China's Official Virtue Construction In The New Period

In contemporary China， the leading cadres， who execute the power on behalfof the people， constitute the main body of the highest level of the moral practice.They lead and organize various social affairs， including the construction of politics，economic， cultural， social and ecological. In this sense， the official virtue is themoral quality and moral standards when they excute the public power. The officialvirtue plays a leading role in the social morality. The core of the official virtue is howto use the power rightly. Therefore， the moral construction of the leading cadres isnot only an important part of socialist moral construction， but also an importantaspect of the ruling ability of the Communist Party of China in the new period.When we consider the research results about the construction of official virtue ofthe scholars in recent years， we can find that the main tendency of the research onthe moral construction is forward to the theory construction， which includes theconnotation， the characteristics， the function， the basic norms of the virtue andthe basic counter measures. Though the combiniation of the theory with the practice isthe academic consensus， the research methods and the achievements of the practiceis relatively inferior. In order to provide a theoretical basis of the further study for thepractical problems of the official morals， the research of the official virtueconstruction， on one hand， should play the guiding role of the theory， on the otherhand， should study the cultivation mechanism and operation mechanism of theofficial morality. At the same time， in order to deepen the study of the official virtueconstruction， we must absorb the ideological resources of the moral life and moralknowledge from practice in the history. Among these resourses， the core of theofficial virtue was “rule by virtue” in the ancient Chinese， which advocated toconstraint the power by the virtue. In Western， based on the thorey of the original sinof the Christian doctrine and the thorey of the evil of the human nature， theconstruction of the official virtue advocat the rule of law which restrict the power bythe institutions. The construction theory of the official virtue of Marx and Engelsprovides a theoretical basis for Chinese official virtue construction in the new period.The construction theory and practice of the Communist Party of China is thelogical starting point of the official virtue of the new period.On one hand, they notonly provide rich thought resources and theory guidance for us to think about theofficial moral construction of contemporary China， but also provide an inexhaustible force for the further development of official morality construction in our country．TheCommunist Party of China has always paid attention to the moral construction whichhas become an important weapon for the leading cadre education. They haveestablished a system of moral construction theories which include of the establishmentof the basic moral code， the deepening of the specific content of moral constructionand flexible methods of application. Since the reform and opening up， the rapidlysocial modern change was the total sources which caused various social problemsincluding the anomie of official morality in contemporary China. The main feature ofChinese social transition period is that the old system，the old order and old ideas hasbeen broken while the new system， the new order and the new concept has not yetformed. Due to the absence of supervision system， the negative influence of marketeconomy， the multi-level cultural conflicts and the failure of ideological and moraleducation， the virtue of the leader official become anomie. The mental laches，corruption， formalism and bureaucracy and hedonism have caused many negativeeffects to China’s economic and social development. To solve this problem， thecontemporary social transformation must be carefully considered in the macroscopichistorical background of China.The combination of the official virtue construction with the solution of theanomie of official morality will manifest the theory value and practice meaning. Inother words， to solve the anomie problems of official morality scientifically， itdepends on the scientifical target of official virtue construction， the establishment ofsocialist official moral standards system， the education and accumulation of modernvalue concept， the design and implementation of the institutions， as well as theincreasement of moral level of the citizens and leaders. Specifically， in the newperiod， the official moral construction should include some aspect as the follows.First of all， the scientific goal for the construction of official virtue should beestablished. In order to improve the scientific level of the official virtue construction，three aspects should be done. The first is to realize the scientization of the officialvirtue construction theory; the second is to perfect the construction of the educationsystem， the supervision system， the prevention and the punishment system in theofficial morals system construction; the third is the scientific methods of the virtueconstruction which includ of the inheritance and innovation of the success methodsand following the mechanism of the moral formation. Secondly， the principle of the official virtue construction should be established. There are three principles should beadhered in the new period: serveing the people， seeking truth from facts andcollectivism. Thirdly，the norm system of official morality should be established bythe different areas in which the leading cadres exercise the power. Any moralconstruction has a standard problem. Generally， the connotation of official virtue isclosely related to the function of the government and official， as a result， theofficial virtue is a kind of political morality in essence. Due to the scope which theleading cadres excute the power covers almost all the fields in the social life， theleading cadres has different official virtues in different fields. Therefore， in the fieldof political construction， the norm of the leading cadres is loyalty to the country anddiligent for the people. In the field of economic construction， the norm of the leadingcadres is honest and uprightness．In the field of cultural construction，the norm of theleading cadres is compatible. In the field of social construction， the norm of theleading cadres is impartial．In the field of ecological construction， the norm of theleading cadres is harmonious coexistence．Finally， the path of the construction ofofficial virtue should be put forward. The virtue is the unity of social rules andindividual morality.In a sense，the paths of the official moral construction include theinstitutional guarantee， moral education， self-improvement and environmentaledification. Therefore， the official virtue construction in the new period， shouldbe the integration of the education， system， supervision and cultivate oneself. Onone hand， the role of moral soft constraints should be explored effective by thecombination of the moral education mechanism and moral evaluation mechanism. Onthe other hand， in order to enhance the authority and binding of official moralitynorms， the power of the institution should be explored actively to guarantee therealization of the official virtue.