Different moralities and values intertwine and collide amid China’s economic and social transformation, creating a complex situation in which there are poignant, moving, anxious, and hopeful moments.

Are we really undergoing a moral landslide? How can we protect the natural goodness of humans? How can we build the socialist core value system? Morality construction has become a hot topic at the annual two sessions of China's top legislature and political advisory body.

Most people remain inclined to do good deeds

“Admittedly, moral decline has occurred in some areas, but that does not mean the overall morality of the Chinese nation is declining,” said Zhou Youma, president of the Ma Haide Foundation and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. It is important to maintain a sense of crisis and solve problems from the outset, but we cannot generalize or mistakenly judge the overall situation.

Anshan city of Liaoning province is the place where Lei Feng used to live and work, and is also the hometown of Guo Mingyi, who has been called a “modern-day Lei Feng.” This city may provide a glimpse of morality in China. There are some 300,000 volunteer participants from all walks of life in the city’s “Learning from Lei Feng” campaigns, accounting for one-fifth of the city’s total population.

Ba Furong, director of Anshan Medical Association, said that the city used to be frequently hit by blood shortages. However, more and more local residents have been moved by Guo’s good deeds, and blood donation vehicles are often welcomed by long lines of volunteer donors. “Many ordinary people I know have developed a habit of doing volunteer work in their spare time and helping others. In addition, Guo Mingyi has more than 7.2 million micro-blog followers, showing the great popularity of kindness among the Chinese people,” Ba said.

High social morality essential to happy lives

Why have bad things happened frequently in a society where most people are inclined to do good deeds? Why is the society worried about a moral landslide?

Certain deputies to the two sessions attributed it to the shock that diverse values have brought to the traditional morality. Zhou said that China’s rapid economic development in recent years has helped break the restrictions imposed by the traditional morality. While pursuing personal wealth, many people have become too selfish to uphold even basic moral principles such as helping people in need and returning money that does not belong to them.

Furthermore, certain local governments have paid much more attention to economic and legal development than to morality construction. "Certain local governments have neglected morality construction while pursuing rapid economic growth, which have inevitably resulted in a decline in morality despite economic progress," said Gao Yanqing, former director of the Inner Mongolia Regional Department of Culture. Strengthening morality construction is essential to effective implementation of the scientific outlook on development. "Happy lives require both economic growth and high social morality. The higher social morality is, the happier people will be," Gao said.

"Most people are calling for innovation in public administration without realizing that high social morality can reduce social contradictions," said Shi Ningzhong, president of Northeast Normal University. The "two wheels" of public administration are the rule of law and rule of morality.

Many social issues of great public concern such as food safety and ignoring people in mortal danger can be solved more effectively by strengthening morality construction than simply through legal means.