Lv Zhongmei: A Rule of Law Milestone Toward Modernization Featuring Harmony Between Humanity and Nature
On the journey toward comprehensively building a modern socialist country, a code is undoubtedly an important yardstick for measuring the modernization level of the national governance system and governance capacity; it is a concentrated expression of the achievements in building the rule of law with Chinese characteristics. The deliberation and adoption of the Ecological Environment Code of the People's Republic of China by the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress fixes the theoretical, institutional, and practical achievements of ecological civilization construction since the 18th CPC National Congress [1] through codification. This possesses milestone significance in the history of China's construction of the rule of law and even in the history of human legal civilization.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Only by implementing the strictest systems and the most rigorous rule of law can we provide a reliable guarantee for the construction of ecological civilization." Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, the Ecological Environment Code is rooted in the fertile soil of fine traditional Chinese culture and stays closely integrated with China's national conditions and realities. It systematically summarizes, refines, and sublimates the achievements of China’s reform of the ecological civilization system and the construction of the ecological environment under the rule of law. It actively responds to the new expectations and requirements of the people for a beautiful ecological environment, contributing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to lead global environmental governance. This "Green Code" concerns national prosperity and the people's happiness. It possesses Chinese characteristics, embodies the features of the times, reflects the will of the people, and is systematically standardized and coordinated. It is a strategic layout and a legal manifesto for constructing Chinese-path modernization characterized by harmony between humanity and nature, carrying great political, theoretical, practical, and international significance.
An Inevitable Requirement and Important Practice for Implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law
The Decision of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made the strategic deployment to "compile the Ecological Environment Code." Compiling the Ecological Environment Code can transform the Party’s propositions into the will of the state and ensure their implementation through the coercive power of the state. it effectively promotes the comprehensive implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law throughout the entire process and all aspects of ecological civilization construction.
Implementing the Party's innovative theories in the form of a code ensures that the implementation of the Party's propositions becomes further institutionalized, standardized, and procedural. Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization is the theoretical sublimation and practical crystallization of our Party's unremitting exploration of ecological civilization construction. Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law is a scientific summary of the rich practice and valuable experience of our Party in leading the construction of the rule of law. The Ecological Environment Code is the legal transformation and full expression of their core tenets, rich connotations, and practical requirements. The Ecological Environment Code explicitly incorporates the implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization. It translates iconic elements of this thought—such as green and low-carbon development, the comprehensive promotion of a Beautiful China, and modernization characterized by harmony between humanity and nature—into provisions concerning legislative purposes, guiding ideologies, and basic principles. This ensures that major concepts such as "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" [2] and "mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts are a community of life" [3] are implemented through specific legal rules that are institutionalized, standardized, and procedural. At the same time, the Party's major policies and strategic deployments regarding ecological civilization construction are specified into norms of conduct, becoming standards followed by society as a whole. Their implementation is guaranteed by detailed legal liability clauses. This fully embodies the important requirements of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law regarding the comprehensive advancement of the rule of law in all aspects of national work, demonstrating our Party's determination and capacity to persist in the comprehensive law-based governance of the country and to fortify the legal foundation of Chinese-path modernization.
Fixing the achievements of the reform of the ecological civilization system in the form of a code advances the modernization of the ecological environment governance system and governance capacity. Since the New Era, under the personal planning, deployment, and promotion of General Secretary Xi Jinping, the reform of the ecological civilization system has moved toward deeper levels. The "four beams and eight pillars" [4] have been established and improved, becoming an important practical achievement of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization. Historical, transformative, and systemic changes have occurred in China’s ecological civilization construction. Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law emphasizes advancing reform under the rule of law and improving the rule of law through reform. It clarifies that scientific legislation is a crucial link in handling the relationship between reform and the rule of law, requiring that major reforms have a legal basis and that reform achievements be elevated into legal systems in a timely manner. On the basis of systematically summarizing the achievements of the reform of the ecological civilization system in the New Era, the Ecological Environment Code refines regularities [5] and systematically fixes a series of practice-proven and effective reform achievements in the form of a code, consolidating the institutional foundation for comprehensively advancing the construction of a Beautiful China. This is both the legalization of the practical crystallization of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization—ensuring the Party's comprehensive leadership over the construction of a Beautiful China from a legal perspective and effectively breaking the interference of departmental interests and local protectionism—and a concrete manifestation of practicing Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law by adhering to the unity and coordination of reform and the rule of law. It will surely promote the modernization of the ecological environmental governance system and governance capacity, effectively enhancing the efficacy of ecological environmental governance.
Guaranteeing ecological well-being and rights in the form of a code demonstrates the fundamental standpoint of putting the people at the center. Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization emphasizes persisting in using ecology to benefit the people and serve the people. Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law emphasizes guaranteeing citizens' basic political rights—such as participation in democratic elections, consultations, decision-making, management, and oversight—as well as their economic, cultural, social, and environmental rights. The compilation of the Ecological Environment Code has always upheld the fundamental standpoint of being people-centered, taking the response to the people's new expectations—shifting from "hoping for food and clothing" to "hoping for environmental protection," and from "seeking survival" to "seeking ecology"—as its direction of effort. On one hand, it adopts the protection of public health and ecological environmental rights as its legislative purpose. Adhering to problem-orientation, goal-orientation, and result-orientation, it makes explicit provisions for resolving prominent ecological environmental problems that the public feels strongly about. It uses legal thinking and methods to ensure the people live in a safe and beautiful environment, continuously increasing ecological well-being and imbuing the law with the warmth of people’s livelihoods. On the other hand, it protects and expands the relevant rights and interests of citizens participating in ecological environmental governance. The Ecological Environment Code provides for information disclosure and public participation, better realizing the citizens' right to know, participate, express, and oversee. This ensures the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security is more substantial, guaranteed, and sustainable. The compilation of the Ecological Environment Code is a vivid practice of the Party's original aspiration and founding mission in the construction of ecological civilization, fully demonstrating the sincere people-centered sentiments of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law.
The Inheritance, Development, and Jurisprudential Sublimation of Fine Traditional Chinese Legal Culture and Ecological Culture
Reviewing the glorious history of Chinese civilization, from the Canon of Laws (Fajing) [6] and the Tang Code with Commentaries (Tanglü Shuyi) to the Great Qing Legal Code (Da Qing Lü Li), the compilation of codes has always been an important hallmark of the Chinese legal system's continuity and uniqueness. From Confucianism and Taoism to Legalism, the concepts of "harmony between nature and humanity" (tian ren he yi) and "the Dao follows nature" (dao fa zi ran) have always been the vital cultural roots embedded in the marrow of the Chinese nation. The Ecological Environment Code is rooted in the deep cultural soil of Chinese civilization. It guards the foundation of the Chinese nation's sustainable development with scientific legislative theory, complete legislative principles, and a systematic legislative framework. It reflects the legal wisdom of the "creative transformation and innovative development" [7] of fine traditional Chinese legal and ecological culture, driving Chinese legal civilization to radiate vigorous vitality in the New Era.
From "the integration of all laws" to a "domain-based code," inheriting and promoting the legal culture and legislative techniques of "compiling codes in prosperous ages." Ancient China formed a legal culture of revising, organizing, and compiling national statutes and systems whenever a prosperous age was reached, to assist governance today and set a model for future generations. Ecological environment legislation itself possesses the characteristics of "domain law," which is problem-oriented and comprehensively uses various legal adjustment methods; this aligns with the "integration of all laws" (zhu fa he ti) format of the traditional Chinese code. On the basis of inheriting the codification philosophy of "containing the Way within the technique" (yu dao yu shu) and "governing through both rites and laws" (li fa he zhi), as well as methods like "grouping by category" (yi lei xiang cong), the compilation of the Ecological Environment Code promotes the innovative development of legislative techniques in line with the needs of the times. Facing a system of ecological environment laws and regulations that includes over 30 laws, more than 100 administrative regulations, and over 1,000 local regulations, we have fully utilized the modern codification method of "extracting the common factor" and a "moderate codification" model to compile a "domain-based code" that comprehensively uses administrative, civil, and criminal means to protect the environment. In particular, the General Provisions of the Ecological Environment Code serve as the universal institutional norms for the ecological field. They refine, abstract, and unify common and foundational systems scattered across more than 30 individual laws, stipulating important legal principles as well as basic, comprehensive, and universal legal systems. This lays the foundation for forming an internally unified, logically self-consistent, and rigorously structured system of rules. This systematic integration fundamentally avoids the "treating only the head or the foot" [8] approach of individual laws, where they "fight their own battles" or even conflict with each other. It greatly enhances the systematicity, integrity, synergy, and timeliness of ecological environment legislation. This is the contemporary inheritance and innovation of the legislative wisdom and legal culture of the Chinese legal system, which pursues "using the code as the outline" and "having codes and rules."
From philosophical thought to legal concepts, creatively transforming the ecological wisdom and cultural tradition of "controlling the mandate of heaven and utilizing it" and "assisting the transforming and nourishing powers of heaven and earth." The Ecological Environment Code is a product of modern rule of law. Its compilation is not a simple writing of the rich ecological wisdom and cultural traditions formed by the Chinese nation since ancient times into law; rather, it involves modern transformation, legal expression, and institutional construction on the basis of earnest discernment. It transcends the anthropocentric view of law. Taking the ecological philosophical thoughts contained in fine traditional Chinese ecological culture—such as "harmony between nature and humanity," "the Dao follows nature," and "benevolence toward people and love for things"—as its roots, it inherits the ecological wisdom of "tempering consumption with restraint" and the ecological ethics of "I beg you not to hit the birds in spring, for the fledglings in the nest are waiting for their mother's return." It activates the concept of "ecological environment" in the Constitution and, based on this, derives a cluster of core legal concepts such as ecological environment rights and interests, ecological environment protection, ecological environment impact assessment, ecological environment damage compensation, and ecological environment public interest litigation. These link together the chapter structure, management systems and mechanisms, and legal liability and relief systems of the code. This forms a self-determined Chinese ecological environment legal discourse system that expresses the view of nature (that mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts are a community of life), the value system (of harmony between humanity and nature), and the development view (that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets). This not only demonstrates the advanced and leading nature of the code—reflecting ecological care and the pursuit of intergenerational equity responsible for the community of life on Earth and future generations—but also allows ancient ecological wisdom like "controlling the mandate of heaven and utilizing it" and "assisting the transforming and nourishing powers of heaven and earth" to leap from philosophical thought to legal concepts and even institutional forms in the 21st-century practice of China's rule of law, radiating powerful cultural vitality.
A Major Measure to Improve the System of Socialist Rule of Law with Chinese Characteristics Regarding the Ecological Environment
The purpose of compiling the Ecological Environment Code is to resolve deep-seated contradictions, such as scattered legislation and constrained governance efficacy. Through systematic integration, editing, and refinement of existing legal systems and rules, and by making necessary institutional innovations to adapt to new situations and requirements, a codified system of rules is formed. This is a major measure to fully implement constitutional provisions, principles, and spirit, and to improve the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics from the perspective of the ecological environment. China will form an ecological environment legal system led by the Ecological Environment Code and composed of relevant specialized laws, ensuring that the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics advances with the times and becomes more scientific, complete, unified, and authoritative.
Implementing constitutional provisions, solving the problem of scattered legislation, and promoting "chemical reactions" between different legal rules. China's Constitution stipulates the goal of "building China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful." It defines the function of the state to "protect and improve the living environment and the ecological environment" and empowers the State Council to lead and manage the construction of ecological civilization. These provide the constitutional basis for compiling the Ecological Environment Code. Based on the Constitution and targeting issues such as overlap, conflict, and insufficient connection in some laws, the Code systematically integrates and innovatively assembles relevant rules scattered across different legal departments (such as administrative and economic law). Following the theoretical and practical logic of ecological protection, it constructs a five-part structure of "General Provisions, Pollution Prevention and Control, Ecological Protection, Green and Low-Carbon Development, Legal Liability and Supplementary Provisions." This enables the vast body of ecological legislation to move from "physical integration" to a "chemical reaction," greatly enhancing the scientific nature, systematicity, stability, and authority of ecological legislation. It provides stable legal expectations and clear behavioral guidance for all subjects, laying a solid rule-based foundation for comprehensively promoting strict law enforcement, impartial justice, and universal law observance.
Breaking down interest barriers and overcoming regional fragmentation, [the Code] assists in constructing a collaborative and efficient pattern of multi-party co-governance. The construction of ecological civilization is a profound transformation involving modes of production, lifestyles, ways of thinking, and values; it entails a readjustment of the interest relationships between the state, collectives, and individuals. Compiling the Environmental Code means using systematized institutional arrangements to scientifically adjust complex interest relationships between people, between people and society, and between people and nature, thereby achieving the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. Aiming at practical problems such as multi-headed law enforcement, multi-level enforcement, and difficulties in regional coordination, the Environmental Code breaks down the barriers of departmental interests and regional fragmentation. It constructs organizational systems and mechanisms for the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts [9]. This maximizes the balance between the dual demands of socio-economic development for protecting the ecological environment and utilizing natural resources. It promotes a shift in ecological governance from element-based management to systematic management, facilitates coordination between different departments and regions, and realizes the simultaneous advancement of high-quality development and high-level protection. The Environmental Code embodies a reform-oriented mindset characterized by consolidating ecological consensus through scientific concepts, breaking through governance bottlenecks through institutional innovation, and protecting reform explorations through forward-looking provisions. It provides a strong legal guarantee for the formation of a "Great Environmental Protection" pattern characterized by clear orientation, scientific decision-making, powerful execution, effective incentives, multi-party participation, and positive interaction.
Mending institutional weaknesses and perfecting the responsibility system, [the Code] weaves a legal net of strict prevention at the source, strict management of the process, and severe punishment for consequences. Addressing issues in past legislation—such as emphasizing pollution prevention while neglecting ecological protection, focusing on end-of-pipe treatment while neglecting source prevention, relying on administrative orders while neglecting market regulation, and the low cost of breaking the law versus high cost of compliance—the Environmental Code persists in simultaneously mending shortboards, strengthening weak links, filling gaps, improving quality, enhancing functions, and leveraging advantages. It carries out a systematic upgrade of existing relevant legal systems. It perfects source-prevention systems such as ecological environment zoning controls and ecological environmental impact assessments, establishing the discharge permit system as the core of the supervision and management system for fixed pollution sources. To guarantee ecological security, it stipulates systems for ecological environmental risk assessment, monitoring, early warning, and control. To promote green and low-carbon development, it establishes legal mechanisms such as carbon footprint management, reflecting the timeliness and forward-looking nature of the era. It establishes and improves the system of legal liability to ensure that violators bear enormous costs; clarifies the procedures for pursuing legal responsibility; and perfects the ecological environment damage compensation system and the ecological environment public interest litigation system—both of which possess distinct Chinese characteristics—thereby providing the Environmental Code with "teeth" for effective implementation.
A Exemplary Work Contributing Chinese Wisdom and Chinese Solutions to Lead Global Environmental Governance
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "If the ecology flourishes, civilization flourishes; if the ecology declines, civilization declines." Ecological environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution are severe challenges that all of humanity must face together. Standing at the global commanding heights of ecological environmental rule of law construction, the Environmental Code grasps the laws of development of ecological civilization, draws upon the wisdom and concepts of fine traditional Chinese legal culture and ecological culture, and learns from the experiences of various countries in environmental legislation. It is a major achievement of world codification in the 21st century and an important product of the institutionalization and codification of a new form of human civilization [10], contributing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to lead global environmental governance.
Providing a Chinese paradigm of "moderate codification" for the environmental legislation of various countries. From a global perspective, the choices of paradigms for environmental legislation vary. Among countries that have formulated codes, many are medium-sized developed countries such as France, Sweden, and Italy. For a country like China—the world's second-largest economy with a population of over 1.4 billion, facing complex and diverse ecological issues, and currently in a stage of rapid development in "new-type industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization"—to compile an Environmental Code in a systematized manner is unique in the world. China has not only included all current relevant laws within the scope of compilation but has also proposed a "moderate codification" [11] plan. This forms a new codification model for adjusting the relationship between the two complex giant systems of human society and natural ecology. It reflects the targeted, applicable, and operational nature of a code while maintaining openness, compatibility, and adaptability in dealing with new problems. This provides a reference legal model for other developing countries and even developed countries to solve complex ecological environmental problems through codification.
Providing a Chinese solution that assumes the responsibilities and demonstrates the commitment of a major power for global environmental governance. The Environmental Code persists in the coordinated advancement of domestic rule of law and foreign-related rule of law, actively fulfilling China's international obligations in ecological environmental protection and giving full play to the state's role as a primary subject in the implementation of international law. On one hand, it explicitly stipulates the strengthening of international cooperation in the field of the ecological environment and the fulfillment of international treaty obligations. It incorporates the requirements of international environmental conventions approved by China, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, into the Code. This clearly demonstrates to the international community that China is a staunch defender, participant, and builder of international rules. On the other hand, it strengthens the construction of the foreign-related legal system and perfects the rules of extraterritorial jurisdiction in the Environmental Code. This both maintains national sovereignty and national ecological interests and provides a legal basis for protecting the common home of humanity, such as the high seas. Furthermore, the systems established and improved based on China's successful practice in ecological civilization construction—such as the realization of the value of ecological products, regional collaborative governance, and ecological environment public interest litigation—also play a leading role in the development and perfection of relevant international rules and the transformation of the global environmental governance system.
Providing Chinese wisdom for the harmonious coexistence of man and nature to jointly build a clean and beautiful world. To a certain extent, ecological environmental problems are the product of traditional industrial civilization and the ecological philosophy of "conquering nature" and "subject-object dichotomy" that lies behind it. Facts have proven that traditional industrial civilization cannot achieve sustainable development; it is necessary to create a new form of human civilization. The Environmental Code constructs its system of rules based on the philosophical foundation that "man and nature are a community of life." It promotes the construction of a Chinese-path modernization characterized by the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, following a path of civilized development featuring developed production, affluent life, and sound ecology. This transcends traditional industrial civilization and accords with the practical needs of building a global ecological civilization. It is not only an institutional contribution to the global environmental governance system but also provides important enlightenment for exploring a philosophy of development and a paradigm of civilization that meets the needs of global sustainable development. This magnum opus of the Environmental Code, which condenses the spirit of the times, the expectations of the people, and Chinese wisdom, promotes the resolution of common, comprehensive, or universal problems in the ecological field that constrain high-quality development and high-level protection through an integrated codification method. It will surely become a powerful rule-of-law engine for promoting modernization featuring the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, pushing human legal civilization and global ecological civilization to new heights of development.
(The author is the Vice-Chairperson of the Environment Protection and Resources Conservation Committee of the National People's Congress)