In an effort to promote integrity among millions of civil servants,China's ruling Communist Party on Sunday for the first time brought out a morality manual for its officials. A book series expounding the moral issues of officials was released for sale in Beijing as part of government-backed efforts to encourage honesty,clean character and service minded approach in dealing with people,state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The books record the development of theories about officials' morality through Chinese history and provide case studies,as well as highlight the importance of raising officials' moral standards in modern society,said an official with the Beijing Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China. Eighty million member strong CPC,which celebrated 90 years of its existence this year has declared corruption as a major menace afflicting the society in the recent years and top leaders,including President Hu Jintao,have been warning party and government officials against graft and immoral behaviour. A number of top officials,including the long serving Railway Minister Liu Zhijun,were punished in the recent times. While Liu who was suspended from party stressing that he was "morally corrupt",many were punished with long prison terms and suspended death sentences. The four-book series embodies the results of research conducted by experts with the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences at the request of Beijing authorities two years ago. The major difference between good and bad officials simply lies in whether they perform duties with a conscience,says the prologue of the series. Nowadays,the CPC,as the ruling party,must value virtues of officials and it is a general trend for officials to abide by professional ethics,according to a passage in one of the books. The book also points out a moral official in modern China should always serve the people as well as be loyal,pragmatic,fair-minded and incorruptible,while always improving oneself. The series will serve as anti-graft reading material for all Communist Party cadres in Beijing,the report said.
