——Cited in "Escaping Poverty and Engaging in Politics".

■Interpretation

The righteousness of being an official lies in the law. Ignorance of the law is not enough to correct the discipline program, and without the discipline program, it is impossible to protect justice and morality. Comrade Xi Jinping quoted this famous sentence to emphasize that the life of the law lies in its implementation, and leading cadres should take the lead in handling matters according to law, strictly enforcing the law, and abiding by discipline. As put forward in the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China: "Improve the ability of leading cadres to use the rule of law thinking and methods to deepen reform, promote development, resolve contradictions, and maintain stability." The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made specific arrangements for this. If the law is only hung on the wall and written on paper, and cannot be implemented, the law will become vague and the discipline will become lax and weak. Comrade Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that "the system cannot be allowed to become a paper tiger and a scarecrow" and "discipline cannot be regarded as a soft constraint or a dead letter on the shelf", which is precisely to require leading cadres to abandon the doctrine of being a good person and selfish distractions, so that the law can truly become a "charged high-voltage line", so as to form a law-abiding social trend for the whole people.

■Original text

Those who listen to the laws and regulations are the great authority of the people, and the country's chaos and safety are related to it, so they must not be careless. Since the age of the past, the code of reward and punishment may still be followed, and people know that the law is not trustworthy, so why should the reward and punishment be discouraged! …… I hope that Your Majesty is about to make a big decision and trust the righteous people. Those who reward must deserve their merits, and they cannot be gracious; The one who punishes him will be guilty, and he will not be spared. The wicked will be deposed even if they are near, and the loyal will be reaped even if they are far away. Once the laws and regulations are enforced, and the discipline is self-correcting, then there will be no country that cannot be governed, and there will be no people who will not be transformed into people, and it will only be enforced by Your Majesty.

——(Northern Song Dynasty) Bao Zheng "Shangdian Zazi"

■Definition

Bao Zheng, Song Renzong was the supervisor of the imperial history, and later the official to the privy deputy envoy, for the official upright, not afraid of the powerful, not favoritism, honest and honest, is a typical example of the ancient Qing officials, and was praised by the people as "Bao Gong" and "Bao Qingtian".

In the seventh year of Song Renzong's Qingli (1047), the drought was raging, the people were not able to make a living, and there were many chaos between the mountains and rivers. When Bao Zheng moved from Beijing to Shaanxi as a transfer envoy, what he saw along the way shocked him. He deeply felt that the disaster of drought was not enough to fear, and those who were deeply afraid were "not enough to believe in the laws and regulations that people know", so he wrote the "Shangdian Zazi" and presented it to Emperor Renzong. In view of the drawbacks of not abiding by the law and not being clear about law enforcement, Bao Zheng pointed out that laws and regulations are the foundation of consolidating the country, and we must be cautious in promulgating laws and regulations -- "Those who make laws and regulations are the masters of the people, and the country's chaos and safety are related to it, so we must not be careless." "Only by prudently enforcing laws and regulations and winning the trust of the people will the chaos be peaceful and the world will be easy to govern. He advised Song Renzong: "Once the laws and regulations are carried out and the discipline is self-corrected, there will be no country without governance and no people without reform." This means that as long as the laws and regulations are unimpeded, and the discipline and morals are naturally upright, then there is no country that is badly governed, and there is no people who cannot be educated. Bao Zheng's rule of law proposition of "using law to balance the world" and his practice of enforcing the law like a mountain have provided an extremely valuable historical reference for future generations.