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| “Governing by Both Virtue and Law”: A Heritage of the Traditional Chinese Legal System |
| Long Daxuan, Zhai Junji |
| School of Administrative Law, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Chongqing 401120, China |
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Abstract On the other hand, the tradition of “governing by both virtue and law” also demonstrates another salient feature, namely, innovation that keeps pace with the times. Following the formal launch of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, the relationship between virtue and law has entered the fourth stage in Chinese legal history, known as the “innovation stage”, ushering in a number of changes, the most prominent of which is primarily reflected in the Chinese character of “合” as in “德法合治”: while in the past the relationship between virtue and law was characterized by “collaborative” s with the rule of law and the rule of virtue complementing and enhancing each other. With this new shift in connotation of the character “合”, the strategy of “governing by both virtue and law” in the new era has achieved innovative development with contemporary characteristics in terms of connotation, relationship, purpose, and methodology. Firstly, the connotations of virtue and law have evolved from being “singular” to “pluralistic”. Secondly, the relationship between humans and law has shifted from the assumption of “There are men who bring order to the state, but no laws and regulations can naturally generate order” (i.e., capable people should take precedence over laws and regulations) in the past to the new idea that capable people and well-developed laws are both important and indispensable. Thirdly, the purpose of governance has transitioned from being “for the ruler” to “for the people”. Lastly, the governance approach has moved from being “contradictory” to “unified”, making it possible to achieve genuine “integration” of virtue and law that better aligns with contemporary needs in governance.The novelty and innovation of this paper in terms of exploration into “governing by both virtue and law” are primarily reflected in the following aspects. Firstly, there is an innovation in research perspective, as this paper explores the connotation and relationship of “governing by both virtue and law” from the perspectives of virtue, rites, law and punishment. Secondly, this paper provides a new interpretation of the traditional governance approach underlying the idea of “governing by both virtue and law”, and delves into the insight offered by the approach, i.e., comprehensive governance, and proposes that the four aspects of the governance approach, namely, enrichment, education, uniformity, and equilibrium, constitute a comprehensive and logically self-consistent governance model from the inside out. Finally, this paper summarizes the innovative development of the idea, “governing by both virtue and law” in the new era, and guided by the shift in the connotation of the Chinese character “合” in the context of “governing by both virtue and law”, seeks to sort out how the character has innovatively evolved from the traditional meaning of “cooperation” to “integrating the rule of law with the rule of virtue”.The traditional Chinese legal system, one of the five major legal systems in the world, encompasses various heritages of the traditional Chinese law accumulated in the ideological, institutional, and cultural development of China over the centuries. As an integral part of the traditional Chinese legal system, the idea of “governing by both virtue and law” (in Chinese, 德法合治, i.e., integrating the rule of virtue with the rule of law) represents a comprehensive approach to governance that has been followed by the Chinese people for thousands of years, exhibiting two distinctive features, namely, historical continuity and innovativeness that keeps abreast of the times.As an important heritage of traditional Chinese law, “governing by both virtue and law” is an epitome of historical continuity. Formation of this tradition roughly went through three main stages: it was born during the Three Ancient Dynasties (the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties), had its infancy during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and attained maturity during the prosperous Han and Tang Dynasties. This tradition embodies profound connotations and abundant governance wisdom. In terms of connotation, “governing by both virtue and law” manifests itself in four means of governance: virtue, rites, law and punishment, among which, “virtue” refers to ethical values, “rites” denotes obligational norms, “law” represents legal prohibitions, while “punishment” signifies sanctions. The four elements mutually reinforce and interconnect, with virtue being the value connotation of rites and punishment serving as the means to implement law. In terms of coercive power, the four elements are arranged in an ascending order: rites is stronger than virtue, while law is stronger than rites, and punishment outweighs law. In contrast, viewed from the perspective of governance effectiveness, the four elements demonstrates a descending pattern: virtue is superior to rites, while rites outperforms law, and finally law is better than punishment. In terms of internal logical relations among the four, rites guarantees the enlightenment offered by virtue, law ensures regulation by means of rites, and punishment safeguards the implementation of law, with each subsequent element serving as guarantee for the preceding one. In terms of governance wisdom, “governing by both virtue and law” primarily includes four focal points that serves as four dimensions of governance: “enrichment” “education” “regulation” and “equilibrium”. “Enrichment” means to enrich the people, which aims at improving people’s living standards and thereby objectively weaken the material basis of crime; “education” means to instruct the people, which involves constructing a value system that properly distinguishes between right and wrong and guides the people towards goodness and gives them a sense of shame so that they will not do anything evil, thereby subjectively reducing criminal motives. “Regulation” means to educate or teach the people, so as to establish a comprehensive normative system to externally regulate the people’s behaviors, thus ensuring social harmony and stability. Last but not the least, “equilibrium” calls for the formulation and implementation of laws, which must reflect the emotional and reasonable demands of the people, pursue a proper balance among natural justice, national laws, and human sentiments, thus achieving seamless unity of legal effects and social effects.
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Received: 13 July 2023
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2025, Vol. 55 
