ABSTRACTS

Marx’s Capital and the Earth：An Ecological Critique of Political Economy

⊙John Bellamy Foster，trans.,Yang Lei.,revised,Hu Chunlei

Marx’s critique of political economy from the perspective of historical materialism in hisCapitaland other manuscripts is rich in ecological connotations.Drawing on metabolic rift,ecological value-form analysis,expropriation and ecological unequal exchange,Marx makes an in-depth investigation into the anti-ecological nature of capitalist mode of production.All four of the broad polemical responses to Marx’s ecology are idealist in character.Marx’s lasing contribution to ecology is significant,and therefore it is necessary to resort to his thought to resolve the ecological crisis and establish a sustainable symbiotic relationship between humanity and the Earth through fundamental ecological revolution.

Ecological Unequal Exchange Theory and Its Critique: Also On the Green Belt and Road’s Transcendence over Ecological Unequal Exchange and Its Significance

⊙Zheng Peiliu ＆ Cai Huajie

The unequal exchange theory aims to expose the exploitation of economic surplus from “peripheral”countries by “central” countries.The ecological unequal exchange theory further highlights the ecological dimension of the exploitation.As an extension of the issue of unequal exchange in the field of ecological environment,the ecological unequal exchange theory has gradually become a hot topic of research among foreign scholars,who provide new critical perspectives of ecological imperialism but fail to propose really helpful and effective solutions to unequal ecological exchange.The Green Belt and Road’s transcendence over ecological unequal exchange and its significance are expounded in the paper from the perspective of ecological unequal exchange theory.

On the Marxist Philosophical Foundation for the Concept of the Community of All Life on Earth

⊙Lin Kailei &Luo Zixuan

As an acknowledgement of the fact that the Earth’s ecosystem is full of life,the concept of the community of all life on Earth is deeply rooted in Marxism and inherits and develops Marx’s ecological philosophy,world history theory,and community theory.Marx’s ecological philosophy breaks the previous impasse where human beings and nature as subject and object are alienated from and opposed to each other,achieving a high level of essential unity between them on the basis of practice.This is an important theoretical foundation for the concept of the community of all life on Earth.The development logic of world history theory determines that the form of human society will move from the “illusory community” to the “true community”,and also determines the inevitability of the emergence of the life community as a transitional form,including its logical requirements.Marx’s community theory outlines the mode of existence of human social development in three,namely “natural-illusory-real”,stages and provides a theoretical paradigm and goal-oriented approach for the community of all life on Earth,which,at the same time,has enriched and developed the community theory in the context of the new era at both the theoretical and practical levels.

Practices and Implications of Promoting Rural Habitat Remediation in Jiangxi Province: Based on Fieldwork in Several Villages in Jing’an,Wannian and Guixi

⊙Research Group

Improving the rural living environment is an effective way to solve the main social contradictions in the new era,an important part of implementing the rural revitalization strategy,and an inevitable requirement for building a modernization where man and nature share a harmonious coexistence.This is a crucial matter to the fundamental well-being of the vast rural population,their health,and the construction of a beautiful China.With the introduction of a series of policies,various regions are exploring in practice and forming a number of rural habitat remediation models with local characteristics.Jiangxi,both as a national ecological civilization demonstration area and a traditional agricultural province,has centered around the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.Inspired by the in-depth study of Zhejiang’s“One-Thousand and Ten-Thousand Project” experience over the years around,and with careful planning and increasing investment,Jiangxi has been treating rural habitat improvement as a major and challenging task within the rural revitalization strategy,thereby realizing a comprehensive improvement of the rural living environment across the whole province.The research group selected a number of demonstration villages in Jing’an County from Yichun City,Wannian County from Shangrao City,and Guixi Countylevel City from Yingtan City,as typical cases.By means of written investigation,discussions,on-site visits,and household inquiries,the research group summarized Jiangxi’s exploration and practices of rural habitat remediation,thus providing economically underdeveloped regions in our country with the following beneficial implications on the rural habitat remediation.Firstly,take people’s livelihoods as the foundation,integrating the improvement of rural living environment with other rural livelihood undertakings;secondly,ensure sustainable funding for remediation,forming a long-term management and care mechanism that combines production and treatment;thirdly,start from rural culture,transforming traditional culture and local rules and regulations into an internal drive for environmental remediation;fourthly,put effective management in the core place,creating a good situation of orderly governance through talent leadership and villagers’ autonomy;and fifthly,consider ecology as wealth,constructing sustainable and harmonious villages for living and working through green development.

Ecological Economics toward the Construction of a Healthy Community: An Interview with World-renowned Process Philosopher John Cobb Jr.On Daly and For the Common Good

⊙John B.Cobb,Jr.＆ Huang Yi

Dr.Herman E.Daly,a world-renowned ecological economist,passed away on October 28,2022 at the age of 84.Daly is the major founder of the International Society for Ecological Economics and the“steady-state economy” theory.He is also known as one of the 100 contemporary thinkers who can change human life with insight.Dr.Daly is coauthor,with John Cobb Jr.,the world famous process philosopher,ecological economist,constructive postmodernism leader,ofFor the Common Good:Redirecting the Economy toward Community,the Environment,and a Sustainable Future（the Chinese title is changed into “21st Century Ecological Economics”）.This book is regarded as the foundation for ecological economics.In memory of Dr.Daly,Huang Yi from Anhui University conducted an online interview with Dr.Cobb and had an in-depth dialogue on Daly the person andFor the Common Goodthe book.

A Martian at the United Nations or Naive Thoughts on Global Environmental Governance

⊙Yann Aguila ＆ Marie-Cécilede Bellis,trans.,Wangxi ＆ Guoxiang

This article simulates the story of a Martian visiting the Secretary-General of the United Nations.In this story,the problems,causes and solutions of global environmental governance are discussed.At present,global environmental governance is confronted with two problems.One is the failure of ambitious global environmental governance projects.This is reflected in the failure of the World Environment Organization project,the International Environmental Court project and the Global Environmental Convention project.Second,difficulties in the application of existing international environmental rules.On the one hand,the existing international environmental rules are mostly soft laws and lack of compulsion.On the other hand,there are mandatory rules and a lack of sanctions.There are two reasons for the double failure of global environmental governance.First,the principle of state sovereignty in international law.On the one hand,a sovereign state cannot yield to the external will.International environmental decision-making is a process in which sovereign states seek a balance between consensus and compromise.On the other hand,most international environmental agreements are monitored and implemented by compliance committees.The mode of enforcement is generally limited to public condemnation.Second,the lack of fair rules for the management of public goods leads to the “prisoner’s dilemma” of global environmental governance.The rational actions of states have led to irrational results.There are two solutions to the twin failures of global environmental governance.First,countries should use the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities as a tool to establish common values.Second,countries should recognize the global public interest and avoid the danger of abuse of the principle of national sovereignty.On the one hand,the role of non-State actors in the international arena should be strengthened,and on the other hand,the role of international organizations should be strengthened by giving them more direct authority.

Evolution and Challenges of China’s Environmental Health Policy: A Sociological Perspective

⊙Chen Zhanjiang ＆ CaiXinlei

Since the founding of People’s Republic of China,the environmental health policy has gone through four stages of sprouting and groundbreaking,foundation laying,adjustment deepening and strategic upgrading.In this process,China’s environmental health policy has achieved multiple transitions from being vague to being concrete,from relief to prevention,and from governmental dominance to pluralistic co-governance.However,the practice of environmental health policy is still confronted with complex challenges such as the tension between unbalanced development and the unitary system,the absence of dialogue between scientific rationality and social rationality,and the blind spots of policy in the conflict between environmental pollution and mental health.In the context of the new era,it will be necessary to make a sound environmental health policy by narrowing the development gap between urban and rural areas and between regions,strengthening the effective dialogue between scientific rationality and social rationality,and giving equal status to physical health and mental health.

Analysis of the Main Subjects in the Construction of Long-term Mechanism for Rural Habitat Remediation

⊙Jiang Pei

Rural environmental remediation is a systematic and long-term social project,and different subjects play different roles in the remediation process.Local governments play a core function in the initial stage of environmental improvement,responsible for introducing management systems,establishing management mechanisms,and giving financial support;local elites in villages organize and coordinate,lead the work of human settlements improvement,and promote the renewal of human settlements improvement work;farmers,as the main participants,play a subjective role in human settlements improvement work,forming the collective action of the village.From the perspective of the construction of long-term mechanism for rural environmental remediation,it is always necessary to give full play to the subjective role of farmers themselves.After completing the establishment of the main consciousness and the operation of self -governing organizations,farmers are more likely to form their own main actions,and then actively participate in village public affairs such as habitat improvement.The construction of a rural habitat improvement mechanism with farmers as the main body has not only effectively promoted the development of rural environmental management,but has also,to a large extent,facilitated changes in the institutional mechanism for the governance of rural public affairs,formed village organizations with collective action,and realized long-term,sustainable rural social governance.

An Investigation into the Water Environment Change of Xialiaohe Plain in the Late Qing and Republic Era（1840-1930）

⊙Liu Zhuangzhuang

“Xialiaohe”（lower Liaohe River）Plain had always been a vast swampy land since ancient times till the Late Qing and Republic era when the water environment began to change dramatically with rapid development in the region.Judging from the situation of rivers,lakes and marshes in each county located in the plain,although the area of marshes decreased significantly compared with that before the Mid-Qing Dynasty,the water environment situation was still very complicated.In consideration of the changes of the main river system,before the formation of the distributary channel,the main rivers to the east of Guangning,such as Yangchang River,Raoyang River and Liuhe River,all needed to flow together near Sancha River and then run south through Niuzhuang to the sea near Baimiaozi.After the formation of the distributary channel,however,these rivers were all cut off by it and flew to the west,so they needed to converge near Sancha River and run to sea from Panjin Bay or along Dujiatai,or arrive in the sea through Shuangtaizi River.Shuangtaizi River gradually became the main channel for Liaohe River to enter the sea,while the Daling River channel continuously moved eastward to join Panjin Bay.The basic geographical pattern of water environment,water system,river channel and estuary in Xiaoliaohe Plain began to take shape in the Late Qing and Republic era,but the human-water relationship was still in the unbalanced stage of mainly relying on and destroying environment.

A Tentative Analysis of the Characteristics and Social Causes of Plague Disasters in Jiangsu Province in the Fifty Years of the Late Qing Dynasty

⊙Lin Zibin &Zhang Xiangwen

The late Qing Dynasty witnessed the most frequent outbreaks of plague in Jiangsu province.The cholera at that time spread widely in the whole province and circulated for a long time,with a spatial characteristic of striking southern areas more than northern ones and a temporal characteristic of occurring more in abnormal weather than in regular one.Moreover,the countermeasures against the epidemic were obviously introduced from the West.The frequent and devastating outbreaks of plague in Jiangsu in the late Qing Dynasty resulted from many social problems,including the large and frequently migrating population,the dirty environment,the poor people who could not afford effective medicine and treatment,the lack of epidemic control system,the superstitious gatherings of praying to gods for eliminating disasters,and so on.

A Review of Domestic Research on the Ecological Implication of Marx’s Need Theory

⊙Liu Yuting &Bao Qingde

People’s yearning and expectation for a “beautiful ecological environment” in the present age has triggered philosophical reflections on the ecological implication of Marx’s theory of needs.The related research in domestic academia mainly focuses on the ecological implication of Marx’s need theory or Marx’s ecological need theory,the exploration of the ecological value in Marx’s need theory,the ecological need thought in Marx’s theory of human-nature relationship,the contemporary value of the ecological implication,the weak link of research on the ecological implication,the promotion node,and the theoretical conception of the in-depth study of Marx’s need theory.It is of great academic value and practical significance to consciously excavate the classic texts of Marx’s need theory and interpret them with the times,and actively carry out systematic exploration and innovative research on the ecological implications of Marx’s need theory.

Future Cities,Intelligent Civilization,and a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind: An Overview of the High-end Forum on New Explorations of Contemporary Science Fiction

⊙Li Huichen,Huang Liyue ＆ Qiu Xinrui

The High-end Forum on New Explorations of Contemporary Science Fiction was held in Shenzhen from June 23 to 25,2023,co-hosted by the Chinese Comparative Literature Association and Shenzhen University,co-organized by School of Humanities,the Institute of Social Sciences,the Center of Digital Humanities,the Institute of Comparative Literature and Comparative Culture,and the Institute of Somaesthetics Research at Shenzhen University.The editorial office of the internationally acclaimed journalNeoheliconsponsored the conference.There were totally ten keynote speeches,one book launch for Interviews with Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction Writers,one roundtable forum for science fiction writers on the theme of “science fiction and the city”,and nine panels.The forum attracted nearly a hundred scholars and science fiction writers who had heated discussions on the themes of future cities,intelligent civilization,and a community with a shared future for mankind.They exchanged ideas on such topics as science fiction and world literature,science fiction and ecological climate,science fiction and mythology,intelligent civilization and urban space,and philosophical reflections on science fiction.