Vital role of family virtues in governance

In the early 1980s, Xi Jinping, then secretary of the Communist Party of China Zhengding County Committee in Hebei province, lived in an office that often felt damp. On sunny days, he would air out his bedding — a cotton-padded mattress patched together with scraps of old clothing.

His colleagues once jokingly counted the dozens of patches, and offered to make a new one for him. Xi replied that he would rather keep it, as it still served him well.

He explained that the mattress had been hand-stitched by his mother, and it had accompanied him since his teenage years, when he left home to work in rural Shaanxi province.

To Xi, it was not merely stitching bedding but a testament to the frugality and deep familial devotion his mother had instilled in him — a tangible link to his roots and their family traditions.

Decades later, President Xi shared a similar story of profound family bonds when addressing the 2015 Spring Festival gathering at the Great Hall of the People.

He cited a Tang Dynasty (618-907) poem, in which a mother sews a garment for her son stitch by stitch before he leaves home, to illustrate how the Chinese tradition of strong family ties has remained unchanged throughout history.

In both the poem and his own story, Xi saw the same thread of familial love. He said that since ancient times, the Chinese people have attached great value to family and kinship.

"No matter how the times change, or how our lives are transformed, we must remain committed to making our families better, laying emphasis on life, learning and conduct in the home," he said.

Wang Fang, an associate professor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Sociology, said, "China's focus on the role of family stems from a social structure that takes its roots from kinship, and a cultural tradition that views family governance as the foundation of national governance."

She said: "The family bears its emotional, social and economic responsibilities. Within this framework, family education is the process of moral instruction. The establishment of family values, which pertains to the governance of conduct and intergenerational transmission, is the result of this process."

When meeting with representatives of National Model Families in 2016, Xi highlighted family values both as a vital moral strength and as a precious legacy for future generations.

He lauded the model families' exemplary conduct, and said, "We must enhance civility in Chinese families and make it an important foundation for the country's development, progress and social harmony."

The importance of civility in family life finds vivid expression in Liuchi Alley in Tongcheng, Anhui province. For more than 300 years, this narrow alley — which came into being during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) after two neighbors moved back their walls each by a meter to resolve a dispute over property boundaries — has stood as a monument to turning family virtues of humility and modesty into neighborhood comity and harmony.

In October 2024, Xi visited the alley, drawing a direct line from this historical anecdote to modern social governance. He instructed that the site should serve as an educational venue to promote traditional virtues such as courtesy and harmony, which are essential for a stable and harmonious society.

This historical wisdom remains relevant today. The alley's legacy has inspired cultural exhibitions on courtesy and humility, and a mediation method bearing its name has been promoted nationwide as a model for resolving disputes.

This local narrative is, in fact, part of a broader, concerted national endeavor to strengthen family bonds, education and values. This is evidenced by initiatives such as honoring nearly 1,600 National Model Families over the past decade, rolling out campaigns to promote family virtues and enacting the Family Education Promotion Law.

A key milestone was reached in October 2022, when "fostering stronger family ties, values and traditions" was incorporated into the report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC as a lever to enhance civility throughout society.

"This represents a significant turning point, as the cultivation of family ties, education and values has evolved from a private family matter to a matter of national governance," said Wang of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Yang Chaoming, a professor at Shandong University's Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies, said he views the relationship between family and national governance as an organic whole.

"Family constitutes the basic unit of society and provides the moral bedrock for national governance," he said, explaining that harmonious families cultivate virtuous, responsible citizens, and fine family traditions nurture a healthier social ethos, collectively reducing the costs of public governance.

"Sound national governance, in turn, underpins the family through public services and supportive policies, such as elder care and education, thus safeguarding family harmony," he added.

In Party governance, as Xi has stressed, the family values of officials are fundamental to nurturing clean Party and government conduct. A story from 1963, frequently recounted by him, encapsulates this.

Jiao Yulu, then Party secretary of Lankao county in Henan province, discovered that his son had gained free entry to a theater by taking advantage of his position. Recognizing the gravity of this misconduct, Jiao accompanied his son the next day to pay for the ticket and then established the "Ten Don'ts" discipline code for officials, turning the incident into a lasting lesson on integrity.

Xi once met with Jiao's son and told him that the story had left a deep impression on him, exemplifying the rigorous self-discipline and principled family governance that Xi deeply admires.

He has repeatedly stressed that "the family culture of officials will have an impact not only on their own families, but also on the Party and the government". That explains why he holds the family values of Jiao and other model officials in high esteem.

In contrast, corruption cases involving family members or relatives of officials acting as conduits for bribery often expose the destructive role of familial collusion, revealing how eroded family culture can lead to gross abuse of power.

Such cases not only ruin individual careers but also undermine the political ecosystem, public trust and the Party's ruling foundation, said Zhou Liangshu, a professor at Peking University's School of Marxism.

He emphasized that eroded family values are often a root cause for officials to violate discipline and laws, whereas sound family values serve as a crucial "firewall" against corruption.