The Confucian idea of "ruling the country by virtue, with virtue dominating and punishment assisting" is the biggest obstacle to the formation of a society ruled by law in China. Confucius advocated "ruling the country by virtue", and at the inner saint level, he asked leaders to achieve perfection in personal moral cultivation. "Governing the country by virtue, like Beichen, is where they live and the stars are * * *. ("The Analects of Confucius is a government") "Only when leaders occupy the commanding heights of morality can they naturally convince leaders and people, just like Polaris is in the center and is naturally surrounded and guarded by stars; At the level of foreign kings, "ruling the country by virtue" is to educate the people with the moral cognition of leaders as the standard and norm. Confucius advocated that "courtesy serves the country" and that rulers should educate the people with ethics. Confucius said, "If you are polite, people will not dare to disrespect (The Analects of Confucius)." The way to educate people is for leaders to set a moral example. Confucius believes that while moral education is the main means, punishment should be supplemented for a few fools who are "sleepy but don't learn". In Confucius' view, morality is the foundation, the main means and the body, while punishment is the use and the auxiliary means. For a few fools who are "sleepy but don't study", when moral education doesn't work, it can only be a last resort punishment. So punishment was put in a secondary position by Confucius. The ideal social state advocated by Confucius himself is a state of completely abandoning punishment, not using punishment, and relying only on moral strength to achieve social harmony. So Confucius said, "After hearing the lawsuit, I am still a Jew." Will it be necessary so that there will be no litigation? (The Analects of Confucius, Yan Yuan) This idea of Confucius was summarized by Dong Zhongshu as "moral dominating punishment". "Morality is the pillar of punishment, and this concept has had a great impact on China society for more than two thousand years." "Governing the country by virtue" and "Governing the country by virtue" were advertised and respected by almost every dynasty. Until modern times, China has not yet formed a real society ruled by law. The negative influence of Confucius' political thoughts of "ruling the country by virtue", "ruling the country by virtue with supplementary punishment" and educating the people on the formation of a society ruled by law in China is mainly reflected in the following aspects: First, a real society ruled by law must have a complete and rigid code of conduct, that is, a sound legal system and the supreme authority of the law. However, Confucius and Confucianism's thought of "morality dominates punishment" advocates the priority of moral principles and norms, and even hopes to bind society and people completely with morality instead of law, such as "no litigation" pursued by Confucius. However, moral principles are fundamentally an elastic code of conduct with uncertainty. Secondly, more importantly, according to the Confucian theory, a leader who has achieved inner sainthood can become an outer king only after he understands the true meaning of morality and then teaches it to ordinary people. In this way, the right to formulate and interpret moral norms and principles is completely in the hands of a few "saints". Theoretically, from the inner saint to the outer king, in fact, from the outer king to the inner saint, the general public only has the obligation to receive education. We can't oppose moral principles and norms themselves, let alone obey or even resist them. Otherwise, it is "changing things, guiding things, hurting righteousness and ruining customs, so punishment is used" ("Confucius' Family Language"), that is, if you don't change your religion, you will sue the punishment, and "morality is the main punishment and auxiliary punishment" will become "the punishment is suitable for me, and the punishment is against me". In this way, the uncertain moral principles and norms are completely in the hands of a few people and become mysterious tools used by a few "saints" to rule the people. "Governing the country by virtue" is to mystify all social value standards and codes of conduct, and make them completely based on the likes and dislikes of "saints", so there is actually no definite code of conduct in the whole society. "Twenty-nine Years of Zuo Zhuan Zhao Gong" records that the State of Jin "cast a tripod of punishment", and fixed the social behavior norms in the form of legal provisions and made them public. This practice of the State of Jin was strongly opposed by Confucius, who said, "The State of Jin has perished! "... now abandon it as a degree, but as a punishment tripod, the people are in the tripod. Why noble? What do you care? How can a country without order be possible? In doing so, Jin replaced morality with certain rules and became the standard of all value judgments, which would break the status of "saints" in arbitrarily interpreting social behavior norms, break the moral sanctity of "saints" and make "noble and humble" disorderly, which Confucius absolutely could not tolerate. Thirdly, Confucius and Confucianism's understanding of the function and function of "punishment" is also an important factor leading to China's failure to form a society ruled by law. (1) In Confucianism, punishment and peace are pure punishment tools (which is also understood by legalists). Punishment is law, law equals punishment, and law is only a means of punishment to ensure the implementation of moral norms. In ancient China, the role of law was only to emphasize the obligations of members of society, but never to protect people's rights. In the feudal society of more than two thousand years in China, the criminal law was extremely developed, and several complete criminal codes were formed, such as the Law of the Tang Dynasty and the Law of the Qing Dynasty, but even the simplest civil law did not exist and could not be produced. (2) The punishment is unfair to the people, the punishment is unfair to the officials, and the punishment is unfair. According to the Confucian theory of "ruling the country by virtue", no matter the top leaders or officials at all levels, they are either "saints" whose moral cultivation has reached "inner sainthood" or talents whose moral cultivation can play an exemplary role. In short, their moral cultivation has reached a high level, and it is certainly impossible and unnecessary to punish them. Only ordinary people may refuse to receive education and fail to meet the moral requirements of the rulers, so only the people are the ones who apply the punishment. In Confucianism, punishment is a tool for officials to govern the people and rule from top to bottom, and law is used to punish ordinary people who refuse to accept education, so there is a saying that "punishment is not as good as a doctor." In ancient China, there was a propaganda that "the prince and Shu Ren were guilty of the same crime", but this sentence was said from the perspective of the emperor, which meant that no one could offend the authority of the emperor, otherwise even the prince would be punished like Shu Ren. The emperor himself, as the supreme leader, is not bound by any legal provisions, and China has never had the concept that "the emperor and the common people are guilty of the same crime". In a real society ruled by law, law is not only a tool for governing people, but also a tool for "governing officials" and restricting the government. The phrase "everyone is equal before the law" not only refers to the equality before the law between ordinary people and ordinary people, between individuals and individuals, but also refers to the equality between individuals and collectives and groups, and refers to the equality between ordinary people and officials, government agencies, political or interest groups, which is exactly what Confucianism lacks in governing the country with morality and supplementing punishment with morality.