China's President Xi Jinping on Monday called for efforts to "enhance virtue and civility" in Chinese families and make them "an important foundation" for national development, programs, and social harmony, the state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported.
People from all walks of life should strive for "a new trend toward socialist family values" including love for the nation and family, Xi said during a ceremony in Beijing honouring model families across the country.
The 300 families were chosen for "displaying characteristics of patriotism, observation of law, ethics, harmony, honesty, professional spirit, thrift and commitment to public welfare," Xinhua reported.
Xi, who alse serves as the general secretary of China's Communist Party, said the nation has always value the family.
"Traditional family values have been engraved on the minds and melted into the blood of the Chinese people," Xi said.
Zhi Zhenfeng, a legal expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said increasing urbanization and modernization have led to the rise of non-traditional families such as single parents, "empty nesters,"and homosexual families that pose new challenges to traditional Chinese values.
"Stressing familial virtues and awarding model families is intended to reinforce the foundation of virtue across the whole of modern Chinese society," Zhi told the Global Times on Tuesday.
On Friday, Xi called for a country "based on both law and virtue" at a gathering attended by members of the Party's central committee, according to Xinhua.
Zhi said China's one-party government differs from multi-party political systems found in other nations, as these parties are more concerned about gaining votes while virtue is promoted by religions.
"In China, we have only one ruling party, the CPC, and it will always govern China, so it has to bear responsibility for virtues and values," Zhi said, adding that since the Communist Party represents the interests of the people, Party members and officials need to have high moral standards in order for the laws to have weight.