Experience of Basin Landscapes in China Agriculture has led.docx

Experience of Basin Landscapes in China Agriculture has led.docx

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ExperienceofBasinLandscapesinChinaAgriculturehasled

ExperienceofBasinLandscapesinChinaAgriculturehasledtoEcologicallyPrudentEngineering

（Reprintedfrom:

L.O.HanssonandB.Jungen,（eds.）HumanResponsibilityandGlobalChange.UniversityofGothenburg,Sweden.pp289-299.1992）

INTRODUCTION

Undercertainconditions,naturalselectionwillfavoranimalsthatuseresourcesprudently,sothatecologicalprudencecanbedevelopedasaninstinctivetraitofsomeanimalspecies,（seeGadgil1985）.Theseconditionsembracethefollowingaspects:

1）Resourcesarescarceortheirstockisperceivablylimited.Insuchasituation,themaintenancephenotypeofpopulationwillbefavoredinsteadofthedispersalphenotypebymeansofnaturalsection（Geist1978）.

2）Resourcesaredefensible.Thismeanstheprudentgroupwillnotbedeprivedoftheproductbyinvaders.

3）Theanimalgroupasawholecanbenefitfromtheprudentbehaviorofeachindividualinthelongrun.Thisisself-evidentifwekeepinmindthatindividualsactasrepresentativesofgenes（Geist1978）;itisthegenethatisselfish.Individualswillsaveasmuchoftheresourcesaspossibleforthecominggenerations.

4）Thegroupmustbewellorganizedandpureenough.Thatmeansthegroupcaneffectivelykickoutandcontrolindividualswhobehaveprofligatelytowardstheenvironment,andfightagainstinvaderstoprotecttheirprudentproducts.

Itisreasonabletodeducethatonlywhenthesefourconditionsaremetsimultaneouslywillanimalspeciesevolveadaptiveprudentbehaviorasaninstinctivetrait.Accordingtothedispersaltheory（Geist1978）,traitsofanimals,especiallymammals,evolvemainlyduringdispersalwhenresourcesareabundant,soprofligacywillbemorecommonamonganimals.ManasananimalwasevolvedwithhisfirstboldstepintotheSavannaratherthanintotheperiglacialregioncharacterizedbyrichresources,sothehumanlacksasystemofphysiologicalorneuralcontrolsovergratification（Bennet1980）andecologicalprudencecannotbeatraitofhumanbeings.However,cultureisjustwaysofadaptation,andmuchoftheculturalbehaviorofhumanbeingshasadaptivevalue（Cavalli-SforzaandFeldman1981;PlogandBates1980）.Thuswhenacertainculturedevelopsundertheconditionsmentioned,ecologicalprudencemaybecomeatraitoftheculture.Inthefollowingpages,wewillseethattheChineseculture（ofagriculture）,asadaptationstothebasinenvironment,hasdevelopedapatternofecologicallyprudentbehaviortowardthenaturalenvironment.

THEBASINEXPERIENCEOFCHINESECULTURE

Weareconvinced,forthefollowingverifiablereasons,thatChinesewaysofcopingwiththeenvironmentaremainlyadaptionstothebasinenvironmentthatChineseagriculturehaslongexperienced.

1）FromHomoerectusyuanmouensisdatingbacktoaround1.7millionyearsagotothedawnofagriculturalcivilization,ChineseHominidancestorsweredistributedamongmountainbasinsandvalleysalongtheedgesborderingthethreemajorphysicalgeopraphiczones:

theEastMonsoonzone,TheNorthwestAridZoneandTheTibetanAlpineZone.

2）Themulti-centredNeolithicculturesinChinadevelopedalongwiththedistributionpatternofpre-Neolithiccultures,withtheircentresinbasinssurroundingthegreatnorthChinaplain,whichwasnotyetstableforsettlementduringthisperiodbecauseofthefloodproneYellowRiver（TheHistoryofChineseCivilization1989）.

3）TheZhoupeople,whichmadethemostimportantcontributiontoChineseculture,evolvedduringtheperiodintheGuanzhongBasininmidShanxiProvincewhichwasofoptimumsize.Actually,itwasthismagicbasinthatgavebirthtothefirstwrittenChinesebookIChing（Yu1990a）,whichisconsideredasthemostimportantsourceofChineseculture.WhenonenoticesthefactthattheChineseculturehashardlyevermovedtoofarawayfromtheClassics,onemaybetterunderstandthesignificanceoftheecologicalexperienceintheGuanzhongBasintoChineseculture,especiallytotheadaptivewayscopingwiththeenvironment（Yu1990a）.InChinesehistory,"fightingforpower"usuallyoccurredonthegreatnorthChinaPlain,butitwassurroundingareasawayfromthegreatplainthatnurturedpowersliketheZhoupeople,whichthencametobedisplayedonthegreatplain（Liu1987）.RecognizingthemainflowoftheChinesecultureasanagriculturalone,theauthoremphasizesthatthesurroundingbasinswhichweremoresuitableforagriculturemustbetakeninspecialconsideration.

4）"FightingforpowerontheCentralPlain"hasledrepeatedlytotheformationof"no-man'sland"（Jinetal1990）.Toescapedeaththecivilresidentsfledintothehillyareaofsouth-eastChina,whereaseriesofsmallbasinsactasnaturalrefuges.ThiswasespeciallyobviousduringthedynastiesofEasternJin（317-420AD）andSouthernSong（1127-1279）.ItmadetheChinesemodeltheiridealsocietyonabasin,whichisvividlyillustratedbyTaoYuanming's"thelandofpeachblossoms"fromtheEasternJinDynasty.

5）FromthegeographicaldistributionpatternoftheChinesepopulation,onecanseethatthepopulationismostdenselydistributedintheSichuanBasin,GuanzhongBasin,south-eastChina'shillyland,etc（WuandZhang1984;Jinetal1990）.ThishasfurtherstrengthenedthebasincharacteristicsofChineseCulture.

6）TheTheoryandpracticeofFeng-shui,whichsumuptypicalwaysthatChinesecopewiththeirenvironment,weremainlydevelopedagainstthebackgroundofthehillylandscapeinsouth-eastChina,andtheidealFeng-shuimodeisactuallyanidealizedbasin（Yu1990c,1991a,1991b）.TherulesofFeng-shuihavemadetherurallandscapessobeautifulandecologicallyhealthfulthatevenmodernscientistscannothelpexpressingtheiradmiration（e.g.FengandWang1989;Lip1987;Needham1962;Skinner1982）.

7）Becauseofthebackwardnessoflandtransportation,basinsthathavealwayshadagloriousagriculturalcivilizationduringthelonghistoryofwater-waytransportationhavestillkeptthesplendidtraditionalagriculturallandscapesintact.However,accordingtomodernstandardsofvalue,theyarethe"thirdworld"inthiscountryandneedtobedeveloped,andtheonlywayforthedevelopmentoftheseareasiseco-development.Thus,Chineseagriculturehasexperiencedandwillcontinuetoexperienceabasinenvironment,whichhasalwayshadagreatinfluenceontheevolutionofecologicallyprudentbehaviorinChineseculture.Theeffectsofthebasinontheevolutionontheprudencewillbeinvestigatedasfollows.

BASINEXPERIENCEFAVORSTHEDEVELPMENTOFCULTURALECOLOGICALPRUDENTBEHAVIOR

Thebasinlandscapewithitswelldefined,isolatedspatialcharacteristicswellmeetstheconditions,i.e.resourcesarescareanddefensible,thegroupasawholebenefitsfromprudentbehavior,andthegroupistobewellorganizedandpure,whichinduceecologicallyprudentbehavior.Thiscanbeanalyzedinthefollowingaspects:

1）Abasinformsawelldefinedandstable"eco-culturalregion"（Dasmann1985）.Amoderate-sizedbasinwillbeoccupiedcompletelybyaculturallyuniformsociety（afamilyorpatriarchalclan）,andtheculturalspaceandthenaturalbio-regionwillcometocoincidecompletely,makingthesocietyasawholeestablishanintimaterelationshipwiththenaturalenvironment.Thismakesitpossiblefortheinhabitantstohaveanoverallunderstandingofthestructureandfunctionofthebasinecosystem.ItleadstotheearlydevelopmentofanecologicalsenseasinChineseculture（Yu1990a）anddevelopmentofculturallyandecologicallyprudentbehavior.

2）Basinexperiencefavorsthesenseofterritoryandaposterity-orientedethic.Inanisolatedenclosedbasin,thesurvivalanddevelopmentofthewholefamilyofclanrelycompletelyuponperceivablyscarceresourcesinthelimitedbasin;everymemberoftheoccupantgroupisbroughtuphearingtheheroictalestoldbyhisparentsandgrandparentsabouttheirancestors'arduousstruggleandmeritsinpioneeringandmaintainingandprotectingtheirsacredterritory.Alltheseleadtostrengtheningthesenseofterritoryandgiverisetoancestralworship.Ancestralworshipparticularlymeanstoeachmemberoftheclanthat:

（a）Heactsnotforhimselfbutasarepresentativeofhisworshippedancestorsforthepreservationofthe"gene"ofthisfamily;hismostimportantfunctionistotakethelantern（asasymbolofancestralworshipfromhisfatherandpassitonhisson）;（b）Everythingleftfromtheancestorsissacredandshouldbekeptintactandinheritedbythedescendants.Thus,awelldugbyancestors,afieldopenedbyancestors,etc,shouldbeprotectedandcarefullymaintainedforposterity.

3）Basinexperiencefavorspureandwellorganizedgroups.AccordingtoBrower（1980）,therearefourspaceoccupancytypes:

personaloccupancy,communityoccupancy,occupancybysocietyandfreeoccupancy.Inthesituationinamoderate-sizedbasin,community（familyorclan）occupancyisdominant;thewholebasincanbeclaimedbyasinglefamilyorclanasterritoryandthereisverylimitedroomforoutsidersandindividuals.Anyintrudingoutsiderswillbeviewedwithsuspicionandkeptoffbymakinguseofandconstructingdefensivelandscapes（Fig.1）.Profligateindividualswhodaretomisusetheclan-claimedcommonterritorywillbeseverelypunishedandevenremovedaccordingtodomesticdisciplines.Thatmakessurethatthegroupasawholecangetpredictablelong-rangebenefitsfromitsprudentbehavior.

Fig.1.Awelldefendedvillageinasmallbasin（apreliminarysurveybytheauthor,inMt.XiqiaoshaninGuangdongProvince）

1.theentrancegate;2.aman-madescreenhill;

3.theancestralte