The basic principles of Western Zhou ritual rule are

The basic principles of the Western Zhou's rule of etiquette were: pro and pro, honor and respect.

The so-called "kissing" means to kiss one's relatives, to differentiate between noble and lowly according to the patriarchal relationship of blood, so that those who are close to one another are noble and those who are distant are lowly; one must be dear to one's relatives, especially one's honored relatives, and to be kind to one's father, filial to one's son, and friendly to one's brother, and respectful to one's disciples. The so-called "Zunzun" means to honor what is honored, and all those who are in high positions are honored, and those who are in low positions should honor their superiors.

"Zunzun" means to honor what is honored, to respect and love one's elders, which is relative to inferiority, and regulates not only the relationship between father and son, husband and wife, but also, and more importantly, the relationship between the ruler and the ministers, the nobility, and the nobility and the commoners. There is no one more honorable than the ruler, and the subject must be loyal to the ruler. Kissing is the basis of honoring, and kissing is for honoring.

Slaves and commoners must obey the slave-owning nobles, the lower nobles must obey the higher nobles, and all subjects must obey the Son of Heaven, and no disobedience is allowed. The basic feature of the Western Zhou's rule of etiquette is that "the rites are not inferior to those of the common people, and the punishment is not for the great masters". The so-called "rites of passage" means that the rites were used to regulate the internal relations of the slave-owning aristocracy, and slaves and commoners were not allowed to enjoy them.

The so-called "punishment is not for the great masters" means that the sharpness of the punishment is directed at the slaves and commoners, not at the slave-owning aristocracy. The Western Zhou was the third slave state in China's history, and its founding king was King Wu of Zhou. The last king of the Xia Dynasty, Jie, and the last king of the Shang Dynasty, Zhou, both led to the downfall of their countries because of their brutality.

So the Western Zhou summed up the lessons of the previous dynasty, adapted to the new situation, and carried out a major reform of the legal system, reaching the most complete state of development of the slave law, which became the blueprint of the traditional Chinese legal system. The Western Zhou's development of a complete rule of law and the ritual order it constructed had a profound impact on the Western Zhou and even on traditional Chinese society in later times.

As the most basic rules of the society, such as "kissing", "honoring" and so on, the common people must abide by the rites. The so-called "punishment is not for the great masters" does not mean that the nobles above the great masters will not be punished, but it means that people above the great masters who commit crimes can be given certain privileges under certain conditions, for example, not to be executed with corporal punishment, or not to be executed in the downtown area but to be executed in the outskirts of the city.