Field Philosophy and the Chinese National Park System

ABSTRACT

This is an essay in environmental philosophy on the way toward field philosophy, using the Chinese National Park System (CNPS) as a case study. The CNPS was initiated in 2015, which began with the assumption of state ownership, to be passed down from generation to generation, with the aim of addressing the problems such natural reserves traditionally have and will continue to face, put into a Chinese context. The CNPS makes it possible to unify the current multiple management structure and correct the practice that has given priority to economic benefits. One key element of the CNPS is the resettlement of local residents from parklands. This revives perennial questions of the nature of the human-land relationship, and parallels the history of the US National Park system. I claim that three ethical principles should be used for the migration of people out of parks: informed consent, participation, and sufficiency. I also analyze four pilot projects’ plans of CNPS, and find that the three ethical principles were already present, albeit in a limited and indirect fashion. In future plans for individual national parks, this situation should be improved. Finally, I identify other opportunities and challenges for doing field philosophy on CNPS.

KEYWORDS:

• Field philosophy
• Chinese national park system
• ecological migration
• environmental philosophy

Acknowledgments

This work should be seen as a product of the field philosophy colloquium hosted by Prof. Robert Frodeman and Prof. Adam Briggle. Thanks for their discussion and detailed comments. Thanks to Niu Liwei for making the map of the pilot National Parks in China (2015-2019).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Beijing Forestry University under the [Grants No.2017ZY63 and No.BJFU2019KJRHJY011].

Notes on contributors

Yangcheng Fan

Yangcheng Fan is Associate Professor in philosophy and ecological civilization at Beijing Forestry University. She is the author or coauthor of academic articles and books, including International Comparison Cases Studies on Eco-Civilization (China Forestry Publishing House, 2016), Annual Report on China’s Provincial Eco-Civilization Index (Chinese Social Sciences Press, 2010–2016), Annual Report on China Eco-Civilization Progress Index (Peking University Press, 2014–2016).