Mao's War Against Nature

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MAO’S WAR AGAINST NATURE: POLITICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN REVOLUTIONARY CHINA by Judith Shapiro submitted to the Faculty of the School of International Service of American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations Chair; 4 'aul Wapner Kslag. EdwarcLMcCord Quahsheng Zhao ( x Ia io Ca D ______ Dean of the School 1A Date 1999 American University n i n r Washington, D.C. 20016 *oO _ tie V L ~ . ? ' r S f c i L * ' Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9937466 Copyright 1999 by Shapiro, Judith All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9937486 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (£ ) COPYRIGHT by JUDITH SHAPIRO 1999 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. MAO’S WAR AGAINST NATURE: POLITICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN REVOLUTIONARY CHINA BY JUDITH SHAPIRO ABSTRACT 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 o f 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 ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE Reflections from a Chinese Scholar o f Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge Interviewed in Kunming, September 1998 “Under the influence of the Soviet Union and his own peasant background, Mao adopted a series of unsuitable policies. With respect to population, Mao said, ‘With more people, strength is greater’ [ren duo, liliang da]. Mao was always struggling in war, so he continued to struggle when the war ended. Class struggle - everything was a struggle. In his youth, he wrote a line of poetry, ‘To struggle against the heavens is endless joy, to struggle against the earth is endless joy, to struggle against people is endless joy’[yu tian dou, qile wu qiong, yu di dou, qi le wu qiong, yu ren dou, qi le wu qiong]. His whole philosophy was that of struggle. In fact, although Mao was said to be a peasant, he had little farming experience. Not everyone in the Party thought as he did. Peng Dehuai opposed the Great Leap Forward. Zhou Enlai opposed the population policy. Destruction of nature during the Mao period was connected to the cult of Mao worship. “Traditional Chinese philosophy emphasizes moderation and adaptation, ‘harmony between the heavens and humankind’[tian ren heyi]. But Mao took another view: ‘Man Will Conquer Nature’ [ren ding sheng tian]. For him, building China meant changing China’s face. To improve the lives of the poor, there should be victory over nature [zhanshcng ziran], Mao didn’t respect nature. This struggle mentality was there from the beginning, with Marxism. Marxism rests on struggle. “Mao’s attitude toward nature was an oppositional relationship[duidai guanxi]. It influenced China for decades. Population policy and national construction were influenced iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. by his military mentality. The Great Leap Forward o f 1958 did not respect the laws of nature or science. Mao wanted to catch up with Great Britain in steel production, and many trees were cut down to fuel furnaces. By 1959, the people had no grain, and in 1960 and 1961 there was a great famine. So Mao said, ‘open the wilderness to plant grain’ [kaihucmg zhong liangshi], and it was another disaster for the forests. The forests were cut without restraint so as to plant grain in the mountains. During the Cultural Revolution, there were even more crazy things. Everything was collective and nature belonged to the country, so there was no individual responsibility to protect nature. Tradition was destroyed. Because of the ‘take grain as the key link’ policy in agriculture, only grain was planted and other crops were destroyed. Officials were ordered to cut down fruit trees. If they resisted, it was terrible. Some cut down trees with tears in their eyes. The third great tree-cutting took place in 1980-1982, after Mao’s death. The farmland that had been state- owned was contracted to families, as were the forests. But people feared they wouldn’t have it for long, so there was terrible cutting. So we can speak o f‘three great cuttings’ [sow da fa \. the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the early 1980s. “The lack of democratic, scientific approach, and the philosophy of struggle, meant that the leaders didn’t know how to build China. They had ideals, but if you struggle against your own people and against nature, and don’t allow people to express their opinions, it suppresses people and harms nature. Our problems are greatly connected to lack of democracy.”1 'This interview sounds many of the themes to be explored in the following pages. The identity of this interviewee, and of most others quoted in the manuscript, has been withheld to protectagainst unforeseen consequences. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The School of Internationa! Service at American University not only supported me throughout my doctoral study but also, more importantly, fostered a flexible and creative scholarly environment in which a multi-disciplinary study such

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