Rule the Country by Virtue

It is an important aspect of governance and administration of state affairs combined with law-based governance. It attaches great importance to the normative role of morality on citizens’ behavior, and regards raising the ideological and moral awareness of members of society as an important means to maintain social order and regulate people’s thoughts and behaviors. The idea of rule of virtue has a long history in our country, and the rulers of the past dynasties have attached importance to the role of moral education and moral probation in maintaining their institutional order. The concept of the rule of virtue of the socialism with Chinese characteristics, guided by Marxism, was formed on the basis of inheriting and promoting the fine elements of ancient Chinese rule of virtue and discarding its dross.

Jiang Zemin pointed out in his “Speech at the Central Ideological and Political Work Conference” in June 2000: “Law and morality, as an integral part of the superstructure, are both important means to maintain social order and regulate people's thoughts and behaviors. They are interconnected and complement each other”. The rule of law regulates the behavior of members of society with its authority and compulsory means, and the rule of virtue uses its persuasive power to improve the ideological and moral consciousness of members of society. Ethics and legal norms should be combined with each other and play a unified role. At the National Propaganda Ministers' Meeting in January 2001, he clearly put forward the important idea of “closely combining the rule of law with the rule of virtue”, pointing out that in the process of building socialism with Chinese characteristics and developing a socialist market economy, we must unremittingly strengthen the construction of the legal system and govern the country by law, and at the same time, we must unremittingly strengthen the construction of socialist morals and govern the country by virtue”. At the same time “governing the country by law” and “governing the country by virtue” complement each other.

The rule of law belongs to political construction and political progress; the rule of virtue belongs to ideological construction and cultural and ideological progress. Both are important means to administer the state affairs, govern the society, and regulate the behavior of members of society, and their goals are the same. The implementation of laws must rely on moral support. Only those laws that are ethical and have a deep moral foundation can be consciously followed by more people. Heteronomy must be transformed into self-discipline for a better effect; the law has a strong support and guarantee role for the practice of morality, as it can lead moral trends by forcibly regulating people's behavior and punishing illegal behaviors. When the 4th Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee proposed to build a socialist country ruled by law, it particularly emphasized the integration of the adherence to combination of governing the country by law and virtue as one of the important principles. Governing the country by virtue in contemporary China shall take serving the people as the core, collectivism as the principle, loving the motherland, loving the people, loving labor, loving science, loving socialism as the basic requirements, and social morality, professional ethics, and family virtues and personal morality building as the foothold, and Socialist core value as the main content, forming a socialist ideological system that is compatible with the basic socialist system and market economy operating mechanism, and adapted to the socialist legal system, and making it a code of conduct universally recognized and consciously abided by all people.

The key point in implementing the rule of virtue is that leading cadres selected must have both ability and political integrity. Leading cadres and civil servants must lead by example, earnestly study Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, and the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, firmly establish a correct outlook on the world, power and career, exemplify and practice the core values of socialism, with pure thinking, noble morals, and firm ideals and beliefs, and play an exemplary and leading role in the field of morality. In the comprehensive promotion of the rule of law, we should give full play to the moralizing role of morality, nourish the spirit of the rule of law with morality, and strengthen the supportive role of morality in the culture of the rule of law, so that the authority of the law can gain the support and sincere belief of the people, and be truly observed by the people.