Environmental Equity in China and Beyond

‘Environmental Equity in China and Beyond is a compelling work on planetary care. Through a deft interweaving of philosophical critique and legal insight, Nylan and Hahn reveal the limits of legal architectures rooted in short-sighted possessive individualism—frameworks that have long shaped our relationship to the earth. In their place, they evoke traditions—especially Chinese cosmologies and Confucian ethics—that embrace continuity, interdependence, and cultivation across generations. This book is a call for systemic change, an invitation to reimagine governance as a practice of collective stewardship, where autonomy is tempered by responsibility and the future is held with reverence. It is a work of urgent wisdom for an age of ecological peril—demanding human maturity and offering essential insight for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers committed to forging a livable future.’ – Professor Peimin Ni * Professor of Philosophy, Grand Valley State University, USA *

Michael Nylan is Professor of the Early History of China at the University of California in Berkeley, USA. She is one of the world’s most prolific specialists of research into the early Chinese dynasties. Her books include the classic The Five ‘Confucian’ Classics (2001), China’s Early Empires (2010 with Michael Loewe) and more recently The Chinese Pleasure Book (2018) as well as the translation of Sunzi’s The Art of War (2022). Nylan edits the ongoing series Classics of Chinese Thought.

Thomas Hahn is a sinologist and cultural geographer, based in the US. Retired from Cornell and from occasional teaching at the University of California in Berkeley, he has over 40 years of fieldwork experience in China. His publications reflect research on Chinese gazetteers, the Grand Canal as a UNESCO World heritage Site; and religious communities, especially those based in China’s rural and mountainous areas.