The latest archaeological research achievement shows that China drafted national decrees on environmental protection as early as more than 2,000 years ago.

No similar records have ever been found in other countries.

The achievement was announced by Dr. Yu Zhenbo, an associate professor with Yuelu Academy of Classical Learning attached to Hunan University, at a recent international symposium on the 100th anniversary of the discovery of and research on ancient Chinese books written on bamboo, wood and silk.

Yu claimed that the Decrees on Farmland drafted in Qin Dynasty (BC221-BC207) is so far the earliest legal document on environment protection found in China and also in the world.

According to Yu, who also holds a doctorate in history, the Decrees on Farmland stipulated that in February, tree felling on mountains was banned; before July, grass burning or plucking of germinating plants were forbidden; and catching of baby birds and animals, killing aquatic animals by poisoning, or using traps or nets to catch wildlife or birds were banned.

The legal document Decrees on Farmland was discovered recently on bamboo slips from the Qin Dynasty excavated in Yunmeng in central China's Hubei Province.

Yu noted that the environmental protection decree of the Qin Dynasty was quite simple, but Fifty Articles on the Monthly Code of Conduct for All Seasons, which was published in the Western Han Dynasty (BC206-25AD) and found in Xuanquanzhi in northwest China's Gansu Province in recent years was much more complicated, along with detailed judicial descriptions.

Experts also discovered on wooden strips from the Han Dynasty (BC206-220AD) at Juyan, also situated in Gansu, that local governments were requested to report to government administrative establishments at higher levels about the implementation of the decrees every season. Xuanquanzhi and Juyan were two places situated in northwest China and were far away from the country's political and cultural center, said Yu, who believes that a good execution of laws in those areas proves that Chinese people then were quite aware of environmental protection.

The rulers also fully understood that only good protection of the environment in spring and summer could ensure a bumper harvest in autumn and a healthy development of ecology, Yu said.

The theme featuring a harmonious relationship between humans and nature ran through Fifty Articles in the Monthly Code of Conduct for All Seasons and the concept of environmental protection came from people's life experience and the Confucian thought advocating a harmony between nature and humans, which was popular at that time, said the experts.

Environmental protection awareness in China has been carried forward from ancient times to the present day. In addition to becoming a member of a number of international covenants, and drafting and publishing a great number of laws and regulations to protect ecological diversity, China has turned about one tenth of its land area into nature reserves where 70 percent of the state listed wildlife and plants are protected.

China has also built 600 scenic zones and more than 1,000 forest parks, which have played an important role in protecting the eco-system of the country.

Even more mountains have been planted with trees, while more and more rare and precious animal poachers and random woodcutters are being punished.

China has experienced fast economic development in the past two decades. But the central Chinese government has pledged time and again to intensify environmental protection efforts by increasing investments and vigorously expanding the environmental protection industry and achieving success in both environment protection and economic development in the new century.

(People’s Daily 08/22/2001)