaigou in China. How could you label such a feeling of awe as anti-science? If you insist that to be awed by something is to be afraid of it, you only make the arguments pole apart. An authentic scientific approach to the issue will not go to such extremes."

Despite their differing views, the two sides have one point in common: Both agree discussion is necessary. As Ai Jun puts it: "It is a topic that deserves the attention of every citizen."

Even as the debate continued to rage, an unexpected, but as far as the environmentalist side are concerned, welcome volley came from the State Environmental Protection Administration. In a mandate issued by the administration on January 18, 30 massive projects, including three dams on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River involving the Three Gorges Electric Power Corporation and several other power giants, were ordered to suspend operations for skipping the environmental assessment before construction.

Hailed as "an environment-assessment storm" by environmentalists and the general public alike, the move, affecting a total investment exceeding 100 billion yuan (US$12.1 billion), is regarded as a serious strategic shift from the pattern of "control after pollution," to one of "block the channel of damage from the source," remarked one Internet commentator. "It means environment agencies are no longer 'rubber stamps' to misconduct."

(China Daily 02/22/2005 page5)