Environmental pollution is one of the most important problems facing China today. In fact, the ancient Chinese people have long had the concept of "environmental governance". So how did the ancients go green?
The earliest "environmental protection ministry" in the world -- yu
In ancient times, the department in charge of environmental protection was not called "ministry of environmental protection". According to the official list compiled by huang benji of the qing dynasty, the early ministry of environmental protection in ancient China was called "yu". A large part of its functions are the same as those of the ministry of environmental protection today.
In the "era of the five emperors" in the ancient legends, due to the primitive living conditions, people relied more on nature and paid more attention to the protection of the natural environment accordingly. The story of shun is recorded in the first volume of sima qian's history, the five emperors. After shun ascended the throne, he reformed the administrative structure and set up nine officials according to the needs of the time. These nine officials are equivalent to the current nine ministries and commissions of the central government.
One of the nine ministries set up by shun was the ministry of environmental protection. The first official of yu was named bo yi. Some domestic environmental scholars believe that shun's "concern" should be the earliest "environmental protection ministry" in the world, and bo yi is the earliest "environmental protection minister". Bo yi is indeed an expert in environmental protection. According to historical records and legends, bo yi is named shi zu after ying, the right-hand man of da yu, an expert in water control. At the same time, it is also an authority on animal protection, namely the so-called "boyizhi animals" in the geography of han shu. Another biography, "shan hai jing" is also written by bo yi. Although the establishment of the ministry of environmental protection by shun has not been confirmed by modern archaeological discoveries, the existence of "yu" as an environmental protection agency has been completely preserved, which is an indisputable historical fact.
In the zhou dynasty, the ministry of environmental protection was bigger. Like the xia and shang dynasties before it, the central government adopted a system of "big ministries". Among them, the highest status of the mountain, the American scholar eckholm called the world's earliest "forest bureau."
During the qin and han dynasties, yu was replaced by shaofu. In the tang, song, Ming and qing dynasties, the imperial court had yu heng division, which was called "yu department".
