八荣八耻 bā róng bā chǐ

As Edward Cody says,

The Communist Party's traditional values of egalitarianism and service to the poor have largely faded away...in favor of a get-rich ideology that blurs the distinction between officials and entrepreneurs. The strait-laced morals of Mao Zedong's time, they note, have relaxed to the point that bribes are part of doing business and prostitution is practiced openly. In addition, the party's reputation for corrupt land seizures has contributed heavily to often violent peasant unrest, making the need to re-burnish the government's legitimacy more urgent...

In a speech last year to cadres training at the Central Party School, [President Hu Jintao] suggested that the solution lies in renewing traditional Marxist thought, revisiting the best of Mao Zedong's policies and reviving ancient Chinese culture, including Confucianism. Of the three, [Kang Xiaoguang, a social sciences researcher at the Chinese Academy of Science] said, Hu looks to Chinese culture as the most likely to provide moral values.

So when he sat down with a group of delegates to the National People's Congress on March 4, Hu harked back to a long Chinese tradition that stipulates leaders are supposed to urge moral conduct on their followers. "Love the motherland, do not harm it," he said. "Be disciplined and law-abiding, not chaotic and lawless."

In all, he recited eight such rules, which he called "the eight glories and the eight shames." The official New China News Agency called them "a perfect amalgamation of traditional Chinese values and modern virtues." The People's Political Consultative Conference, the other house in China's bicameral legislature, passed a resolution saying, "Let it be a paragon and common practice of the times."

The official People's Daily newspaper quickly filled with statements from Communist Party cadres describing Hu's ideas as marvelous and saying they were starting programs to teach the eight do's and don'ts through schools, workplace meetings and popular performances.
...

But Huang Weiting, deputy editor of the party's Seeking Truth magazine, said party officials should be looking at themselves as well. "It's a cadre problem," he said in an interview.

"Eight glories and eight shames are not only a requirement for youth, but also for every citizen," he wrote this week in the party's Discipline Inspection newspaper. "Especially party members and cadres should take the lead."

Despite the noise generated by party propaganda organs, some Chinese questioned whether Hu's preaching would ever reach officials in the small towns and villages where disenchantment with the party is strongest. "It won't even get to provincial capitals," said Kang, the social scientist.

Even in Beijing, a group of recent graduates from prestigious Peking University, all of whom work in government-connected jobs, said they had not heard of the eight aphorisms after more than a week of the campaign. And in Inner Mongolia's distant Tongliao City, Bai Lianhua, a 46-year-old homemaker, said in a telephone conversation that she had no idea what they were.

I'd call 八荣八耻 bā róng bā chǐ "the eight ways to glorify the motherland, and the eight ways to shame the motherland," but no doubt it will be called the "eight honors and eight disgraces". Anyway, no wonder the Chinese were talking about 热爱祖国 rèài zǔguó the other day.

Here's the original Chinese, along with the Washingon Post translation:

以热爱祖国为荣、以危害祖国为耻
yǐ rèài zǔguó wèi róng 、yǐ wēihài zǔguó wèi chǐ
Love the motherland, do not harm it.
以服务人民为荣、以背离人民为耻
yǐ fúwù rénmín wèi róng 、yǐ bèilí rénmín wèi chǐ
Serve, don't disserve the people.
以崇尚科学为荣、以愚昧无知为耻
yǐ chóng shàng kēxué wèi róng 、yǐ yúmèi wúzhī wèi chǐ
Uphold science, don't be ignorant and unenlightened.
以辛勤劳动为荣、以好逸恶劳为耻
yǐ xīnqín láodòng wèi róng 、yǐ hàoyìwùláo wèi chǐ
Work hard, don't be lazy.
以团结互助为荣、以损人利己为耻
yǐ tuánjié hùzhù wèi róng 、yǐ sǔnrénlìjǐ wèi chǐ
Be united and help each other, don't benefit at the expense of others.
以诚实守信为荣、以见利忘义为耻
yǐ chéngshí shǒu xìn wèi róng 、yǐ jiànlìwàngyì wèi chǐ
Be honest, not profit-mongering.
以遵纪守法为荣、以违法乱纪为耻
yǐ zūn jì shǒufǎ wèi róng 、yǐ wéifǎluànjì wèi chǐ
Be disciplined and law-abiding, not chaotic and lawless.
以艰苦奋斗为荣、以骄奢淫逸为耻
yǐ jiānkù fèndòu wèi róng 、yǐ jiāoshēyínyì wèi chǐ
Know plain living and hard struggle, do not wallow in luxuries.