关键词 : 文化 哲学
/>
一、水与中国哲学 在中国,古代先民主要从事农耕业,而土和水是农耕业的主要资源。土基本上是固定的,水则有丰枯之分。所以古代先民特别重视“水”在人类生存中的意义。在阴阳八卦(Eight Hexagrams)中,与水有关的卦占了两卦,一是坎(水),一是兑(沼泽),当然坎指的是抽象的水。
我国古代思想家用“水、火、木、金、土”五种物质来说明世界万物的起源。认为世界上的一切事物,都是由这五种基本物质之间的运动变化而生成的。它强调整体概念,描绘了事物的结构关系和运动形式。万物要生长,和谐很重要,先民们早就懂得了万物和谐共生的意义。
我国远古有大禹治水的传说。大禹把洪水看作是自然现象,带领人民一起用疏导的办法战胜洪水,通过疏通河床,开凿渠道,不“堵”而“疏”,因势利导。把水引到大海中去。
还有一个典型的例子就是都江堰。都江堰是现存世界上历史最长的无坝引水工程,可自流引水灌田上千万亩,兼有供水、航运之利,创建于约公元前255~前251年。它充分利用当地西北高、东南低的地理条件,乘势利导,无坝引水,自流灌溉,使堤防、分水、泄洪、排沙、控流相互依存,共为体系,保证了防洪、灌溉、水运和社会用水综合效益的充分发挥。它最伟大之处是建堰2250多年来经久不衰,而且发挥着愈来愈大的效益。都江堰的创建,以不破坏自然资源,充分利用自然资源为人类服务为前提,变害为利,使人、地、水三者高度协合统一,是全世界迄今为止仅存的一项伟大的“生态工程”,它充分体现了中国传统哲学中的“天人合一”的理念。
二、水与科学发展
数千年来形成的中华智慧在现代社会中依然将扮演重要的作用。当今世界,水已成为21世纪可持续发展的首要制约因素。随着人口的增长和经济社会的快速发展,我国水资源状况发生了重大变化。水资源短缺的矛盾已充分暴露出来,在很多地区已经成为严重阻碍经济发展的主要问题,直接影响我国经济社会的可持续发展。新世纪中国面临三大水问题,即洪涝灾害、干旱缺水、水环境恶化,其中干旱缺水的问题在当前表现得尤为明显,严峻的水资源形势,对我国今后的可持续发展构成了极大威胁。
首先,人口增长给水资源利用带来压力。尽管这些年人口增长率有所下降,但我们面临的是庞大的人口基数,人口增长对水土这两大类人类生存的资源提出挑战。中国人均水资源占有量2185立方米/>,不足世界平均水平的三分之一;其次,工业用水增加,废污水排放量急剧增长。如果未来50年工业用水成倍增加、城市化水平成倍上升、小城镇快速发展,废污水的排放量将会数倍甚至十几倍的增加,势必加剧水环境的恶化;第三,中国水旱灾害综合防御体系还不完善,耕地有效灌溉率只有50%,农业还没有改变“靠天吃饭”的被动局面;近40%的水库病险问题严重。其他问题诸如水的供需矛盾尖锐、水利工程年久失修以及全球气候变暖等问题将进一步加剧水资源短缺和废污水处理、水环境治理的三重压力。
中国近年来把科学发展观作为新一轮发展的国策,把建立节水型农业、节水型工业、节水型城市、节水型社会作为全社会的努力目标,同时保护水环境,使经济与生态环境协调发展,提出了到2010年,单位GDP的用水量比2005年降低20%以上等一系列指标。我觉得,要达到这些目标,不能简单地用治表不治本的方式,而是要向中国古代先民们学习,尊重自然,认识自然,把向大自然无节制的索取转变为人与自然的和谐共处,从防止水对人类的侵害转变为在防止水对人类侵害的同时,特别注意防止人类对水的侵害,从重点对水资源进行开发、利用、治理转变为在对水资源开发、利用、治理的同时,特别强调水资源的配置、节约、保护等。总而言之,人水和谐,是现代水利的灵魂!要以科学的治水观促进和实现可持续发展。
三、水与国际交流
水的汉字,中间像水脉,两旁似流水。古代把“九州”称为中国,其内涵是中国由许多江河流域构成的意思。水像一条条纽带,沟通了民族之间的友谊,促进了地区之间的交往。
人类自古有“择水而栖,择江而居”的说法。纵观中国城市的发展史,我们可以发现绝大多数城市都是临江滨河而建。我国历史上著名的七大古都安阳、西安、洛阳、开封、北京、南京、杭州也都位于江河之滨。中国是河川之国,全国内航通航里程达11万公里。
同时,中国有1万8千多公里的海岸线。很早的时候,先民们就开始了航海活动。到宋代和元明两代时期,“海上丝绸之路”进入鼎盛时期。明朝大航海家郑和七下西洋,访问了东南亚,南亚、阿拉伯和东非地区的30多个国家。其活动范围之广,规模之大,成为当时世界航海史上的空前壮举。
中国与西班牙友好交往源远流长。早在16世纪,两国就开辟了举世闻名的海上丝绸之路,促进了东西方贸易往来和文化交流。欧洲的汉学研究最早是由意大利、葡萄牙、西班牙与荷兰等航海大国发起的。西班牙人贝尔纳尔迪诺·德·埃斯卡兰特(Bernardino de Escalante y del Hoyo)在1577年塞维利亚出版的《葡萄牙人到东方各王国及省份远航及有关中华帝国的消息》(Discvrso de la navegacion qve los Portugueses hazen à los Reinos y Prouincias del Oriente, y de la noticia que se tiene de las grandezas del Reino de la China/>)中就印刷了“穹”和“皇”的汉字,被称为西方最早印刷出版汉字者之一。
这次我们来到萨拉戈萨,不仅看到了一个精彩的世博会,而且感受到了西班牙人的友善和好客。中国2010年上海世博会已经临近了,我们真诚地欢迎有更多的西班牙人来参与在美丽的东方明珠举办的文明盛会。
/>
/>
/>
/>
Water and the Chinese Culture
/>
1. Water and the Chinese philosophy In China/>/>, our ancient forefathers were mainly engaged in farming which relied greatly on the resources of earth and water. Unlike earth that is always there, water resource is more uncertain as wet years often alternate with dry years. The ancient people deemed water crucial to their survival. In the Chinese Eight trigrams, two trigrams are related to water, with one being Kan/>/>, meaning water in the abstract sense, and the other being Dui, meaning marshes.
Ancient Chinese thinkers used the five basic elements of “water, fire, wood, metal and earth” to explain the origin of the world, believing that all things under the heaven were derived from their movement and change. Their theory emphasized a holistic approach and made a bold attempt to depict the structural relationship of things and the forms of motion. Harmony is important for the growth of all the living things. Our ancestors understood the significance of harmonious coexistence among all things.
That may be well demonstrated by the household Chinese legend of Yu the Great subduing the flood. Taking flood as a natural phenomenon, Yu the Great led his people in flood-controlling efforts. Discarding the old practice of blocking flood, they channeled and dredged the river, and finally diverted the flood into the sea.
Another typical example is the Dujiang Weirs in Sichuan/>/> province. It is the world’s oldest non-dam irrigation project that exists today. Built in around 255 BC – 251BC, it is capable of irrigating about 10 million mu (6667 hectares) of land and very helpful in water supply and shipping. Built on an expansive ground gradually descending from northwest to southeast, the Dujiang Weirs is an integrated system of water division, flow control and silt removal and has long been credited for its flood control, irrigation, water supply and shipping facilitation benefits. Its greatness lies in that the 2,250-year old irrigation system is and will continue to be in use. Making full use rather than destroying natural resources, the Dujiang Weirs has successfully tamed a mighty river to benefit local people who would otherwise be plagued by floods. It thus makes man, earth and water a highly harmonious unity. As the world’s single great “ecological project”, it fully reflects the traditional Chinese philosophy of “harmony between human being and nature”.
/>
2. Water and scientific development The wisdom of the Chinese nation over the past thousands of years will continue to play an important role in the modern society. Water has already become a primary constraint in the sustainable development of the 21st century. With population increase and rapid socioeconomic development, China/>/>’ water resource has undergone drastic changes. Water shortage has become a prominent issue. In many regions, it has already threatened the economic growth, thus adversely affecting China/>/>’s sustainable development. In the new century, China/>/> is confronted with three major water issues, namely, flood, drought or water shortage, and deterioration of water environment, among which the second is particularly serious. The tough situation of water resource poses a huge threat to China/>/>’s future sustainable development.
In the first place, population increase puts pressure on water utilization. Despite the decline of population growth rate in recent years, China/>/> still has the world’s largest population. Population increase is challenging water and earth resources which are critical to human survival. China/>/>’s water resource is only 2,185 cubic meters per capita, less than one-third of the world’s average. Next, as industrial demand for water increases, industrial effluent also grows dramatically. If in the coming half-century, the industrial use of water multiply, urbanization accelerates, small towns expand at a fast pace, the waste water discharge will span lang=”EN-US” style=”FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; mso-font-kerning: 0pt”>then rise by several or even a dozen times, unavoidably exacerbating the water environment. Thirdly, China/>/>’s integrated flood-and-drought prevention system is not perfect; the effective irrigation rate of farmland is merely 50%; a great number of farmers still rely heavily on weather for harvest; and nearly 40% of the reservoirs in use have serious problems or are in danger. Other issues such as sharp conflict between water supply and demand, disrepair of water conservancy projects as well as global warming will further intensify water shortage, pressures on waste water treatment and water environment management.
In recent years, the new national strategy of China/>/> has put the scientific outlook on development at its core, and deemed the establishment of water-saving agriculture, industry, cities and society as important goals. Meanwhile, China/>/> strives to protect the water environment and coordinate the development between economy and ecological environment, proposing a series of targets such as by 2010, bringing the unit GDP water consumption 20% below that of 2005. I think, to achieve these objectives, stopgap measures will not suffice. We should learn from our ancestors to respect and understand nature. Moreover, we should turn from ruthlessly extorting from nature what we want to pursuing harmonious co-existence with nature. Besides preventing water-related disasters, we should also lay emphasis on preventing the human world from damaging our water resource. And besides developing, utilizing and harnessing water resource, we should also highlight its allocation, conservation and protection. In short, harmonious co-existence between human and water is the soul of modern water conservancy. A scientific water management concept should be adopted to promote and realize sustainable development.
/>
3. Water and international exchanges The Chinese character “水” looks like water pulse or the channel in the middle and flowing water on both sides. China/> is called “jiuzhou” in the ancient times, meaning that China/>/> is made up by many river basins. Water bonds the nationalities living along the banks, promotes friendship and exchanges among different regions.
As an ancient saying goes, the Chinese people always prefer to “reside along streams and live beside rivers”. Throughout the history of the Chinese cities, we can find that the vast majority of them are built along the rivers. That is the case for all the seven historically famous capital cities of ancient China/>, namely, Anyang/>, Xi’an/>, Luoyang/>, Kaifeng/>, Beijing/>, Nanjing/> and Hangzhou/>/>. China/>/> is abundant with rivers and lakes, with the nationwide navigable mileage reaching 110, 000 kilometers.
Meanwhile, China/>/> boasts over 18,000-kilometers-long coastline. Our Chinese ancestors began their maritime activities long ago. “The Maritime Silk Road” reached its peak in the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Zheng He, the great navigator of the Ming Dynasty, visited 30-plus countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Arab and East Africa/> during his seven voyages to the western seas. The mileage and scale of his voyages make them an unprecedented endeavor in the navigation world then.
The friendly exchange between China/> and Spain/>/> can be traced back to the ancient times. As early as in the 15th century, the two countries opened up the world famous Maritime Silk Road/> which facilitated the East-West trade and cultural exchanges. Sinology researches in Europe were initiated in such navigation powers as Italy/>, Portugal/>, Spain/> and the Netherlands/>/>. A Spanish man Bernardino de Escalante y del Hoyo printed two Chinese characters “qiong” and “huang” in a book (Discvrso de la navegacion qve los Portugueses hazen à los Reinos y Prouincias del Oriente, y de la noticia que se tiene de las grandezas del Reino de la China/>) published by Seville in 1577, known as the first Chinese characters ever pblished and printed in the west.
Our current visit to Zaragoza/> affords us not only an opportunity to witness a wonderful Expo, but also an opportunity to feel the friendliness and hospitality of the Spanish people. As Expo 2010 Shanghai/>, China/>/> is drawing nearer, we sincerely welcome more of our Spanish friends to join in this grand cultural event to be held in the beautiful Oriental city.