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

By putting forward these classics, the CCDI hopes that the eternal family values therein will revive traditional morals that value integrity, and denounce dishonesty.[Photo by Shan Changhua/Asianewsphoto]

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.