National Mental Road With Chinese Characteristics And The Rule Of Law

National mentality refers to the rather stable social psychological character and mental state for most members of a nation. With long term work of both natural and social surroundings, the national mentality is formed in the historical cultural heritage. A nation develops in its unique course as its national mentality differs. As the superstructure, the development of law is considerably affected by its national mentality which largely determines the diversification of laws around the world and the application of them. The national mentality in the west meets the requirements of the law order, so the concept of law in the west is widely accepted by its citizens. In China, the national mentality is still affected by the orthodox ideas, and it presents as the moralized citizen social spirit, preference of peace over argument, and obedience to the authority of "great emperors and wise prime ministers." The national mentality has a great impact on the development of law in that moral mediation functions better than law, settlement of disputes are diversified and that the government plays a too important role in dispute solving and promotion of law development.In the course of the construction of modern law-ruling country, we need to attach importance to the construction of legal system as well as the cultivation of the national mentality and social mechanism. The law-ruling country reform is supposed to take it into consideration that the traditional culture and the present social living conditions determine the national mentality, which in turn decides the pace of the reform. Only when state of the Chinese national mentality is considered can we draw up law that's to the need of both society and its members so they will abide by it. At this basis, a set of social norms with distinctive Chinese characteristics will be put up including the state law and folk law. Meanwhile, in certain aspects the traditional national mentality needs to be reformed as it is a hindrance to the law advancing. The belief in law and habit of law application must be fostered for the Chinese citizens so that the national mentality can meet the requirement of modern law-ruling country and take a positive role in the process. In a word, on the way to the law-ruling country with Chinese characteristics we need to take the influences of national mentality into consideration and blend it with modern ideas in law building.