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	<title>sustainable china &#187; News</title>
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	<link>http://www.sustainablechina.info</link>
	<description>researching religious values for ecological sustainability</description>
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		<title>&#8220;best to be like water&#8221;: tsunamis, religion and non-human agency</title>
		<link>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2011/04/04/best-to-be-like-water-tsunamis-religion-and-non-human-agency/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2011/04/04/best-to-be-like-water-tsunamis-religion-and-non-human-agency/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Apr 2011 23:07:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gaia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[non-human agency]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tsunami]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wuwei]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sustainablechina.info/?p=444</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s been three weeks since the devastating tsunami in Japan, and I am still haunted by the familiar phrase from Daode jing ch. 8: Best to be like water, Which benefits the ten thousand things And does not contend. It pools where humans disdain to dwell, Close to the Tao. (Trans. Addis and Lombardo, Hackett: 1993). For those devastated by tsuanmis, floods and other water disasters, to make an analogy between goodness and water seems at the very least grotesque. In what sense can the wild and untameable powers of nature be used as an analogy for what&#8217;s best? In English, such natural disasters are often referred to as &#8220;acts of God&#8221;, meaning that they are far beyond the power of humans to grasp, and essentially mysterious and unknowable. Insurance companies may refuse to cover such &#8220;acts of God&#8221; because they represent risks that are so enormous and so incalculable that they resist any attempt to bring them within a familiar economic rationality. An &#8220;act of God&#8221; is simply beyond human comprehension. Although ancient Chinese philosophers did not, so far as I know, have any experience of the devastation brought by tsunamis, they were undoubtedly aware of the dangerous power [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>daoism and technological innovation</title>
		<link>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2011/02/14/daoism-and-innovation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2011/02/14/daoism-and-innovation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Feb 2011 21:23:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>james</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[daoism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ecology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[innovation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sustainablechina.info/?p=431</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As China overtakes Japan to be recognized as the world&#8217;s second largest economy, it is inevitable that Chinese religions will undergo change and transformation. But since Marx infamously compared the social function of religion to that of a narcotic, religion has consistently been framed in the modern imagination as backwards, anti-modern, and anti-science. China&#8217;s modernizers, likewise, have viewed religion as a problem to be overcome in the quest to build the new China, and their view has become part of the mainstream amongst Chinese youth. In Chinese Religions in Contemporary Societies, I told a story about a lecture that I gave in Shanghai several years ago: one of the students was shocked to learn that I studied Chinese religions, and asked me, incredulously, why on earth someone would spend time studying China&#8217;s religions! Of course it is entirely ironic that the divisive narrative that frames religion as part of the past has also been taken up by some religious institutions who would seek to return human civilization to some mythic ideal that most likely never existed as an empirical fact. Fundamentalists and secular modernists often share the same framework about the absolute disjunction between modernity and science on the one hand, [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>green china rising</title>
		<link>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2011/01/06/green-china-rising/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2011/01/06/green-china-rising/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:18:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>james</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sustainablechina.info/?p=416</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As the trailer for this new documentary from Mandarin Films makes clear, the global environmental crisis will be solved in China, not in America, for the simple reason that China has no other option. As I noted recently in my post on ecological civilization in China, there is a widespread recognition in China that the paradigm of industrial civilization must be changed so that China can bring economic development to its people without a correspondingly large increase in its ecological footprint. The interesting point made in the trailer is that the failure of the Copenhagen summit points simply to the fact that China cannot wait for the world to get its act together. Rather, China can rely only on itself. In fact, this is not a new theme in modern Chinese history. Maoism was famous for its voluntaristic spirit, in which the efforts of the people were called upon to prevail against all obstacles to building the new China. Moreover, China&#8217;s enormous economic and political engagement with Africa and Latin America at present is a continuation of the paradigm developed after the Sino-Soviet split, when China saw itself isolated from both cold war superpowers. For rapidly developing countries such as China, [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>chinese religions and economic sustainability</title>
		<link>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2010/07/19/chinese-religions-and-economic-sustainability/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2010/07/19/chinese-religions-and-economic-sustainability/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:00:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>james</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sustainablechina.info/?p=365</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In Sunday&#8217;s New York Times, Wayne Arnold published a column on the perennial topic &#8220;rethinking the measure of growth.&#8221; The story concerns attempts by Asian economists to come up with alternatives to GDP growth as the be-all and end-all of development. As is often the case with the New York Times, I found the most important information buried towards the end of the story, as though the editors didn&#8217;t actually think it was important! What is needed instead, some economists say, is a wholesale re-examination of development’s goals. &#8230; Beijing, at least, appears to have gotten the message, if its investments in green technology and public transportation are anything to go by. The Communist Party has also revised the promotion criteria for officials so that environmental conditions are included along with gross domestic product. It&#8217;s hard to underestimate the significance of this type of policy measure in China. To gain official promotion in China does not simply result in greater financial  rewards or abstract &#8220;prestige&#8221; but rather access to powerful social networks that can result in very real financial, social, and personal rewards. To make this privilege conditional upon an official&#8217;s meeting environmental targets, is thus a significant way that [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>daoism&#8217;s quest for relevance</title>
		<link>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2010/06/25/daoisms-quest-for-relevance/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2010/06/25/daoisms-quest-for-relevance/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:16:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>james</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[daoism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spirituality]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sustainablechina.info/?p=360</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In a Wall Street Journal blog today, Christopher Carothers asks, &#8220;Is Daoism is losing its way?&#8221; He writes: Today, Buddhism is regaining its traditional place as the largest religion in Chinese society. Islam is expanding through the growth of Muslim families in the Hui and Uyghur minority ethnic groups. Protestantism and Catholicism are winning new converts all over China and shaking off the old label of “foreign religion.” Daoism, on the other hand, seems to be standing still. Worse still, he argues, Daoism is often ridiculed by other religions, as was the case in the recent incident in Singapore, in which a Christian pastor was forced to apologize for his anti-Daoist remarks. Singapore has strict rules concerning public speech about religion, so one can only imagine what anti-Daoist sentiments are being expressed in countries without such restrictions on free speech. Carothers offers a reason for this reported decline, quoting unnamed researchers who say &#8220;the main reasons for Daoism’s troubles are its poor social networking and the lack of available information about its teachings.&#8221; This reason deserves further explanation. It&#8217;s certainly true that Daoism is a lineage-based tradition which prizes knowledge and training that are passed on orally from teacher to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2010/06/25/daoisms-quest-for-relevance/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>avatar vs. confucius</title>
		<link>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2010/02/02/avatar-vs-confucius/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2010/02/02/avatar-vs-confucius/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:56:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>james</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Confucianism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economic development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urbanization]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sustainablechina.info/?p=331</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What do you do, as a Chinese film board, when the Hollywood science fiction film Avatar smashes Chinese box office records in its first three weeks in theaters, when online chat sites are buzzing about the uncanny parallels between the fictional film plot of developers raping the land and forcibly evicting the people and real life in China? As this report makes clear, Avatar vs. Confucius in China, some Chinese netizens are calling for a boycott of the Confucius biopic, arguing that the government is only promoting Confucianism in order to help suppress political dissent. In contrast Avatar is seen by Chinese people as a fable regarding the power of the state over local communities: “What is ‘Avatar’ about?” asked one contributor on the Web site Mop. “It’s about the government’s forced evictions of people, and about them risking their lives to protest. No Chinese director dares to touch this topic. The report goes on to note that an estimated 30 million people, that&#8217;s nearly the entire population of Canada, have been evicted or relocated during China&#8217;s rapid economic development. On top of this China has an estimated &#8220;floating population&#8221; of some 100 million migrant workers who live in poor conditions on [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2010/02/02/avatar-vs-confucius/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>china&#8217;s green religion</title>
		<link>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/11/05/chinas-green-religion/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/11/05/chinas-green-religion/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:24:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>james</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Conferences]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[china]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[daoism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sustainability]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sustainablechina.info/?p=308</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m at the First Summit on Laozi and Daoist Culture, which is taking place this week in Beijing. The Summit is the work of Prof. Hu Fuchen, one of the leading scholars of Daoism, and a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. This morning, we had the opening ceremony, which was held in the Great Hall of the People. It was my first time in this magnificent building. The purpose of the conference is basically to promote Daoism throughout China and the World. It is being funded by a wealthy donor, and has received backing at a high level from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Daoism has been something of a poor relative lately. Buddhism is better funded. Confucianism receives a very high level of support form the central government. But to many people, Daoism is poorly understood and associated with superstition. As one of the invited foreign delegates, it seems that my job is to demonstrate international support for this venture, to have my photograph taken along with the 500 or so other delegates, and to be part of the ritual theatre that the organizers have carefully crafted to promote Daoism as an essential ingredient of [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>weekly news digest 2009-11-01</title>
		<link>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/11/01/weekly-news-digest-2009-11-01/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/11/01/weekly-news-digest-2009-11-01/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tweets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/11/01/weekly-news-digest-2009-11-01/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Interview with an American training to be a Daoist priest: Center for Spirituality and Sustainability at S. Illinois U http://bit.ly/1JOMfQ #]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/11/01/weekly-news-digest-2009-11-01/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>weekly news digest 2009-10-25</title>
		<link>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/10/25/weekly-news-digest-2009-10-25/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/10/25/weekly-news-digest-2009-10-25/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tweets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/10/25/weekly-news-digest-2009-10-25/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[An exhibition introducing the Taoist traditions of ethnic people in northern Vietnam opened in Hanoi on October 21. http://bit.ly/3LopcJ #]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>weekly news digest 2009-10-18</title>
		<link>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/10/18/weekly-news-digest-2009-10-18/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/10/18/weekly-news-digest-2009-10-18/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>James Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tweets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/10/18/weekly-news-digest-2009-10-18/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Blogging the conference on eco-aesthetics at Shu Yen University: China’s contribution to sustainable development http://bit.ly/1xCHPj #]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.sustainablechina.info/2009/10/18/weekly-news-digest-2009-10-18/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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