China Focus: China recalls the values of the past to treat today's ills

Classical Chinese poetry has become the latest addition to the armory of frontline authorities in their war on corruption.

This month, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) posted 40 traditional Chinese family aphorisms on their microblog as recommended reading for Communist Party of China officials.

Written by poets, thinkers and philosophers, these classic texts, some more than 1,000 years old, have survived the test of time through both their wisdom and their literary grace.

For time immemorial, "family instructions" written by wise and respected forebears have been used by Chinese parents to enlighten their children. These charters used clean, simple words to set a code of conduct in the home and in society at large. All big families once had "ancestral halls" where they gathered on occasion to honor virtue and punish transgression, according to the norms set by these documents.

As war and revolution overthrew the feudal system, the rituals and traditions of ancestor worship fell by the wayside. Seen as oppressive remnants of an antiquated culture, many family doctrines were lost.

Wang Donglin, head of the cultural institute at Jiangxi Normal University, said the CCDI recommendation was a sign that traditional family values still had a role to play today. All of the recommended texts emphasize duty, filial piety, integrity and loyalty.

"Throughout history, families have passed on Confucian and Taoist ideologies as the norms of domestic and public life," he said.

By putting forward these classics, the CCDI hopes that the eternal family values therein will revive traditional morals that value integrity, and denounce dishonesty. Very few corruption convictions have been of lone officials acting alone. Almost invariably corruption is seen by the perpetrators as way of enriching the entire family.

One of the CCDI choices, a 300-character treatise by 12th century philosopher Zhu Xi, tells parents to be amiable and children to be devoted; older brothers ought to be friendly while younger brothers should be respectful. Don't harbor grudges. Don't be jealous.

Of the 22 members of the Zhu family who held ranks higher than county chief, none had their reputation tainted by corruption, according to historical sources.

Zhu Yuquan, an education official in east China's Jiangxi Province, is a descendant of Zhu Xi. He described a memorial arch built by three members of the Zhu family in the 14th century.

"When important things, good or bad, happen, a family gathering is held under the arch to examine the events through the lens of the norms in the family instruction. We do this to urge younger relatives to toe the family line under the supervision of us all," he said. "I feel connected to my ancestors by these axioms, which extend our family values back nearly a thousand years."

Zhu Xi's political career only lasted nine years, but in that time he earned a reputation that has lasted until today for seeking justice for common people while refusing to surrender to vested interests.

In Gandong, Zhu Yuquan's hometown, when a new village hall was built in 2015, 80 families had their own maxims painted on the walls. Such wisdom in a public venue can only nurture morals and breed a better society.

"The hall reminds me of the old ancestral hall at home, in a time when everyone respected family instructions as the most basic of values. People should feel shame and guilt when their behavior is considered immoral," he said. Endi