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How to build a 'Beautiful China' in the Anthropocene. The political discourse and the intellectual debate on ecological civilization

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 12:38 authored by Maurizio Marinelli
The aim of this article is to contribute to the debate on global prosperity in the postGDP world, with specific attention given to the political discourse and intellectual debate on ecological civilization in China. I will first assess the national and international implications of assuming that China as a whole is a 'locality'. I will then focus specifically on one of the most significant political and intellectual debates in Chinese studies today, namely the social and environmental challenges linked to China's political and socio-economic development. In this light, I will engage with the debate on the Anthropocene - the era during which humans have become an earthaltering force - and its interrelationship with the discourse on ecological civilization. In China, the term 'ecological civilization' appeared in the 1980s in the academic domain and was then appropriated by political discourse. This article proves that the concept of eco-civilization, in a similar way to the Anthropocene, has a significant discursive power: it allows for a shift from the binary political economy discourses of 'growth' versus 'development', and 'socialism' versus 'capitalism', to the inquiry of eco-socially sustainable prosperity. The final aim of this article is both to offer a more nuanced analysis of the relationship between the political discourse and academic debate, and to substantiate the rhetoric trope of 'Advancing Ecological Civilization and Building a Beautiful China'.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Journal of Chinese Political Science

ISSN

1874-6357

Publisher

Springer

Issue

3

Volume

23

Department affiliated with

  • History Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Sussex Asia Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2018-03-26

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2018-03-26

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2018-03-26

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