First, the consanguineous society and the rule of virtue in ancient China.
When talking about the characteristics of China ancient society, many researchers agree that China ancient society is a blood society. Fei Xiaotong's view that the local China society is a blood society in Native China has become the theoretical starting point for various disciplines to study the characteristics of ancient China society. In his masterpiece China Law and China Society, Mr. Qu Tongzu, a jurist, explained the basic spirit of China traditional law from the perspective of family and marriage, and also emphasized the role and influence of consanguinity in China traditional society, and explained that China society is a typical consanguinity society from the perspective of ethical law. He Xin, a contemporary scholar, points out that consanguinity is a fundamental feature of China's traditional social structure, which determines the differences between Chinese and western cultures [1]. Professor Wang, a contemporary historian, also pointed out that in the traditional society of China, "the blood relationship with paternalism as the core has always been the most primitive interpersonal interaction template in China society and belongs to the deep structure of society." [2] consanguinity is related to fertility, and there is a parent-child relationship arising from fertility in any society, but it is the characteristic of consanguineous society to stipulate the status, identity, rights and obligations of people and the social governance model on this basis.
As we all know, in ancient Greece, due to the unique geographical and ecological environment and the full development of commodity economy, the social organization of Greeks was completely broken, and personal concepts, rights awareness and the spirit of rule of law grew. Theoretically, people believe Aristotle's proposition that "the rule of law is superior to the rule of man", but in fact, the Greek city-state system is essentially a country ruled by law in ancient western countries. Therefore, the destruction of the consanguineous society has become an important growing point of the western spirit of rule of law. In ancient China, the situation was completely different. The blood relationship has not been destroyed, but combined with geography and power. It is not only an important link to maintain family ethics, but also extends to social life and becomes the ethical basis of social governance model, which makes ancient China society present completely different characteristics from western society ruled by law.
First, consanguinity is the most basic and important social relationship. Filial piety, which originates from blood relationship and regulates family parent-child relationship, is not only the core norm in social system, but also the moral core of legislation and the ethical interpretation of sentencing and conviction, making ancient Chinese law an ethical law that runs through the spirit of rule by virtue. For example, "his father is busy with sheep, and his son disproves it" [3]. In the eyes of Confucius, this is by no means a simple legal case, but a serious moral event, which clearly expresses the Confucian ethical position of father and son hiding from each other. In ancient China, once a legal event related to consanguinity appeared, "Filial piety is fundamental" became the supreme ethical principle.
Second, the consanguineous society is a network system of social relations far and near, which is based on consanguineous relations. Although Confucianism advocates "loving the poor", it also emphasizes "loving all people" [4] and "loving the people" [5]. Therefore, Confucianism believes in "respecting the elderly and loving the people" [6]. Then, considering the power of the people [7] to promote loving the people, I think that when we want to use politics and punishment to rectify the society, it is better to govern the people with morality, educate people with courtesy, and integrate all members of society into the network of blood relationship by virtue.
Thirdly, due to the importance of consanguinity, people in traditional China society showed strong consanguinity. "Blood is thicker than water" is people's psychological recognition of blood relationship. China's traditional legal culture advocates the spirit of harmony and pays special attention to interpersonal harmony. Therefore, in the relationship between the rule of virtue and the rule of law, it takes harmony as the priority, litigation as the light, and mediation as the basic value orientation.
In a word, in ancient China, the social relationship of consanguinity became the soil of rule by virtue, and rule by virtue further strengthened and solidified the bond of consanguinity.
Second, the ancient farming civilization and the rule of virtue in China.
From the existing literature and the research data of the history of ancient economic thought, we can know that the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River is the earliest area where ancient agriculture occurred in China, and it is the main agricultural area and population gathering area in the pre-Qin period. The pre-Qin period was covered with loose and fertile primary or secondary loess, which was easy to cultivate. There is a warm climate, vast waters, numerous swamps and rich vegetation. Although natural disasters also occur frequently, on the whole, they provided our ancestors with a livable natural ecological environment and production conditions. The traditional farming civilization characterized by intensive cultivation is the mode of production of small-scale peasant economy, and it is the dominant economic form inherited from the traditional society of China for thousands of years. It was conceived in the soil of traditional society in China, and at the same time it profoundly influenced all aspects of traditional society in China, and in a certain sense, it also influenced people's understanding of morality, law and their relationship.
Different from nomadism and industry and commerce, because agriculture takes capital directly from land, land is the lifeblood of agriculture and land is the lifeblood of farmers. For intensive cultivation, people in ancient China had a long history of understanding and classifying land. The concept of "soil" and "loam" was divided in the pre-Qin period. For example, in the land of Li Zhou, "soil" generally refers to land, while "loam" refers to farmland soil. Shangshu Gong Yu, known as the "ancestor of ancient and modern geography", classifies the soil in Kyushu into white clay, black grave, white grave, bare grave, mud-plastering, grave ridge, Li Qing and yellow soil from the perspective of soil classification, and points out that production should be arranged according to different degrees of soil fertility and tribute should be formulated. People realize that land is the foundation of farming, so they have a particularly deep feeling for land. China's words "facing the loess with his back facing the sky" and "digging in the soil" vividly explained China people's complex and difficult feelings about the land. When analyzing the traditional social structure of China, Mr. Fei Xiaotong said: "From the grassroots level, China society is rural." [8] It is very accurate to locate the grass roots of China traditional society with "locality". It is not a simple regional concept, but a cultural concept, that is, what the cultural scholar mr. yi said, "The countryside and farmers are not a simple regional concept, a domain concept or an identity concept, and agriculture is not a simple economic form or social structure. It first represents a way of cultural existence or survival "[9].
Judging from the relationship between people and space, rural society is basically a non-mobile society. People were born, grew up and died of old age in Sri Lanka, and their normal life is to stay in their hometown. From the perspective of interpersonal relationship, because of the mobility of the population, everyone is an acquaintance in the eyes of others. The adjustment of interpersonal relationship depends on the traditional customs passed down from generation to generation and the personal conscience influenced by this custom, not the contract. Montesquieu said that law is closely related to the lifestyle of all ethnic groups. Therefore, in rural society, there is no law or even no law, and everything is regulated by established "rules" and public order and good customs, forming a "spontaneous ethical norms and etiquette system developed based on emotion and blood relationship" [10]. Once this cultural pattern is formed, it becomes the cultural matrix of individual existence and social operation, which not only regulates individual behavior, but also affects social governance. Therefore, rural China is not a legal society, but a gemeinschaft, and there will be no tradition of rule of law in western history, but only the tradition of rule of virtue in China.
Agriculture depends on the weather to a great extent, so the ancients in China paid special attention to the significance of climate, solar terms and farming time to agricultural production. Confucius said "make people keep pace with the times" [1 1], and Mencius said "never go against the farming season" [12]. Confucianism regards respecting agricultural time and carrying out agricultural production according to natural rhythm as an important content of governing by virtue and benevolent government. The natural changes of hot and cold weather, seasonal changes, long spring and long summer, autumn harvest and winter storage not only have important guiding significance for farmers, but also people gradually confuse their likes and dislikes with changes in rhythm and value evaluation. The unique concept of Yin and Yang in China culture is an example. The thought of Yin and Yang originated in the Yellow River Basin and is the birthplace of agricultural civilization. The original meaning of yin and yang comes from people's experience observation. Shan Zhinan is Yang, the north of the mountain is Yin, those with their backs to the sun are Yang, and those with their backs to the sun are Yin. According to the experience in life and production, people match empirical observation with solar terms and four seasons, and think that Yang Qi runs in spring and summer, Yin Qi runs in autumn and winter, Yang Qi leads cultivation and Yin Qi leads elimination. It can be seen that the concept of yin and yang is the product of farming civilization. If this concept of yin and yang is only used in agricultural production, it can be regarded as a simple empirical understanding of natural phenomena, and further endows yin and yang with philosophical, political and health-preserving significance and the value evaluation of good and evil, and holds that "evil returns to yin and good returns to yang." Yang is the virtue, Yin is the punishment "[13], and further draws the conclusion that" morality should not be punished ",making the concept of Yin and Yang the metaphysical basis of the thought of ruling by virtue, which is definitely the theoretical creation of China ancients under the agricultural civilization.
Experience is of great significance to farming civilization. There are two ways to transmit knowledge, one is through books and educators specializing in knowledge transmission, and the other is through word of mouth from generation to generation. Private education began in the era of Confucius, which broke the monopoly of government education on learning. It can be seen that before Confucius, especially in the early farming era, the carrier of cultural communication was mainly "people"-experienced old people. Mencius once said: "There are three gods in the world: the first, the first and the first. The imperial court is Mo Ruojue, the township party is Mo Ruojue, and the auxiliary boundary is Mo Ruode. " [14] Due to the mobility of the population in agricultural society, people worship experience more and more strongly in the repeated labor that changes with the seasons, because experience means convenience, authority and utility. "The solutions that predecessors used to solve life problems can be copied as a guide to their own lives. The more effective it is in the life of the previous generation, the more conservative it is "[15]. Age means seniority, experience, voice and resource advantages, especially in an agricultural society. In a sense, being old means being respected. Therefore, Confucianism regards respecting the old and loving the young as one of the five ethics, and the "order of respecting the old" means that the latecomers respect experience and qualifications. There were three elders in ancient China, three elders in rural areas in Qin Dynasty, three elders in counties in Western Han Dynasty and three elders in counties and countries in Eastern Han Dynasty. Its main function is to take charge of social education. "To raise a person over 50 years old, you should have practice, be handsome and kind, and regard him as the Three Elders" [16]. Age and moral prestige are the first and only conditions for the Three Elders. As a moral tradition of China people, respecting the elderly is a model of respecting experience and morality. In the elderly, experience authority and moral authority are combined into one, so he has irresistible personality charm and has become a model and example for everyone. Therefore, in ancient China, the experience tradition of respecting the old and loving the young is consistent with the tradition of ruling by virtue of advocating personal moral charm, which will inevitably affect the views of ancient China people on the relationship between ruling by virtue and the rule of law.