Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to the construction of socialist ecological civilization, and has insisted on carrying out both practical exploration and theoretical innovation, forming Xi Jinping's Thought on Ecological Civilization. As a major theoretical innovation of the Party, it contains the essence of the excellent traditional Chinese ecological culture and demonstrates the Party's high degree of cultural self-awareness and mission consciousness.

In terms of how we view nature, we have realized a shift in thinking from "the harmony between man and nature" to "the coexistence of man and nature". The "harmony between man and nature" is the dominant thinking and core concept of the Chinese nation on the relationship between man and nature, which has been formed through long-term practice. It is mentioned in the Book of Changes: "The character of a gentleman should be in harmony with the character of heaven and earth, with the light of the sun and the moon, with the order of the seasons, and with the good and bad fortune of the gods and ghosts." As early as the pre-Qin period, the ancients had already elucidated the relationship between human beings and nature from the perspective of virtue, that is, a gentleman with a certain degree of self-cultivation should be in harmony with heaven and earth. Subsequently, both Zhuang Zhou's "Heaven and earth are symbiotic with me, and all things are one with me" and Huishi's "treat all things in the world equally and love everything universally" actually focus on the organic connection between man and nature at the level of unity. Since then, thinkers of all generations have continued this viewpoint. Dong Zhongshu of the Western Han Dynasty put forward the idea that "heaven, earth and human beings are the basis of all things"; Zhang Zai of the Northern Song Dynasty advocated the idea of "love for human beings and all things"; and Wang Shouren, a great Confucian scholar of the Ming Dynasty, advocated the idea that "all things in heaven and earth and human beings are originally as one". After thousands of years of revisiting and interpreting, "the harmony between man and nature" has been infiltrated into the deep structure of Chinese society like a cultural gene.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Party has put forward the more ambitious idea of "Harmonious Coexistence of Human and Nature" in dealing with the problems of nature and society, and implemented it as one of the basic strategies for adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, realizing the inheritance and development of the thinking of "harmony between man and nature ". Based on the height of the rise and fall of civilization and sustainable development, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Nature is the basic condition for human survival and development. Respecting nature, adapting to nature, and protecting nature are inherent requirements for the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country." In the new era of socialist construction, the CPC Central Committee has always adhered to the concept of scientific layout of production space, living space and ecological space, and has promoted the formation of a green development mode. On the basis of rich and diversified practices, the proposition of "Harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature" has overcome the shortcomings of "harmony between man and nature", such as lack of logical clarity in concept and unclear designation, thus deepening the connotation and value of ecological civilization.

In terms of how to utilize nature, we have moved from the idea that "the nine states, famous mountains, rivers and lakes are all used for the production of goods" to the idea that "green water and green mountains are mountains of gold". to the concept of "Green mountains and clear water are equal to mountains of gold and silver." The ancients had a simple cognition on economic value of natural resources. In the Book of Rites, there is a record of "woods, valleys and hills, all of which are places for people to acquire wealth", and in the Statements, it is even pointed out that "the nine states, famous mountains, rivers and lakes are all used to produce wealth". Considering all natural things as inexhaustible wealth, it can be seen that the ancient people's knowledge of nature was extremely direct and simple. At the same time, along with the expansion of production and the diversification of ways of acquiring goods, the ancients gradually realized the evil consequences of asking for nature, for example, Huainanzi believed that if "the forests are burned down to hunt birds and beasts", then "there are no more tall trees on the mountains, and there are no more catalpa trees in the woods", and "the earth will be depleted of its resources". To the middle and late Qing Dynasty, because of the rapid increase in population and the rapid expansion of the reclaimed area, the relationship between man and nature has tensed, the scholar Wang Shiduo issued "the mountains have been planted millet and grain, the river has been an oasis of rice paddies, the valleys have been opened up in the woods, but still not enough to feed the population, which has been the exhaustion of the capacity of heaven and earth!" he lamented. Objectively speaking, traditional China has deeply recognized the great relationship between the protection of nature and the preservation of survival, and has put forward a number of initiatives, but it is very difficult to solve this problem from the height of systems thinking and sustainable development.

On the basis of fruitful local practical experience, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "we must firmly establish and put into practice the concept that green mountains and clear water are equal to mountains of gold and silver, and plan development from the perspective of the harmonious coexistence of human beings and nature". Only through the harmonization of human beings and nature can sustainable development be possible, which inherits the traditional Chinese concept of viewing natural resources as an important part of productive forces, and then raises the understanding of the economic value of natural resources to the level of a national strategy for sustainable economic and social development. Around this important concept, the CPC Central Committee has taken the greening and decarbonization of economic and social development as a key link in achieving high-quality development; emphasized the accelerated promotion of the adjustment and optimization of the industrial structure, energy structure, transportation structure, etc.; repeatedly emphasized that it adheres to the treatment of pollution precisely, scientifically and according to the law, and has continued to fight in-depth for the protection of blue skies, blue water, and clean soil; and has vigorously perfected fiscal, financial, and investment systems in support of green development, price policy and standard system ...... China's ecological environmental protection has undergone historic, turning and overall changes.

At the Symposium on Cultural Inheritance and Development, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "only through a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the history of Chinese civilization can we more effectively promote the creative transformation and innovative development of the outstanding traditional Chinese culture, and more vigorously promote the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics and the building of a modern civilization for the Chinese nation." Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization is the contemporary inheritance and in-depth development of China's excellent traditional ecological culture, a comprehensive reshaping and holistic transcendence of ancient simple ecological concepts and historical practices, and a profound embodiment of the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture in the field of ecological civilization. Looking into the future, it is still a crucial task to deeply refine and summarize the traditional cultural genes embedded in Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization, and to promote practical, institutional and theoretical innovations in accordance with the times and circumstances.