What does China's ancient official morality inspire modern official morality?

Generally speaking, it is generally believed that the official morality in ancient China, that is, the code of conduct of the ancient people in China as officials, is the quality cultivation of ancient officials and reflects the political moral requirements of ancient people. In fact, this understanding is too one-sided. According to the records of ancient books, it can be seen that the official morality in ancient China is not only the professional ethics of ancient officials and politicians, but also covers three aspects: Taoism, morality and law. "Tao" is the way to be an official; "Virtue" is the moral cultivation of officials; "Law" is a regulation on the power of officials. The ancient official morality not only includes the specific moral norms of the ancients for official politics, but also embodies the general plan and system design of the ancients, which has a deeper connotation. If we simply classify the ancient official virtues into the field of political accomplishment or morality, we will not only despise the political wisdom of the ancients, but also underestimate the great ideological value of the ancient official virtues.

Therefore, in a narrow sense, the official morality in ancient China is a specific code of conduct that ancient officials at all levels should abide by in the process of using power and performing official duties, and can be regarded as the professional ethics of ancient officials in politics. If we further analyze the connotation of official morality from a broad perspective, it is not only a specific provision, but also an abstract ruling guiding ideology. Many thinkers and politicians in the history of China have discussed the connotation of official morality from different angles. For example, in the Western Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Gongdan put forward the idea of "knowing morality and being cautious about punishment", thinking that rulers should "match heaven with morality" and realize "protecting the people", and the rulers should govern the country and protect the people through Xiu De, conducting moral administration and teaching morality; In the Spring and Autumn Period, Zheng Guo Zi chan put forward the idea of "combining leniency with severity", and advocated flexible determination of the ruling strategy according to the needs of the social situation, so that tough governance measures and lenient ruling strategies complement each other; In the Western Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu put forward the idea that "morality governs punishment", emphasizing that "morality is the foundation of politics and religion" and "punishment is used for politics and religion". These show the world the profound understanding of "virtue" by ancient thinkers and politicians. As a wise historical and cultural inheritor, we need to broaden our horizons when defining and interpreting the connotation of ancient official virtue.