"Honesty is very much needed in China now," said Yang Chaoming, director of the Qufu-based Confucius Institute.

To some extent, a lack of honesty and integrity has become an obstacle for China's economic and social growth. In addition to governmental supervision and judicial means, moral self-discipline should not be neglected, Yang said.

"China needs more business people of honesty and integrity who can discipline their commercial activities with Confucian morality and ethics," he said.

"In other words, China calls for more Ru Shang (Confucian business people)."

More than 2,000 years ago, Confucianism put forth five basic aspects of ethics -- benevolence, righteousness, manners, wisdom and honesty.

"Even now, those ethics are still influencing Chinese people profoundly," Yang said.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) put forward the concept of "socialist core value system" for the first time at the Sixth Plenum of the 16th CPC Central Committee in 2006, in which honesty is included as an important component.

"Ru Shang," is not new in China and has actually existed for centuries.

"(But) if business people are really worthy of being called Ru Shang, they must be honest individuals. Dishonest business people may be successful for a period of time, but they will not be successful forever," Yang said.

In the classic works of Confucianism, Confucius gave many elaborations on honesty and how to behave properly. Today, lots of ordinary people can still recite the famous lines of Confucius in this regard, such as: "Promises must be kept and action must be resolute. If a man does not keep his word, what is he good for?" and "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

"But whether business people are Ru Shang or not, the point is not how profoundly they study Confucian theories, but in their everyday practice of Confucian ethics," Yang said.

Wang Huiping, a shopkeeper who sells tourist souvenirs near the Confucius Temple in Qufu, has a simpler understanding of "Ru Shang."

"Ru Shang is a conscientious businessman. To me, that means no cheating customers, the old or young, Chinese or foreigners," she said.

"I warmly welcome all guests with open arms, no matter whether they buy my commodities or not."

Edited by Chen Zhilin

Source: English.news.cn