Focus on Arts and Ecology

President Xi Jinping placed an unprecedented emphasis on environmental protection in his opening work report speech at the 19th Party Congress on Tuesday. Just minutes into his three-and-a-half-hour long remarks, he said: “Taking a driving seat in international cooperation to respond to climate change, China has become an important participant, contributor, and torchbearer in the global endeavor for ecological civilization.” The President used similarly strong language elsewhere in the speech stating: “Any harm we inflict on nature will eventually return to haunt us… this is a reality we have to face.” Guang Ming summarizes the 10 key phrases related to establishing an ecological civilization in the speech, including the importance of low-carbon production and consumption, opposing unnecessary or extravagant materialism, the implementation of the “three boundaries” programme to contain urbanization and protect farmland and habitats, and the protection of China’s blue skies and control of all types of pollution.

The final message of President Xi’s remarks on ecological civilization was a call to create new top-level institutions to oversee the realization of the vision’s goals. Such an organization (or two organizations) would unite the country’s environmental efforts. This idea predated his speech and as it was proposed at the Third Plenum in 2013.

See here for an English voice over of President Xi’s speech.