China is a heavily polluted country: one-third of its territory has been polluted by acid rain, two-fifths of the main water systems are of poor water quality, 290 major cities don't even reach the lower standards of air quality, and “cancer villages” and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) first occurred in China. The environmental crisis takes place just as China has developed its economy and increased its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Why, with greater finances and technical means, is the environment more effectively destroyed than effectively protected? The use of all material things is directed by men; the Chinese environmental crisis—like other environmental crises—is the result of human activities and practice. Notwithstanding the somewhat recently introduced Western ideology, the ideology orienting Chinese conduct is still, in large part, Confucianism and the folk culture of the peasants.