Ye Haitao: Reflections on Modernization Based on the Revolution of Marx's Terminology of "Metabolism"
Historically, for over two hundred years, modernization driven by industrialization has developed rapidly amidst the global expansion of capital. This "global process of transformation of traditional agricultural society into modern industrial society," which possesses world-historical significance, has triggered comprehensive and profound socio-historical changes. (See Luo Rongqu, p. 17) [1] However, within the surging tide of world modernization, a global ecological crisis has emerged, centered on the antagonistic conflict between humanity and nature. "Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature," and "promoting harmony between humanity and nature" is one of the essential requirements of Chinese-path modernization. (See Xi Jinping, 2022a, pp. 23-24) This establishes the ecological foundation of the path of Chinese-path modernization and distinguishes Chinese characteristics within the wave of world modernization. In fact, as early as the initial stages of capitalist industrialization and early modernization, Marx performed a critical transformation of the concept of "metabolism" (物质变换)—originally used in physiological and chemical senses—based on historical materialism. Engels later called this a "revolution in terminology": "Every new aspect of a science involves a revolution in the technical terms of that science." (CWME, Vol. 5, p. 32) It was precisely on the basis of this terminological revolution of "metabolism" that Marx demonstrated that a reparable "metabolic rift" (物质变换裂隙) [2] would inevitably arise between humanity and nature under the capitalist mode of production, and he prophetically foretold the global ecological and environmental crises that human society would inevitably face. Starting from the concept of "metabolism" as transformed by Marx’s terminological revolution, this article examines the process of modernization over the past two hundred years. It analyzes the "metabolic rift" between humanity and nature produced during the process of capital-led modernization and its ecological consequences. It further explicates Chinese-path modernization as the "harmony between humanity and nature" and its global vision for reshaping the historical forms of "metabolism," highlighting the worldview and methodological significance of the core concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" in the construction of ecological civilization. [3]
I. Marx’s Historical Materialist Transformation of the Concept of "Metabolism"
In Marx’s theoretical texts from different periods, the concept of "metabolism" underwent a dual process of historical generation and theoretical construction. In February 1851, Roland Daniels sent his manuscript Microcosmos: Outlines of Physiological Anthropology to Marx for review; the manuscript proposed the concept of "metabolism" in a physiological sense. Marx communicated with Daniels and Engels multiple times regarding this manuscript. At this point, Marx already had a preliminary understanding and recognition of the unique concept of "metabolism" in the manuscript and performed an initial historical materialist transformation of it. In March 1851, in "Reflections" within his London Notes, Marx used this terminology for the first time, proposing "social organizations that carry out metabolism," noting that "every person is able to carry out any metabolism according to the amount of money his income is converted into," and "the metabolism of the individual depends on the specific division of labor to which the individual belongs." (See CWME, Vol. 10, pp. 645-646) Judging from its use at the time, Marx had already applied the concept of "metabolism" to the socio-historical field, conducting a political-economic analysis from the three dimensions of production, consumption, and distribution. This was also the theoretical source of "social metabolism," one of the three main levels of meaning in Marx’s subsequent concept of "metabolism."
From then until the writing of the Economic Manuscripts (1857–1858), while reflecting on the problem of "metabolism," Marx also drew upon and critiqued the concept of "metabolism in nature" proposed by the Dutch physiological materialist Moleschott. Aiming at Moleschott's view that metabolism in nature is based on the combination and decomposition of chemical elements, Marx criticized his error of neglecting the active practice of human labor as a subject. Marx extended the purely chemical sense of metabolism in nature to the fields of metabolism between humanity and nature, as well as social metabolism. Thereafter, Marx used this concept frequently in his political-economic research. In the Economic Manuscripts (1857–1858), Marx used a wealth of natural and social "metabolism" concepts, such as "universal social metabolism," "real metabolism," "simple metabolism of nature," "chemical metabolism," "metabolism regulated by labor," and "metabolism with nature." (See CWME, Vol. 30, pp. 107, 171, 229, 270, 329, 481) This concept became an important tool for Marx to analyze the capitalist mode of production and further explore the historical process of human society.
In the critique of political economy, the agricultural chemist Liebig opportunely entered Marx’s theoretical field of vision. In Marx’s view, although Liebig’s "historical overview of the history of agriculture is not without serious errors," he "explained the negative side of modern agriculture from the point of view of natural science," which constitutes "one of Liebig’s immortal merits." (See CWME, Vol. 5, p. 580) This "immortal merit" specifically refers to the fact that crop growth extracts chemical elements from the soil in the form of nutrients; therefore, the loss of nutrients in the soil must be compensated for in a timely manner through artificial fertilization so as to maintain the smooth progress of metabolism between humanity and the land (nature). However, under the capitalist mode of production, modern agriculture—following the iron law of capital valorization—"artificially accelerates the depletion of nutrients in the soil" (Selected Works of Liebig, p. 51), destroying the soil nutrient cycle of metabolism in nature and the ecological balance between humanity and the land (nature). During the writing of Capital and its associated manuscripts, Marx used the concept of "metabolism" extensively and frequently. Its connotation and extension included three major levels: "social metabolism," "natural metabolism," and "metabolism between humanity and nature." He regarded "metabolism between humanity and nature" as "an eternal natural necessity of human life." (CWME, Vol. 5, p. 56)
It is evident that during the decade or so from the "Reflections" in the 1851 London Notes to the publication of Capital, the concept of "metabolism" underwent a process in Marx’s work from borrowing to critique and then to reshaping. From the initial inspiration by Daniels, applying the physiological concept of "metabolism" to the political-economic analysis of capitalist society; through the historical materialist critique of Moleschott’s purely chemical "metabolism" to highlight the active practice of human subjectivity; and finally, spurred by Liebig’s "immortal merit," Marx formed the historical materialist concept of "metabolism" across the natural, social, and human-nature levels. In a biological sense, Marx considered the natural world upon which humanity depends for survival and its internal life processes from the perspective of the "metabolism" of nature. In Marx's view, all things in nature, as "man’s inorganic body," have their own laws. Water, soil, air, and trees each carry out energy exchange activities, forming an organic ecosystem. Humanity emerges and develops within this ecosystem. For the "real individuals" who are "the first premise of all human history," (See CWME, Vol. 1, p. 519) they must first be humans in a biological sense. Satisfying the needs of the physical organization (the primary and basic need) and the other needs arising therefrom constitutes the "metabolic" process between humanity and nature based on physiological needs. At the level of more complex social relations, the "real individual" is also the "sum of social relations"; therefore, the "metabolic" relationship between humanity and nature always exists within a certain community. Individuals must engage in production and universal intercourse for the survival of the community. Among these, labor, as the mode of existence and state of survival for the "real individual," connects the physiological needs and social dimensions of "metabolism." "Labor, life-activity, productive life itself, appears to man merely as a means of satisfying a need—the need to maintain physical existence. Yet the productive life is the life of the species." (CWME, Vol. 1, p. 162) Thus, labor becomes the mediator of the "metabolism" between humanity and nature. In the Economic Manuscripts (1861–1863), Marx argued that "actual labor is the appropriation of natural elements for the satisfaction of human needs; it is the activity that mediates the metabolism between humanity and nature." (CWME, Vol. 32, p. 44) In Capital, this view was expressed more specifically: "Labor is, in the first place, a process in which both man and nature participate, and in which man of his own accord mediates, regulates and controls the metabolism between himself and nature." (CWME, Vol. 5, pp. 207-208)
II. Eco-Marxist Theoretical Elaboration of the Concept of "Metabolism"
After undergoing historical materialist critical transformation, the concept of "metabolism" became an important category for Marx to analyze and describe modern agriculture, the capitalist mode of production, the modernization process of human society, and its laws. In Marx’s view, modern agriculture based on large-scale industry "disturbs the metabolism between man and the earth," "disturbs the eternal natural condition for the lasting fertility of the soil," and "destroys at the same time the health of the town laborer and the intellectual life of the rural laborer." (See ibid., pp. 579-580) A giant "rift" thus appeared in the metabolism between humanity and nature. It was precisely through the analysis of Western modernization and the capitalist mode of production that Marx arrived at the theory of "metabolic rift" (Metabolic Rift). In the subsequent lineage of Eco-Marxist theory, "metabolic rift" has been regarded by scholars such as John Bellamy Foster, Paul Burkett, and Kohei Saito as a core concept and crucial node of Marx’s ecological thought.
In Foster’s view, Marx recognized that modern or industrialized agriculture under capitalist production conditions could not truly, effectively, and rationally apply emerging agricultural science and technology to maintain soil fertility and thus sustain the normal metabolism between humanity and nature. Overcoming the metabolic rift under capitalist conditions fundamentally depends on the transformation of social relations. (See Foster, 2006a, pp. 174, 188) Unlike Foster, who elaborates on Marx's ecological thought primarily in the field of the history of ideas, Burkett’s main focus is on the ecological thought within Marx’s critique of political economy. He identifies "metabolic rift" as a key concept and uses it as a terminological tool to analyze how capitalist production distorts the relationship between humanity and nature on a global scale and destroys sustainable development. Building on the research of Foster and Burkett, Kohei Saito used new materials published for the first time in the Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA²)—particularly Marx’s extensive natural science notebooks from his later years—to link the history of ideas in Marx’s ecological theory with the critique of political economy. He pointed out that "Marx’s ecology also unfolds a systematic demonstration around this concept," and thus there exists a "genealogy of the theory of metabolism." (See Kohei Saito, pp. 8, 45) Saito then explicitly identified the "metabolic rift" theory as the key node of Marx's systematic ecological thought and viewed the ecological crisis as an important manifestation of the contradictions in the capitalist mode of production. At the broader level of social development, Saito believes that Marxism possesses ecological-critical significance, and that Marx’s critique of capitalism and his aspiration for socialism are most conducive to contemporary society’s reflection on the global ecological crisis caused by capitalism. (See Liu Rensheng, p. 172)
Inheriting Marx's—
The thought of "metabolic interaction" (物质变换), particularly that between humanity and nature mediated by labor, has received significant attention from eco-Marxists, who emphasize Marx's concept of "metabolic interaction" and his theory of the "metabolic rift." Furthermore, eco-Marxism uses "metabolic interaction" as a "key" to explore the process of modernizational transformation in human society and to dispel the fog of the ecological crises therein. John Bellamy Foster argues that it is precisely through the analysis of the labor process and its mediatory status that the ecological significance and contemporary value of Marx’s concept of "metabollic interaction" are brought to light. First, the concept of "metabolic interaction," "along with the concepts of material exchange and regulatory activity it contains, enabled Marx to express the relationship between humanity and nature as comprising both 'natural conditions' and the human capacities that affect this process" (Foster, 2006a, p. 176), thereby presenting a clearer and more complete picture of the interaction between humanity, nature, and labor. Second, the concept of "metabolic interaction" deepened and extended the concept of "alienation" found in the early Marx, providing a concrete way to describe the reciprocal relationship between the alienation of nature and the alienation of labor, while also offering possibilities for exploring paths to eliminate alienation. Third, the concept of "metabolic interaction" links together the three major aspects of his critique of capitalist economics: the exploitation of surplus product, the theory of capitalist ground rent, and the Malthusian population theory (see ibid., p. 158). The "metabolic interaction" inherent in the labor process makes "ecology" a necessary part of Marx’s concept of labor. This not only imbues historical materialism—which takes labor and production as its core categories—with an ecological foundation, but also makes it possible to analyze the relationship between specific forms of labor under different relations of production and nature or society.
In Alfred Schmidt’s view, Marx’s analysis of the dialectical relationship between metabolic interaction, labor, and relations of production reveals "the historical dialectic of the identity and non-identity of man’s own nature." That is, the labor process in Marx’s writing is not transhistorical or timeless; changes in historical conditions affect the nature of each element of the labor process, and "all processing of nature is carried out 'within a certain social form and by means of this social form'" (see Schmidt, p. 84). In other words, for Marx, the elements of the labor process are not only regarded as general conditions for all production but must also be understood within specific historical stages. Therefore, from an eco-Marxist perspective, while the metabolic interaction between humanity and nature mediated by labor constitutes a general law of human social development, its specific forms of metabolic interaction manifest differently as historical stages change. During the great global transition from the traditional to the modern—the process of modernization—the relatively direct and harmonious form of "metabolic interaction" between humanity and nature was broken. This gave rise to an irreparable "metabolic rift," which, accompanied by the global expansion of capital, resulted in a world-wide ecological crisis. This occurred "not just because of the leap in the development of productive forces, but more importantly because a qualitative change occurred in labor as the medium for the metabolic interaction between humanity and nature" (Kohei Saito, p. 46).
III. The "Metabolic Rift" in the Process of Western Modernization
Nature, society, and the "metabolic interaction" between humanity and nature—along with its efficacy and rationality—constitute the material foundation for the sustainable development of human society. It should be said that among the three levels of Marx’s concept of "metabolic interaction," the interaction between humanity and nature is the most universal and fundamental. Of course, this does not mean that the metabolic processes within nature itself or within society are unimportant. In fact, these three levels of metabolic interaction are continuous and intertwined, and they shape the historical replacement of civilizational forms through the decisive influence of the mode of production. Marx sometimes used the concept of "social metabolism" [4] to express the subtle and complex process of "metabolic interaction" between humanity and nature, and "every historical social mode of production forms a specific pattern of social-metabolic interaction" (Clark and Foster, p. 314). Thus, the metabolic interaction between humanity and nature is itself a dialectical "socio-historical" process. In a general abstract sense, "metabolic interaction" mediated by labor runs through the entire development of human society; in terms of its concrete forms, "metabolic interaction" manifests differently in different spatio-temporal locations due to changes in the specific forms of labor.
Western modernization, characterized by large-scale industrial production under the dominance of capital, serves as a specific model marking the transition of human society from the traditional to the modern. It can be viewed as a "metabolic interaction" process under a certain socio-historical stage. For thousands of years prior to the Industrial Revolution and the technological revolution—whether in the gathering, fishing, and hunting of prehistoric cultures or the plant cultivation and animal domestication of agricultural civilizations—the metabolic interaction between humanity and nature mediated by labor was, on the whole, mild and restrained. However, with the arrival of the Industrial and technological revolutions over two hundred years ago, the historical process of human society entered a dynamic process of "total and abrupt transformation" (Luo Rongqu, p. 8), and the curtain on modernization officially rose. When examined through the category of "metabolic interaction" critically transformed by historical materialism, modernization is also the process by which society shapes a specific historical form of "metabolic interaction." While the Industrial Revolution transformed the social mode of production, it also transformed the mode of labor. Accordingly, changes in the concrete forms of labor inevitably drove changes in the forms of "metabolic interaction" mediated by that labor. Marx also frequently used "metabolic interaction" to denote the labor process of commodity production and exchange in capitalist society, thereby placing the resolution of the historical task of reconciling humanity and nature within the broad socio-historical context of the modernization process. Under the dominance of capital, "the view of nature formed under the rule of private property and money is a true contempt for and practical debasement of nature" (Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 1, p. 52). The "metabolic rift" between humanity and nature was born of this.
At the starting point of the capitalist mode of production, "primitive accumulation plays approximately the same role in political economy as original sin does in theology" (Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 5, p. 820). This primitive accumulation was also a process of dissolving old forms of metabolic interaction and reconstructing new ones. Early modernizing states, on the one hand, plundered vast wealth through commercial trade and colonial wars; on the other hand, through "blood and fire" methods exemplified by the Enclosure Movement and the slave trade, they drove large numbers of laborers away from the land upon which they depended for survival. This not only accumulated a large labor force for industrial production but also led to the dissolution of "the relationship in which the laborer treats the land as the natural condition of production" and "the relationship in which the laborer is the owner of the tools," and even the dissolution of the relationship of "the laborer himself, the living labor capacity itself" (see Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 8, pp. 149-150). This meant that the "metabolic interaction" between humanity and nature could no longer be carried out directly through the laborer's own toil. The forms of metabolic interaction that had existed for thousands of years were thus shattered, and capital, like a "wedge," embedded itself into the metabolic interaction between humanity and nature, creating a massive, unbridgeable "rift."
When capital becomes the master of all, every factor of production, including nature itself, becomes fuel for the infinite valorization of capital, degraded into a "useful object" that "submits to human needs" (see Complete Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 30, p. 390). From then on, capital began to ignore the inherent value of nature, disregard the finitude of natural resources, and flout the objective laws of the natural world. It completely instrumentalized and commodified nature, recklessly developing, conquering, and even plundering it, causing the expansion of a global "metabolic rift" under the dominance of capital. Following the profit-seeking nature and valorization logic of capital, the torrent of capital in Western modernization broke through all regional and national limitations, "nestling everywhere... making the production and consumption of all countries cosmopolitan" (Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 2, p. 35), comprehensively reshaping global economic, political, cultural, and social rules and orders. In terms of the "metabolic interaction" between humanity and nature, capital-led modernization reveals its historical paradox and irony: a "Reflexive Modernization" that "creatively (self-)destroys the possibility of an entire era—the era of industrial society. The 'object' of this creative destruction is not the revolution of Western modernization, nor the crisis of Western modernization, but the victorious achievements of Western modernization" (Beck, Giddens, and Lash, p. 5).
This "reflexive modernization" driven by capital, while creating unprecedented growth in productive forces, also sowed the seeds for the destruction of modernization’s fruits: the ecological crisis. Early large-scale industrial production generated vast amounts of harmful smoke, to the point that textile industrial zones like Manchester became the most polluted areas. Although the second agricultural revolution triggered by the Industrial Revolution greatly increased yields per acre, the massive use of chemical fertilizers—while saving labor—destroyed the compensatory mechanisms of soil fertility. "As more and more of the population left the farms, the break in the cycle of soil nutrients became even more thorough than in the 19th century" (Foster, 2006b, p. 158). The "metabolic rift" between humanity and nature grew ever wider. At present, we face "rapidly spiraling ecological and social crises and the irremediably devastating consequences they pose for humanity and the many other species that co-exist with us" (ibid., p. 17). With the worldwide expansion of capital and ecological colonialism, this "metabolic rift" has evolved into a global ecological crisis, leading to the development dilemmas of the Third World. Thus, Marx’s "metabolic rift" theory provides us with an effective theoretical tool to analyze how the capital-led mode of production destroys the relationship between humanity and nature on a global scale, and it has exerted increasing influence in fields such as climate change, fisheries, nitrogen fertilizers, eco-feminism, and the dairy industry (see Kohei Saito, p. 6).
In short, "being capital-centered" is the "greatest flaw of Western modernization" (see Study Outline for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, p. 58). This means that as long as modernization still follows the principle of maximizing capital interests and unfolds according to the logic of capital, the "metabolic rift" formed during the modernization process cannot be effectively repaired or closed. Humanity needs a new path to modernization to respond to increasingly severe global ecological and environmental problems.
IV. Chinese-path Modernization Promotes the Ecological Reconstruction of "Metabolic Interaction"
Regarding the historical process of human society itself, the modernization transformation of specific countries and regions is influenced by complex factors such as their own historical heritage and realistic circumstances, internal conditions and external environments, and modes of production and living habits. Consequently, different paths to modernization emerge, thereby shaping and presenting different socio-historical forms of "metabolic interaction." "There is no single model of modernization in the world, nor is there a one-size-fits-all standard for modernization" (Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, Vol. 4, p. 123). Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has "planned economic and social development from the height of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature" (Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Ecological Civilization, Vol. 1, p. 232). Adhering to the value principle of "being people-centered" and upholding the core concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," [5] the Party seeks to build a Beautiful China and work together for a global ecological civilization through an orderly and smooth "metabolic interaction" between humanity and nature.
As a form of...
In the process of "metabolism," Chinese-path modernization has established "harmony between humanity and nature" as both a distinctive Chinese characteristic and its ecological bedrock, based on an ecological reflection on the history of world modernization over the past two centuries. Chinese-path modernization abandons the Western path of "capital-centered" modernization and adheres to the ecological value principle of being "people-centered," effectively avoiding the pathology of maximizing capital interests at the expense of the ecological environment. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that "the people are the deepest foundation and the greatest source of confidence for our Party's governance," and seeking happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation are the starting and ending points of Chinese-path modernization. Only by "insisting that development is for the people, relies on the people, and its fruits are shared by the people, can there be a correct view of development and modernization." (See Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, Vol. 4, p. 171). Under the guidance of this "people-centered" developmental view, "harmony between humanity and nature" has become one of the essential requirements of Chinese-path modernization: "Our modernization is characterized by harmony between humanity and nature. It emphasizes the simultaneous promotion of material civilization and ecological civilization [6], following a path of civilized development featuring productive development, prosperous lives, and sound ecosystems." (Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Ecological Civilization, Vol. 1, p. 209). Harmony between humanity and nature in Chinese-path modernization has shaped a new form of "metabolism" marked by symbiotic harmony.
The "metabolism" of Chinese-path modernization adheres to the dialectical unity of purposiveness and law-governedness. Purposiveness refers to the transcendence of the "instrumental rationality" found in the metabolism of Western modernization. Chinese-path modernization persists in the "value rationality" of being people-centered, taking the satisfaction of the people’s ecological needs and the maintenance of a beautiful ecological environment as its value orientation. Since the New Era, the needs of the masses for a better life have undergone a historical transformation from "seeking warmth and food" to "hoping for environmental protection," and from "seeking survival" to "seeking ecology." We have now fully built a moderately prosperous society in all respects; however, "whether moderate prosperity is comprehensive depends critically on the quality of the ecological environment" (Xi Jinping, 2022b, p. 62). Law-governedness refers to the fact that the "metabolism" of Chinese-path modernization follows the inherent laws of nature's development. General Secretary Xi Jinping has frequently cited Engels’s classic words in Dialectics of Nature regarding "nature's revenge," repeatedly emphasizing that "human developmental activities must respect, adapt to, and protect nature, otherwise we will face nature's revenge. No one can resist this law. Humans exist because of nature; humanity and nature share a symbiotic relationship, and harm to nature will ultimately harm humanity itself. Only by respecting natural laws can we effectively prevent taking self-defeating detours in the exploitation and utilization of nature" (ibid., p. 167). Western modernization follows the law of capital valorization, viewing nature as a mere instrumental existence; it has taken such detours in exploiting nature, leading to the emergence and intensification of the "metabolic rift" [7] between humanity and nature. The "metabolism" of Chinese-path modernization adheres to a people-centered purposiveness by viewing ecological protection as a major livelihood project—"insisting on ecology for the benefit of the people"—while also respecting the law-governedness of natural cycles. It "considers not only the needs of humanity and the current generation but also the needs of nature and future generations, managing the degree of natural resource exploitation so as not to exceed the carrying capacity of natural resources" (ibid., p. 11), thereby controlling the "metabolism" between humanity and nature within a range of moderate tension between socio-economic development and ecological protection.
However, the synchronized and coordinated promotion of socio-economic development and ecological protection has always been a world-class challenge. Looking back at the global modernization process over the last two centuries, periods of rapid economic growth have often been accompanied by severe environmental pollution, which seemed an almost unavoidable fate for human social development. In response, the Club of Rome issued the prophecy of "The Limits to Growth," while Silent Spring became the fountainhead of the modern environmental movement. During its own modernization process, China also faced this world-class difficulty. As socialism with Chinese characteristics entered the New Era, the solution to the "paradox" between socio-economic development and ecological protection gradually emerged: "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" [8]. Breaking out of inherent mindsets and rigid developmental patterns, "invaluable assets" (economic wealth) and "lucid waters and lush mountains" (ecological health) are by no means a zero-sum, antithetical relationship, but rather a relationship of mutual reinforcement and dialectical unity. This "Two Mountains Theory" has gradually become the core concept of ecological civilization construction, vividly portraying the "metabolic" landscape of Chinese-path modernization. On one hand, sustainable and high-quality socio-economic development must be predicated on a smooth and orderly metabolism between humanity and nature; on the other hand, "the success or failure of ecological environmental protection depends, in the final analysis, on the economic structure and the mode of economic development" (Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Ecological Civilization, Vol. 1, p. 4). Ecological protection provides a sustainable basis of natural resources and energy for socio-economic development, while socio-economic development provides strong financial support and advanced technical safeguards for better protecting the environment.
"In practice, the understanding of the relationship between lucid waters and lush mountains and invaluable assets has passed through three stages. The first stage was sacrificing lucid waters and lush mountains for invaluable assets, with little or no consideration for environmental carrying capacity... The second stage was wanting invaluable assets while also trying to preserve lucid waters and lush mountains; at this point, the contradiction between economic development and resource scarcity/environmental degradation began to become prominent... The third stage is recognizing that lucid waters and lush mountains can continuously bring invaluable assets—that the former are the latter... turning ecological advantages into economic advantages." (Study Outline for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, pp. 28-29). Historically, China's modernization process and the reshaping of its "metabolism" have roughly traversed these three stages.
During the period of socialist revolution and construction [9], the establishment of socialist public ownership laid the institutional foundation for the rational regulation of metabolism. Chinese Communists, represented by Comrade Mao Zedong, attached great importance to the natural conditions of socialist production and reproduction, such as "the air in the sky, the forests on the earth, and the treasures beneath the ground" (Collected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 7, p. 34), advocating for afforestation and active water conservancy construction. However, considering that the primary task of the people during this period was to "concentrate forces on developing social productive forces" to "realize national industrialization" (see Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century, p. 11), there was a certain degree of overuse of natural resources like land and forests. In the new period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, environmental problems gradually surfaced alongside rapid economic growth. Environmental protection became a basic national policy, and the state began to use the rule of law to regulate the "metabolism" between humanity and nature. As reform and opening up deepened, the "metabolism" of the socialist modernization process, driven by high-speed industrialization and urbanization, took on new forms and characteristics, and ecological protection became a conspicuous "short board" (weak link). Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached unprecedented importance to environmental issues, creatively proposing and practicing the significant thesis that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets." This "Two Mountains Theory" has become an original and hallmark tenet of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization. The natural ecosystem, represented by "lucid waters and lush mountains," is a new development of Marx's concept of "humanized nature" [10] in the context of contemporary China, providing the natural material basis for Chinese-path modernization. The dialectical unity between the socio-economic system (represented by "invaluable assets") and "lucid waters and lush mountains" provides a new historical coordinate and practical direction for adhering to the path of Chinese-path modernization characterized by harmony between humanity and nature. The coordinated advancement of these "Two Mountains" injects a new dimension of value into the sustainable development of human society, manifesting the "people-centered" value position. The holistic, systemic thinking represented by concepts like "humanity and nature form a community of life" and the "integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts" [11] provides a methodology for solving the global "dilemma" of balancing development and protection. Since the New Era, China has achieved a "win-win" of high-quality socio-economic development and high-level ecological protection. The significance of the "Two Mountains Theory" as a worldview and methodology has gradually become clear. The overall state of the ecological environment—represented by the three foundational resources of air, water, and soil—has improved. China's ecological protection work has undergone a "fundamental change of historical, transitional, and global significance," and "ecological civilization construction in the New Era has achieved world-renowned success" (Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Ecological Civilization, Vol. 1, p. 274), shaping a new form of "metabolism" in Chinese-path modernization.
These three historical stages represent a process of transforming and upgrading the mode of economic growth, a process of continuously updating developmental concepts, and, more importantly, a process of the "metabolism" between humanity and nature becoming increasingly harmonious and orderly. In particular, the "Two Mountains Theory," as the core concept of ecological civilization construction, links the natural ecosystem with the socio-economic system. Through the systemic thinking of "humanity and nature as a community of life," it provides a fundamental method for solving the global challenge of balancing economic development and environmental protection, embodying an innovative worldview and methodology for handling the relationship between humanity and nature.
V. Conclusion
Regardless of how one understands the historical process of human social development, including modernization, one cannot escape the fundamental and global issue: the relationship between humanity and nature. Because the survival of humanity and the continuation of civilization require the exchange of matter and energy—that is, "metabolism"—between humanity and nature. The concept of "metabolism," transformed by Marx's historical materialism, became the theoretical starting point of Marx's ecological thought and a "weapon of criticism" for scrutinizing the modernization process of human society. Based on Marx's concept of "metabolism," modernization can be seen as a socio-historical process of reshaping the relationship between humanity and nature. In other words, no matter how one sketches the blueprint of modernization or what path one chooses, the human-nature relationship constitutes a basic dimension of modernization. A rational and orderly "metabolism" between the two establishes the material foundation and historical prerequisite for the modernization process. Unlike the West, which moved toward modernization spontaneously through industrial and technological revolutions—thereby creating a "metabolic rift"—Chinese-path modernization is socialist in essence. It adheres to fundamental socialist attributes, gradually reforming and integrating the levels of economy, politics, culture, and society, moving toward harmony between humanity and nature within a total social transformation. The establishment of the socialist state system has provided the institutional basis for Chinese-path modernization to transcend Western modernization at the ecological point of survival for humanity, because "the best green strategies are those designed to overthrow capitalism and establish socialism/communism" (Pepper, p. 337). It should be noted that "metabolism" in the process of Chinese-path modernization does not immediately become a "finished state" upon the establishment of socialist relations of production; rather, it is a "work in progress" based on the shaping of those relations. Marx once described a future vision for the metabolism between humanity and nature: "Socialized man, the associated producers, govern the human metabolism with nature in a rational way, bringing it under their collective control instead of being dominated by it as a blind power; accomplishing it with the least expenditure of energy and in conditions most worthy and appropriate for their human nature." (Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 7, pp. 928-929). Chinese-path modernization is currently within this great historical process, providing Chinese wisdom and a Chinese solution for reaching the ideal state of metabolism described by Marx and realizing harmony between humanity and nature.