The article is devoted to the Chinese concept of “ecological civilization”, which underlies the modern “green” strategy of the PRC. The prerequisites for its emergence are thoroughly examined: the influence of the international “green” agenda, current environmental problems in China, the background to the formation of an integrated state environmental policy in the PRC. The essence of the “ecological civilization” concept is revealed in terms of the aspiration of the Chinese leadership, on the one hand, to implement its unique approach to the interaction between human society and nature, based on the principles of harmony from traditional Chinese culture, and opposite to the “violent”, hegemonic Western approach; on the other hand – to play a leading role in the current global “green” development within the framework of the “green transition” launched by Western states, while becoming a unifying power for the Third World countries in this direction. In practice, the PRC’s environmental policy, implemented through five-year development plans, has achieved notable success over the past two decades. The combination of caution with pragmatism and pedantry in the political and economic spheres strengthens China’s leadership position in the world. The current political and energy global crisis, which at a deeper level reveals a struggle of ideological and cultural paradigms, the process of establishing a new world order, creates favorable conditions for the realization of the Chinese “ecological civilization” concept, since it contains a harmonizing principle contrary to the “aggressive” approach of man to nature, that has prevailed over the past few centuries and has caused a rough dissonance between the direction of human development and the environment.