Huang Chengliang: The "Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains are Invaluable Assets" Concept: A "Revolution in Terminology" for the Human Outlook on Development
General Secretary Xi Jinping has noted: "Properly handling the relationship between development and protection is a global challenge and an eternal theme facing the development of human society." This year marks the 20th anniversary of the proposal of the "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept. This concept scientifically elucidates the relationship between economic development and ecological environmental protection, profoundly revealing the principle that protecting the ecological environment is protecting the productive forces and improving the ecological environment is developing the productive forces. It points out a new path for achieving the synergistic symbiosis of development and protection, coordinates and reconstructs the imbalance between the growth of human productive forces and the intensification of the ecological crisis since the advent of industrial civilization, and resolves the "dual paradox" of development and protection.
"Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" is an original and hallmark concept of Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization, as well as a crystallization and exemplar of the "Two Combinations" [1]. Exploring the formation, development process, and the underlying logic, theory, and philosophy of this important concept—while scientifically understanding its inheritance and development of the Marxist ecological outlook, the Marxist outlook on development, and excellent traditional Chinese ecological culture, as well as its transcendence and innovation over traditional Western development paradigms—helps us more profoundly understand and scientifically grasp that this concept is rooted in Chinese soil, conforms to Chinese realities, and possesses a Chinese style. Using the "revolution in terminology" formed by original and hallmark concepts as its core, and consciously taking Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization as the fundamental guidance, it helps us construct an autonomous Chinese knowledge system of ecological civilization. Furthermore, it helps reconstruct the global discourse and practice systems of sustainable development with Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions, promoting the joint construction of a clean, beautiful, and sustainable world.
The Incubation, Formation, and Development of the "Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains are Invaluable Assets" Concept
General Secretary Xi Jinping has stated: "I have always attached great importance to ecological and environmental work. During my time in Zhengding, Xiamen, Ningde, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, I grasped this work as a major task." The incubation, formation, and development of the "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept have undergone a developmental process from the distillation of local experience to the proposal of conceptual categories, and finally to the sublimation of philosophical principles.
The incubation and development of the concept. "Lucid waters and lush mountains" represent ecological wealth and environmental protection, while "invaluable assets" (literally "gold and silver mountains") represent material wealth and economic development. As early as April 1997, during an investigation in Changkou Village, Sanming, Fujian Province, Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out: "Clear waters and green mountains are priceless treasures. Mountainous areas should paint a good 'landscape painting' and do a good job with the 'essays' on mountains, waters, and fields." After moving to work in Zhejiang, Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out in the article "Environmental Protection Depends on Conscious and Proactive Action" that "wanting only 'gold and silver mountains' while ignoring 'lucid waters and lush mountains'" is effectively "eating the food of our ancestors and cutting off the road for our descendants" [2]. In July 2004, at a field meeting for Zhejiang Province’s "Program of Thousands of Exemplary Villages and Rectification of Ten Thousand Villages," Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out that this program—as an "ecological project"—served as an effective carrier for promoting the construction of an "ecological province," both protecting "lucid waters and lush mountains" and bringing "invaluable assets." All of this demonstrates that during his tenure in local government, Comrade Xi Jinping had already proposed conceptual categories such as "lucid waters and lush mountains" and "invaluable assets," which contained rich philosophical reflection and practical wisdom. Regarding the expression of the terminology, the imagery of mountains and waters (shanshui) has always embodied the aesthetic and cognitive view of nature held by Chinese sages. For instance, verses such as "I never tire of looking at the green mountains; how lasting is the interest in the flowing waters," "The guest's path lies outside the green mountains; the boat sails before the lucid waters," and "White clouds and yellow cranes come and go of themselves; lucid waters and lush mountains remain unchanged from past to present" [3] express the ancient Chinese people's love, reverence, and praise for nature. The concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" is deeply rooted in the cultural context of the Chinese nation; it is a spiritual treasure condensing Eastern wisdom that grew out of the soil of Chinese culture.
The formal proposal of the concept. On August 15, 2005, Comrade Xi Jinping visited Yucun Village in Anji, Zhejiang, for an investigation and, with a forward-looking strategic vision, proposed for the first time that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets." Comrade Xi Jinping affirmed the village's practice of closing polluting mines and starting ecological tourism, noting: "In the past, we said we wanted both lucid waters and lush mountains as well as invaluable assets; in fact, lucid waters and lush mountains are themselves invaluable assets." On August 24, 2005, Comrade Xi Jinping published the article "Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains are Also Invaluable Assets" in the Zhejiang Daily, profoundly elucidating the dialectical unity between the two and pointing out the development path of green transformation from a strategic height. He emphasized: "If we can transform these ecological environment advantages into advantages for an ecological economy—such as ecological agriculture, ecological industry, and ecological tourism—then lucid waters and lush mountains will indeed become invaluable assets." In March 2006, in "Viewing the Ecological Environment from the 'Two Mountains,'" Comrade Xi Jinping further noted: "We pursue harmony between man and nature, and harmony between economy and society. In popular terms, we want 'two mountains': both invaluable assets and lucid waters and lush mountains." From the perspectives of transforming economic growth patterns, the continuous progress of development concepts, and the continuous adjustment of the relationship between man and nature, he proposed a "three-stage theory" on the understanding of the relationship between the two. The formal proposal of this concept fully reflects Comrade Xi Jinping’s profound thinking on protection and development and the relationship between man and nature, his farsightedness regarding the sustainable development of the Chinese nation, and his noble spiritual state of upholding the truth. It possesses distinct characteristics of the era and practicality.
The enrichment and refinement of the concept. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the construction of ecological civilization has been integrated into the "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan," and the "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept has been continuously enriched and refined in its theoretical connotation and practical application. The report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC for the first time included "the need to establish and practice the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," making it a primary component of the basic strategy for adhering to and developing Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era. Simultaneously, the Constitution of the Communist Party of China (Amendment) adopted at the 19th National Congress included "enhancing the awareness that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," marking the formal designation of this important concept as part of the Party’s guiding ideology and guide to action. This fully demonstrates our Party's distinct attitude and firm determination to build an ecological civilization. In May 2018, the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection was held, officially establishing Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization. General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the conference, systematically explicating the "Six Principles" that must be adhered to in promoting ecological civilization in the New Era; the "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept, as one of these principles, received even more in-depth elucidation. In November 2021, at a critical historical juncture moving toward the Second Centenary Goal of building a great modern socialist country in all respects, our Party included "the need to adhere to the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" in the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century, which is of great and far-reaching significance. Our Party continues to deepen its understanding of the leading position and major significance of Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization, while emphasizing the continued deepening of the "revolution in terminology"—including this concept—to build the edifice of the disciplinary, academic, and discourse systems of Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization upon a foundation of original and hallmark concepts.
The "Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains are Invaluable Assets" Concept as the Inheritance and Development of Marxist Ecological and Development Outlooks and Excellent Traditional Chinese Ecological Culture, and the Transcendence and Renovation of Traditional Western Development Paradigms
General Secretary Xi Jinping has stated: "In 2002, when I was Governor of Fujian, I proposed that Fujian should become the first ecological province in China. After moving to Zhejiang, in 2005, I proposed 'lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.' Today, this has become the consensus of the Chinese people." The reason this concept has become a national consensus lies fundamentally in its distinct characteristic of the "Two Combinations," through which it inherits and develops the Marxist ecological and development outlooks, remains deeply rooted in the profound ecological cultural genes of the Chinese nation, and demonstrates contemporary value through advancing with the times. Simultaneously, the concept achieves a historical transcendence over traditional Western development paradigms with its basic connotation of the dialectical unity between man and nature, ecology and economy, and development and protection.
The "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept enriches and develops the Marxist ecological and development outlooks. The Marxist ecological outlook emphasizes that nature takes precedence over humanity, that humans originate from nature, and that nature is the "inorganic body" of man. It also points out that the actual natural world is the natural world of humanity, where man and nature constitute an interacting whole through the mediation of "labor." Undoubtedly, the "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept manifests the dialectical unity between man and nature and between protection and development. Marx believed that there was an irreparable "metabolic rift" in the exchange of matter between man and nature under capitalism, criticizing the irreconcilability of the relationship between man and nature and the capitalist plunder of nature.
With the extraordinary wisdom of a Marxist theorist, strategist, and thinker, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly recognizes that while industrial civilization "created huge material wealth, it also accelerated the extraction of natural resources, breaking the original cycle and balance of the Earth's ecosystem and causing tension in the relationship between man and nature." Moreover, he proposed scientific assertions such as: "Lucid waters and lush mountains are both natural and ecological wealth, as well as social and economic wealth. Protecting the ecological environment is protecting natural value and increasing natural capital," and "New quality productive forces are themselves green productive forces." This is the first time in the history of human thought on productive forces that such assertions have been made, achieving a creative development of the Marxist theory of natural value, the labor theory of value, and the theory of productive forces in the 21st century.
The "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept achieves the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese ecological culture. The mainstream of Chinese civilization over more than 5,000 years and the concepts it contains—such as "the unity of heaven and humanity" (tianren hayi), "participation in the transformation of heaven and earth," and "the Dao follows nature"—all embody the unique worldview and view of nature of the Chinese nation, as well as its unique methods for handling the relationship between heaven, earth, and humanity. It can be said that Chinese civilization has always emphasized that "heaven and earth coexist with me, and all things are one with me," viewing heaven, earth, and humanity as an indivisible whole, with a traditional mindset characterized by holism and systematicity.
The "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept inherits excellent traditional Chinese ecological culture and carries out its creative transformation and innovative development. It recognizes the intrinsic value of nature without denying the right of humans to utilize nature rationally. It builds a bridge between the ideal and the reality, and between environmental protection and economic development, achieving the unity of the "Dao" [4] (underlying principle) and "Qi" (manifest tool/vessel). It demonstrates the vitality of excellent traditional Chinese ecological culture and displays a creativity that advances with the times.
The "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept achieves a transcendence of the traditional Western development paradigm. The history of the development of human civilization is essentially a history of the relationship between man and nature. The Western ecological discourse system is built on a philosophical foundation of subject-object dichotomy. For example, Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" established a strict distinction between the subject (man) and the object (nature), and Francis Bacon advocated that scientific knowledge should serve the human conquest of nature. These positions made anthropocentrism, the supremacy of reason, and a mechanistic view of nature the value basis of Western industrial civilization. Since the dawn of the modern era, mainstream Western economics has always taken "economic growth" as its core goal, treating the ecological environment as an external condition of productive forces rather than an internal element. From Adam Smith's "invisible hand" to the Solow growth model, natural capital has not been included as a core consideration in the production function; this theoretical defect led to a degree to the spread of the "tragedy of the commons" in the 20th century. Although neoclassical economics attempted to correct market failure through "externality theory," it ultimately failed to truly resolve the contradiction between economic growth and ecological protection.
The "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept transcends mechanistic, objectifying thinking and endows nature with subjective value. In terms of value reconstruction, it emphasizes that natural value is an important component of overall value, forming a theory of ecological value transformation based on the priority of ecology. Regarding growth concepts and patterns, it corrects the "ecological blindness" of Western growth theory, emphasizes the synergy between economic growth and environmental protection, and forms a growth theory based on ecological endogenous power. It rejects "market omnipotence," constructs a collaborative governance system involving government, market, and society, and persists in the integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, waters, forests, fields, lakes, grass, and sand. Through institutional innovation, it achieves systematic transformation and creates a brand-new paradigm for expressing the relationship between man and nature, and between protection and development.
Guided by the "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept, we are building a modernization characterized by harmony between man and nature and creating a new form of human civilization.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Human developmental activities must respect nature, conform to nature, and protect nature; otherwise, we will face the retaliation of nature—this is a law that no one can resist." Modernization is the overarching trend of development in today's world and a common pursuit of human society. The historic achievements in the construction of Chinese-path modernization demonstrate that the "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept provides a theoretical foundation and practical guide for constructing a modernization characterized by the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature.
We must persist in the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "Man and nature should coexist in harmony. When humanity treats nature with kindness and protection, nature's reward is generous; when humanity brutally plunders nature, its punishment is ruthless." From the "nature worship" of primitive society to the "limited transformation" of agricultural civilization, the "conquest of nature" in industrial civilization, and finally to the "harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature" in ecological civilization, human cognition of natural ecology has undergone a process of spiral ascent. In the historical course of human modernization, many countries and regions have experienced a stage of pursuing economic growth at the cost of the ecological environment. As the first country to undergo the Industrial Revolution, the United Kingdom experienced severe environmental pollution for over a century due to its vast demand for resources such as coal. As late as the 1950s, the world-shaking "Great Smog of London" [5] occurred. During the same period, Japan suffered a severe environmental pollution incident known as the "Minamata disease incident" [6]. In our own country, for a certain period, some regions blindly developed high-pollution and high-energy-consuming industries in pursuit of short-term economic growth, causing serious damage to the ecological environment. These lessons warn us that the ecological environment is the foundation of human survival and development; once destroyed, it will cause irreparable losses. The "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept fundamentally realizes a major shift from "conquering nature" to "harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature." It emphasizes always respecting, conforming to, and protecting nature, and planning development from the height of promoting harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.
We must correctly handle the relationship between development and protection. The "Environmental Kuznets Curve" theory in Western economics posits that environmental pollution increases with per capita income at low levels, but after reaching a certain tipping point, it trends downward as the environment is improved and restored, forming an inverted U-shaped curve. In practice, this theory is misleading, as it suggests that as long as one waits for the turning point, the environment will naturally improve. The "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept fundamentally shatters the erroneous perception that development and protection are decoupled. At the ontological level, it breaks through the cognitive limitations of the "binary opposition" between ecology and economy found in traditional developmental views and avoids the path dependency of "pollute first, treat later" seen in the process of Western modernization. The natural values contained in this important concept transform the ecological environment from a "cost of development" into "development capital," achieving a major breakthrough in the axiology of natural systems. The view of "green productive forces" transforms ecological factors from external constraints into internal drivers, integrating ecology as a factor of production into the system of social reproduction—a creative development of the theory of productive forces. By establishing the value choice of "ecology first" [7] within the dialectical unity of development and protection, it reorders developmental priorities and constitutes a brand-new developmental economics.
We must take the path of modernization characterized by green development. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Chinese-path modernization must take the new path of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. This is being responsible for ourselves, and also being responsible for the world." The Western path of modernization is full of destructiveness, predation, and the externalization of costs [8], with cruel exploitation and global structural inequality hidden behind it. The extensive development mode of high consumption, high emissions, and high pollution in the West is an inevitable product of "anthropocentrism" dominated by the logic of capital [9]. It achieves modernization by plundering nature and transferring costs, leading to global ecological crises and developmental imbalances. Modernization in developed countries has long been trapped in the dilemma of the binary opposition between economic growth and environmental protection. Whether it is the pessimistic prophecy of "The Limits to Growth" [10] by the Club of Rome or the path dependency of "pollute first, treat later" in traditional development models, they have failed to escape the mechanical limitations of static models. The "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept not only resolves the opposition between economic growth and environmental protection but also provides a new option for human civilization—achieving coordination between development and protection, and unity between efficiency and equity—by fairly distributing ecological dividends and constructing a new order of global ecological governance. It represents a systematic rejection of the malaises of industrial civilization. The practice of this concept is not only a shift in the mode of development but also an upgrade in the form of civilization, leading humanity toward a path of modernization based on green development.
We must lead the reform of the global ecological environmental governance system. Currently, issues such as global climate change and the reduction of biological species still threaten the material basis upon which humanity depends for survival and development. The limitations of the traditional Western ecological governance paradigm have become more prominent. The "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept constructs a new philosophy of development and a new developmental economics of "harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature" through the internalizing of ecological value, the coordination of growth paradigms, and the systematization of governance models. It provides a conceptual framework and a feasible path for global sustainable development. In the New Era, through initiatives such as the joint construction of the "Green Belt and Road" and the "Maritime Community with a Shared Future," [11] China has profoundly influenced the global environmental governance and sustainable development agenda, demonstrating its institutional confidence and international responsibility as a leader in the global green transition and a responsible major power. We must take the "revolution in terminology" of the "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" concept as the core to construct a Chinese autonomous knowledge system of ecological civilization. We must comprehensively promote the international communication of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, construct and lead the global green development discourse system, and provide scientific answers to the "Questions of the Times" and "Questions of the World" regarding the construction of a beautiful China and a beautiful world.
(The author is a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. This article was commissioned by the People's Forum magazine and edited by the Theory Department of the People's Daily.) Online Editor: Tongxin Source: People's Daily, May 14, 2025, page 9.