With self-service facilities – supermarkets, to name one – beginning to appear all the time, we're now relying on integrity more than ever.
Integrity – the quality of doing the right thing no matter if anyone is watching or not – has been highly valued in China since ancient times. And the phrase“立木取信”probably best explains how integrity works in the relationship between people and the ruling of a nation.
This phrase comes from the Warring States period (475-221 BC), during which China wasn't yet a unified country and was constantly at war. States carried out reforms to make themselves stronger, with the most thorough and influential one being the reform of the State of Qin, introduced by statesman Shang Yang (395-338 BC).
Shang's reform focused on farming and giving rewards to soldiers who fought hard during wars. But at first, people had little trust and confidence in Shang.
So he decided to prove himself by putting a wooden pole at the south gate of the capital of Qin, offering those who took the pole to the north gate a reward of 10 gold pieces, before long raising it to 50. When a man did as he said, Shang paid him 50 gold pieces as promised. Word soon spread, and people began to realize that Shang was a man of his word. The reforms were finally pushed forward.
Today, integrity still plays an important role in Chinese society, which is why it's included as one of the 12 core socialist values in China.
China is also planning to build a social credit system by the year 2020, which will keep citizens' misbehaviors –- even minor traffic violations – on record, so that trust can be established among people.
“Without a system, a conman can commit a crime in one place and then do the same thing again in another place. But a credit system puts people's past history on the record. It'll build a better and fairer society,” explained Wen Quan, a blogger who writes about technology and finance, to BBC News.
