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The 'Zhongzheng Way' of Traditional Chinese Legal Culture

2025-08-08   

Chinese excellent traditional culture emphasizes the "impartiality" of individual emotions and behaviors, opposes extreme and biased "over" or "under" actions, and promotes harmonious interpersonal relationships and stable social order. Based on this idea, traditional Chinese legal culture advocates that the formulation and implementation of laws should be moderate in content and standards, and through the principle of "upholding the law with moderation", construct a political order and social justice that is in line with the national conditions, and achieve the legal "middle right path" from "middle" to "right". The Confucian classic "Book of Documents" records the "Sixteen Character Heart Transmission", which is regarded as one of the essence of Chinese culture by later generations: "The human heart is in danger, the Dao heart is only subtle, and the essence is unique. It is essential to uphold the principles of justice and righteousness." The "human heart" is variable and uncertain, and the "Dao heart" is delicate and difficult to observe. The human heart, as the nature of human beings and the behaviors and behaviors based on this nature, varies from person to person and is constantly changing; The concept of 'Dao Xin' as the origin of the world and the principle of society is profound, subtle, and difficult to discover and understand. The governance of a country involves both guiding and controlling human nature and behavior, as well as exploring and applying the principles of the world and social norms. It must adhere to the principle of impartiality and righteousness. By maintaining the stability and moderation of the "human heart" through "tolerance and restraint", understanding and practicing the core and essence of the "Dao heart", we can achieve the unity of the "human heart" and the "Dao heart" as a whole, and thus achieve the basic goals of governing the country - order and justice. Confucius emphasized the principle of 'too much is not enough', opposed 'too much' and 'too little', and held a negative attitude towards the two extremes of individual thought and behavior. The Book of Rites, following the ideas of "upholding the principles of moderation" and "not exceeding the limits", deepens them into universal principles for national governance and interpersonal relationships, and proposes the concept of "upholding both ends and using the middle for the people". Through the inheritance and promotion of the Two Dynasties of the Northern Song Dynasty and Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty, the "Sixteen Character Heart Transmission" has become the essence of "Neo Confucianism" and the core content of the mainstream ideology of the country and society. The idea of "upholding the principles of integrity and perseverance" described in the "Sixteen Character Heart Transmission" has had a profound impact on ancient Chinese state management, social governance, institutional construction, and the formulation and implementation of laws. Traditional Chinese law focuses on safeguarding imperial power and centralization, as well as upholding patriarchal ethics, and punishes serious crimes such as infringement of imperial power and centralization, and infringement of patriarchal ethics with severe punishments and laws. At the same time, in terms of general adjustment of social relations and regulation of individual behavior, we adhere to the principle of "moderation", promote the moderation of corresponding social subject relationships, facilitate the moderation of individual behavior among officials and people, and adhere to the legal "way of moderation" from "moderation" to "correctness". The task of moderate legal subject relationships is to regulate and adjust various social relationships. When regulating ordinary social relations, the law usually simultaneously determines the rights and obligations of both parties involved. Based on the principle of "upholding the law with restraint", ancient Chinese law emphasized that when regulating the rights and obligations of two corresponding subjects, either party must act moderately, and even when exercising statutory rights, they must not exceed certain boundaries. Through moderate behavior, promote moderate subject relationships. In terms of specific methods, it is often necessary to set the rights of both parties or one party, as well as the "but a clause" boundary, in the same legal norm, so that the rights and boundaries of both parties are relative and clear, which is not only conducive to the parties' compliance, but also facilitates the execution of officials at all levels. Establishing a moderate subject relationship is first manifested in the rights and obligations relationship between respecting the elderly and belittling the young. The ancient Chinese law constructed social order and maintained social stability through a hierarchical identity system. In family relationships, the law focuses on protecting the rights and status of elders and granting them special rights in terms of identity, property, and other aspects. However, the law also stipulates that the exercise of rights by respecting elders must be moderate, not exceed relevant boundaries, and not infringe upon the basic rights of the corresponding subjects, such as "inferior children". Taking property rights as an example, the laws of Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties all stipulated that the right to dispose of family property was exercised by the parents. The unauthorized use of property by a child without the permission of their parents constitutes the crime of 'unauthorized use of property by a child'. At the same time, the law also sets up the crime of "unequal distribution of family property based on respect for elders", requiring elders to lead the distribution of family property, and must maintain "equality" without unequal distribution, otherwise their behavior also constitutes a crime. In this way, within the same legal provision, a bottom line prohibiting sexual behavior is set for two corresponding subjects. Through the two charges of "private use of property by inferior children" and "unequal distribution of family and property by superior children", it emphasizes that as corresponding social subjects, neither party can exercise their rights beyond a certain "degree" and must each hold the bottom line of "tolerance", otherwise they must bear legal responsibility. In the agricultural society dominated by small-scale farming economy, the contradiction between gentry landlords and tenant farmers has always existed. As a landlord, I hope to increase my own income by raising land rent, and often use my economic advantage to oppress tenants. As tenants, due to natural disasters, improper farming, family changes, and other reasons, it is inevitable to default on rent payments, and even group incidents of rebellion against landlord oppression may occur. In the Qing Dynasty, the law set a "degree" for these two types of subjects: "Any local gentry who privately set up boards and sticks, or arbitrarily blame tenants, shall be punished according to the violation of the law. The supervisor shall remove their clothing and 80 sticks, and they shall be allowed to redeem them according to the usual practice... until there are traitors and stubborn tenants who owe rent classes or bully the landlord, 80 sticks shall be used; the amount of rent owed shall be recovered to the landlord." According to this regulation, both parties shall not violate the law by oppressing or delaying payment, otherwise it shall constitute a crime and each party shall bear criminal responsibility. In the imperial examination system of the Qing Dynasty, the township examination was a provincial-level examination held every three years, and students who had passed both the annual and subject examinations were eligible to participate. During the annual exam, candidates from various states and counties in the province gathered in the provincial capital. At this time, different areas of the provincial capital, especially the service industries such as housing rental, inns and taverns, food trading, and rickshaw pullers near the examination center, are also experiencing a surge in foot traffic. During this period, disputes often arise between candidates and merchants due to fee standards, service quality, and other factors. Jiangxi Province has formulated local laws requiring fair trade in the service industry in relevant areas of the provincial capital. This law stipulates that during the Autumn Festival, all merchants in the city, including homeowners, shopkeepers, inns, etc., should engage in fair transactions and not arbitrarily lower prices when encountering candidates who hire boats, rent houses, or purchase food. If anyone bullies the weak or commits fraud, Xu Bensheng will report it to the authorities and the local officials will strictly investigate and punish them. This regulation focuses on restraining merchants from bullying scholars in terms of service and price. This clause immediately stipulates that 'all students should cherish their achievements and reputation, and also love their own cauldron. They should not provoke others just because of small tips.' Candidates who participate in the township examination are required to take the exam seriously and not cause trouble due to minor price issues. The basic spirit is to constrain both parties separately and require each to uphold their bottom line of behavior. In short, ancient legislators paid attention to preventing the side effects of law enforcement, preventing "over" and "under", and preventing the occurrence of another inappropriate behavior due to the prohibition of one behavior. Integrating the rights and obligations of two corresponding subjects into one legal norm, so that actors can understand the "degree" of their claimed rights while asserting and exercising them, and clarify the boundaries of their exercised rights, in order to achieve the "middle way" of "upholding justice". Moderate individual behavior is based on the principle of "tolerance and restraint", and ancient Chinese law regulates the behavior of individuals in society, including officials and people. For officials, their performance of duties must be moderate, and special attention should be paid to preventing them from overstepping their boundaries under the guidance of negative performance views. For example, ancient laws severely punished the sale of illegal salt. The laws of the Qing Dynasty granted relevant officials many powers in the inspection of illegal salt, including the ability to punish a large number of illegal salt traders, which could be rewarded as political achievements and used as a basis for promotion to higher positions. At the same time, legislators consider that while this regulation can encourage officials to actively take action and inspect private salt, it may also be exploited by unscrupulous officials, leading to excessive use of inspection power and resulting in inappropriate behavior under a negative view of political achievements. Therefore, the law also stipulates that officials at all levels shall not excessively inspect private salt in order to obtain political achievements, including treating some poor people in salt producing areas who carry a small amount of salt on their shoulders to exchange for rice and grain to make a living as private salt traders and subjecting them to interrogation. Otherwise, relevant officials shall be subject to administrative penalties. For example, in the judicial system of the Qing Dynasty, the Ministry of Justice, as one of the central judicial levels, was responsible for reviewing and re examining death penalty, exile cases, and imprisonment cases involving human lives reported by local provinces. The review and reexamination activities of the Ministry of Justice are presided over by the officials of the Ministry of Justice, but in reality, they are specifically responsible by the officials of the Ministry of Justice, such as the Chief Justice of the Qing Dynasty and the Chief Justice of the Yuan Dynasty. In order to encourage officials to carefully review and identify misjudgments, the law stipulates that officials of the Ministry of Justice who discover errors in the proposed judgment opinions of cases reported by provinces and reject them for retrial and correct them shall be rewarded with a commendation: for each case involved, a record shall be made. In order to prevent officials of the Ministry of Justice from improperly using this provision based on a negative view of political achievements, and even abusing their power of rebuttal, the law also stipulates that if there are no major mistakes in the factual determination, legal application, evidence collection, and other aspects of cases reported by local and provincial authorities, and "officials arbitrarily refute", relevant officials will be subject to disciplinary action. Besides officials, the words and actions of ordinary people must also be moderate. Traditional legal culture advocates that individual behavior should be peaceful and pragmatic, not extreme, and even if it conforms to mainstream values, it must be maintained within reasonable limits. For example, traditional society advocates filial piety among descendants and women's observance of festivals, and includes such filial piety activities in the scope of legal regulation, giving positive legal consequences to relevant parties. According to regulations, the government should give commendations and promote filial piety and women's chastity towards their children and grandchildren. But if something that is legal and ethical goes beyond the norm, it may be illegal and unethical. As in the traditional "Twenty Four Filial Piety", there are sayings such as "cutting one's own thigh to heal one's loved ones" and "lying on ice seeking carp", and in civil society, there are often extreme ways to rescue family members. For such behavior, promoting it in the process of moral education is still considered "reasonable"; But in law, it cannot be fully attributed to "reasonableness", let alone actual advocacy. Therefore, based on the need to build a healthy social order and adjust normal social relations, the law has set certain "limits" on the behavior of "filial piety" and imposed necessary restrictions to prevent negative impacts on society caused by the extreme behavior of "filial piety". During the reigns of Shunzhi, Kangxi, and Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty, the emperors issued several imperial edicts setting limits on the practice of "filial piety"; Officials at all levels have also clarified the degree of "filial piety" behavior from administrative management, judicial trials, and other aspects. As recorded in the Qing Dynasty's "Code of Conduct", several imperial edicts were issued to prohibit extreme "filial piety" behaviors. During the reign of Emperor Shunzhi, it was determined that ordinary acts of filial piety would be rewarded with commendations, but at the same time, it was stipulated that "commendations" were not allowed for acts such as "cutting off shares" and "lying on ice" to save relatives, in order to prevent "ignorant people from imitating". During the Yongzheng reign, Li Shengshan, a native of Fujian, cut off his own liver to save his sick mother. After his mother recovered from her illness, Li Shengshan died of liver injury. The governor of Fujian submitted a memorial to the court, suggesting that a commendation be given to Li Shengshan. In response, the Ministry of Rites proposed that "cutting the liver is an example of a commoner committing foolish filial piety without proper commendation, and should not be allowed." Emperor Yongzheng considered Li Shengshan's special behavior and specially allowed him to be commended, but at the same time emphasized that "one should not be ignorant and mistakenly violate filial piety, and for the sake of righteousness, one should not destroy righteousness; Whether for the martyr's daughter or

Edit:Luo yu Responsible editor:Zhou shu

Source:GMW.cn

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