Cultivating morality through good deeds

This term comes from Xun Zi (The Book of Xun Zi). It means that if one consistently performs good deeds, while the individual acts may be trivial, over time, one will cultivate lofty morality and achieve great virtue.

According to Xun Zi (c. 313-238 BC), also known as Xun Kuang, a thinker and educator of the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), if everyone follows their innate nature, there will be endless disputes that cause disorder and chaos among the people, while one's virtue can be cultivated through education from an early age. If one's words and deeds always comply with the norms of rites, gradually one will become a devoted follower of virtues and rites and develop an inner consciousness of virtue.

When meeting the fourth group of nominees and winners of national ethical model awards in September 2013, Xi Jinping said: Paragons of morality are important banners for building public ethics. We need to carry out campaigns to publicize such paragons of morality and let people learn from them, foster the true, the good and the beautiful, and spread positive energy. We should inspire the people to esteem virtue, perform good deeds and emulate virtuous people. Moreover, we should encourage the whole of society to cultivate morality by practicing virtue and to exert a positive influence through ethical behavior. In this way, we will marshal strong inner strength and ethical support for realizing the Chinese Dream of national renewal.

積善成德

“積善成德”出自《荀子》，意為善行好事，長期積小善為大德，就會形成一種高尚的品德。荀子認為，僅僅依循于人的本性，只能導致對外物無休止的爭奪，并使群體陷入無秩序的混亂之中；而人的道德有賴于后天的教化，人需要在言行表現上符合禮法的要求，并經過長期積累，逐漸形成對道德、禮法的認同，確立起內在的道德意識。

2013年9月，習近平在會見第四屆全國道德模范及提名獎獲得者時強調，道德模范是社會道德建設的重要旗幟，要深入開展學習宣傳道德模范活動，弘揚真善美，傳播正能量，激勵人民群眾崇德向善、見賢思齊，鼓勵全社會積善成德、明德惟馨，為實現中華民族偉大復興的中國夢凝聚起強大的精神力量和有力的道德支撐。