Notes From Xi'an 西安随感

10/10. In that greyish space in the top left of the picture you should be able to see three of the tallest buildings in the ming de men area. Not today. 11/10. That was yesterday. My zest for life took another battering this morning after waking to the sound of a good old-fashioned downpour adding itself to the already incomprehensibly gloomy mix. "Yes, we can."

13/10. "Oh yes, we can!"

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from The Illustrated Book of Laozi 2008 by Zhou Chuncai

An Introduction

This Note surrounds the focus of Jonathan Watts’ environment road trip book ‘When a Billion Chinese Jump’. It is however based on Watts’ comments in the two interviews that sparked my interest in his book in the first place, in The Guardian and over at ABC News Australia. For now I will simply highlight the book’s central strands as well as add my own brief anecdotal contribution. A second Note, I suspect with a graver tone, will follow.

A week or so ago, just as the gentleman that is kindly bringing a copy of this book over from England for me was landing in Xi’an I was taking off for Beijing and as I was returning he was taking to the skies again in the opposite direction. We should have better luck early next month. However, as well as missing each other, neither of us were seemingly doing much to assuage our own carbon footprints, though I can assure you our hearts are in the right place. And there in probably lies a simple way of introducing Jonathan Watts’ take on things green, ecological and sustainable in China.

In China economic pragmatism and growth are still out stripping concern for environmental consequences as motivating forces behind developmental practices and policies. The Chinese government is certainly seen as recognising the problem but the practical implications at this particular point of development means change isn’t happening fast enough. In terms of our own nations’ time scale of development and late-to-the-table environmental concerns, Watts concludes that the Chinese feeling that they to should be able to go through this heavily polluting stage of development is both ‘completely fair and utterly calamitous.’ As he continues:

‘In a sense, China is extraordinarily unfortunate to be hitting this stage of development at this time in human history.’

Watts doesn’t hide from outlining the stark choice between a future of global ecological balance or devastation. But, it is here he also focuses on the fact that it is a fresh search for the values that guide our choices that will have as much to do with the resolution of this epic problem than simple finger pointing; whether towards undemocratic regimes or global financial institutions.

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