There was no industrial pollution in ancient China, so why did China have laws to protect mountains, rivers and rivers?

Although there was no industrial pollution in ancient times, people's lives were highly dependent on nature. For food and clothing, they directly obtained resources from nature. People cut down trees to build houses and drank river water. etc., they have realized that these resources and life are closely related, so they have developed the awareness of protecting the environment. However, the environmental awareness at that time was relatively narrow. People only knew about moderation but not recycling.

In ancient times, those who dared to damage the environment and violate environmental protection regulations would be punished very cruelly, which sounds very scary. As early as the Yin and Shang Dynasties, if someone was found dumping household garbage such as plant ash on the road, they would be punished by having their palms chopped off.

King Wen of the Western Zhou Dynasty once issued a wartime environmental protection regulation - the "Fa Chong Order". Anyone who did not implement it would be executed. At the same time, it was stipulated that no pardon could be granted because of intercession. The "Fighting Chong Order" clearly stipulates that anyone is strictly prohibited from burying wells, cutting down trees, destroying houses, etc.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the State of Qi strictly stipulated that during the period when the mountains and forests were closed, people were strictly prohibited from entering. If anyone openly disobeyed, one of his feet would be chopped off. As for whether to chop off the left foot or the right foot, it was decided Let's see which foot enters the forest first. This is much more severe than the "Fighting Chong Order" of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

During the Tang and Song dynasties, people who burned straw and dead grass at will would be punished with "whipping" if they were discovered, with whips, wooden sticks, and bamboo boards being used to spank their buttocks or backs fifty times; those who stole forest trees , according to the crime of theft, he will be beaten with a hundred big sticks; if he digs his own filthy garbage and waste water into the streets and alleys, he will be severely punished with at least sixty sticks.

During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, a man in Xinjiang County built a house privately along the river for his own benefit and destroyed the water source for irrigating fertile fields. He was punished with a cane. At that time, the names of those who destroyed the environment would be engraved on stone tablets, just like the modern naming and criticism, made public and criticized by thousands of people.