Ideological and Political Work Should Focus on Leveraging the Role of Negative Teaching Materials

Ideological and political work has always emphasized the role of positive education, telling people what they ought to do, and stressing that positive guidance should be the main approach. By comparison, insufficient attention, research, and application have been given to the role of negative teaching materials, which has to some extent affected the effectiveness of ideological and political work. Negative teaching materials possess unique advantages and an irreplaceable role in ideological and political work. In the New Era, while adhering to positive education as the main approach, we must deeply study, explore, and leverage the role of negative teaching materials, continuously improving the practical effectiveness of ideological and political work.

思想政治工作历来重视正面教育的作用，告诉人们应当怎么做，强调以正向教育为主。相较而言，对反面教材作用的重视、研究和发挥不够，一定程度上影响了思想政治工作的效果。反面教材在思想政治工作中具有独特的优势和不可替代的作用。新时代，要在坚持正面教育为主的同时，深入研究、发掘和发挥反面教材的作用，不断提高思想政治工作的实效。

I. The Application Value of Negative Teaching Materials in Ideological and Political Work

一、反面教材在思想政治工作中的运用价值

Negative teaching materials are primarily educational materials composed of negative instructors, adverse events, lessons from setbacks, and so forth in social practice and social life. There is a large quantity of negative teaching materials in social practice and social life. Fully utilizing these negative teaching materials to conduct ideological and political education among Party members and the masses is a fine tradition of the Party’s ideological and political work, an important supplement to positive education as the main approach, and a practical necessity for enhancing the effectiveness of ideological and political work.

反面教材主要是社会实践和社会生活中的反面教员、负面事件、挫折教训等等构成的具有教育作用的素材。社会实践和社会生活中存在着大量的反面教材，充分运用反面教材对广大党员和群众进行思想政治教育，是党的思想政治工作的优良传统，是正面教育为主的重要补充，是增强思想政治工作实效的现实需要。

(1) Utilizing Negative Teaching Materials Is a Fine Tradition of the Party’s Ideological and Political Work

（一）运用反面教材是党的思想政治工作的优良传统

The Communist Party of China has always focused on using correct ideas, advanced models, and successful experiences to guide and inspire people, while also using negative figures, adverse cases, and lessons from failure to spur and alert people, forming a fine tradition of conducting ideological and political work with negative teaching materials. To strengthen and improve the Party’s ideological and political work in the New Era, we must inherit and carry forward the Party’s fine tradition of using negative teaching materials in ideological and political work.

中国共产党既注重运用正确的思想、先进的典型和成功的经验引导和激励人，又注重运用反面的人物、负面的事例和失败的教训来鞭策和警醒人，形成了运用反面教材开展思想政治工作的优良传统。新时代加强和改进党的思想政治工作，就要传承和弘扬党运用反面教材开展思想政治工作的优良传统。

The Party’s ideological and political work has always focused on using negative teaching materials to enhance political consciousness. In its more than one hundred years of struggle, the CPC, guided by dialectical materialism and historical materialism, has deeply summarized experiences and lessons, forming a profound understanding of dialectically viewing negative instructors and negative teaching materials, thereby enhancing the political consciousness of using negative teaching materials to educate the Party and the people. In the course of the CPC’s struggle, there have been both successful explorations and lessons from failure. The CPC is adept at turning mistakes, setbacks, and failures into negative teaching materials, educating Party members and the people to summarize and draw lessons from setbacks and failures, continuously correcting mistakes in practice, moving from error to correctness, and from setbacks to success. “Communists should not be afraid of making mistakes. Mistakes have a dual character. On the one hand, mistakes harm the Party and harm the people; on the other hand, they are good instructors, well educating the Party and the people, and are beneficial to the revolution.” [1]1 The Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927-1937) was the period of the Chinese Communist Party’s armed struggle to establish rural base areas and oppose the Kuomintang’s rule, also known as the Second Revolutionary Civil War. Wang Ming (1904-1974) was a senior CPC leader whose dogmatic line caused significant damage to the Party.136 During the Agrarian Revolutionary War period [1]1 The Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927-1937) was the period of the Chinese Communist Party’s armed struggle to establish rural base areas and oppose the Kuomintang’s rule, also known as the Second Revolutionary Civil War. Wang Ming (1904-1974) was a senior CPC leader whose dogmatic line caused significant damage to the Party., Wang Ming first committed the error of “Left” dogmatism, and during the War of Resistance Against Japan, he committed the error of Right capitulationism. The essence of the error was subjectivism and copying foreign experiences. He “is a very good negative instructor for us, educating our Party” [1]1 The Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927-1937) was the period of the Chinese Communist Party’s armed struggle to establish rural base areas and oppose the Kuomintang’s rule, also known as the Second Revolutionary Civil War. Wang Ming (1904-1974) was a senior CPC leader whose dogmatic line caused significant damage to the Party.133. Our Party precisely drew lessons from the dogmatic errors of negative instructors like Wang Ming, overcame the error of separating the subjective from the objective and theory from practice, and truly found the path of integrating the basic principles of Marxism with China’s specific realities. From then on, the political consciousness of the entire Party was enhanced, the common ideological foundation for the united struggle of the whole Party and the entire people was established, and the Chinese revolution was continuously pushed toward victory.

党的思想政治工作历来注重运用反面教材增强政治自觉。中国共产党在百余年奋斗实践中，坚持以辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义作指导，深入总结经验教训，形成了辩证看待反面教员和反面教材的深刻思想，增强了运用反面教材教育党和人民的政治自觉。在中国共产党的奋斗历程中，既有成功的探索，又有失败的教训。中国共产党善于把错误、挫折和失败作为反面教材，教育党员和人民从挫折和失败中总结、汲取教训，不断在实践中改正错误，由错误走向正确，由挫折走向成功。“共产党人不要怕犯错误。错误有两重性。错误一方面损害党，损害人民；另一方面是好教员，很好地教育了党，教育了人民，对革命有好处。”[1]136土地革命战争时期，王明先是犯了“左”倾教条主义的错误，抗日战争时期又犯了右倾投降主义的错误，错误的实质就是主观主义，照搬外国的经验。他“是我们的一个很好的反面教员，教育了我们党”[1]133。我们党正是从王明等反面教员的教条主义错误中汲取教训，克服了主观与客观相分裂、理论与实践相脱节的错误，真正找到了把马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合的道路。从此，增强了全党的政治自觉，奠定了全党和全国人民团结奋斗的共同思想基础，推动中国革命不断走向胜利。

The Party’s ideological and political work has always focused on using negative teaching materials to temper the ability to struggle. Using negative teaching materials to improve the ability to struggle is an important method of ideological and political work. People’s thinking is continuously elevated in the unity and struggle of opposites. Only by both learning and accepting correct ideas and contacting and analyzing erroneous ideas can one improve the ability to criticize erroneous ideas and use correct ideas to defeat erroneous ones. “The shortcoming of some of our Communists and Communist intellectuals is precisely that they know too little about negative things.” [2]2 *Reference News* (*Cankao Xiaoxi*) is a Chinese newspaper that republishes foreign news and commentary, originally restricted to high-level cadres but later expanded to the general public, used by Mao Zedong as a tool for political education.70 To recognize the exploitative nature of oppressors and exploiters, one must both study Marx’s theory of surplus value and discern it from the social reality of the brutal oppression and exploitation of workers and peasants by capitalists and the landlord class. “Under the rule of oppressors and exploiters, their ‘University of Cruel Exploitation’ provided negative teaching materials, enabling the people to recognize the predatory nature of oppressors and exploiters.” [3]3 The “April 12” counter-revolutionary coup refers to the purge of Communists and left-wing Kuomintang members by Chiang Kai-shek’s forces in Shanghai on April 12, 1927, marking a major break between the CPC and the Kuomintang.484 The oppression and exploitation by capitalists and landlords constitute a “great classroom” for class and class struggle education. Soong Ching-ling called it the “University of Cruel Exploitation.” Such a “university” provides many negative teaching materials not found in classrooms, allowing people to learn many things not taught in classrooms, continuously improving their ability to struggle against landlords and capitalists in practice. In struggling against U.S. hegemonism, we must also make good use of the United States as “a negative instructor for the people of the whole world” [1]1 The Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927-1937) was the period of the Chinese Communist Party’s armed struggle to establish rural base areas and oppose the Kuomintang’s rule, also known as the Second Revolutionary Civil War. Wang Ming (1904-1974) was a senior CPC leader whose dogmatic line caused significant damage to the Party.131, combining education with its history and reality of reaching its hands into the whole world, creating turmoil and war everywhere, and oppressing and exploiting the people of all countries, to unite and mobilize the world’s people in the struggle against U.S. hegemonism.

党的思想政治工作历来注重运用反面教材淬炼斗争本领。运用反面教材提高斗争本领是思想政治工作的重要方法，人们的思想是在对立统一和斗争中不断提升的。只有既学习和接受正确的思想，又接触和分析错误的思想，才能提高批判错误思想的能力，用正确的思想战胜错误的思想。“我们有些共产党员、共产党的知识分子的缺点，恰恰是对于反面的东西知道得太少。”[2]70认清压迫剥削者的剥削本质，既要学习马克思主义的剩余价值理论，又要从资本家、地主阶级残酷压迫和剥削工人、农民的社会现实中加以辨析。“在压迫者和剥削者的统治下，他们的‘敲骨吸髓大学’提供了反面教材，使人民认识到压迫者和剥削者的掠夺本性。”[3]484资本家、地主的压迫和剥削就是阶级和阶级斗争教育的“大课堂”，宋庆龄称之为“敲骨吸髓大学”，这样的“大学”提供了很多课堂上没有的反面教材，让人们学到了很多课堂上学不到的东西，不断在实践中提高了同地主、资本家斗争的本领。同美国霸权主义作斗争，也要运用好美国这个“全世界人民的反面教员”[1]131，结合其把手伸到全世界，到处制造动乱、战乱，压迫、剥削世界各国人民的历史和现实进行教育，团结动员世界人民开展反对美国霸权主义的斗争。

The Party’s ideological and political work has always focused on using negative teaching materials to enhance immunity. Mao Zedong once discussed expanding the circulation of *Reference News* [2]2 *Reference News* (*Cankao Xiaoxi*) is a Chinese newspaper that republishes foreign news and commentary, originally restricted to high-level cadres but later expanded to the general public, used by Mao Zedong as a tool for political education., including publishing various international remarks, even reactionary ones that curse us, with the aim of “placing non-Marxist and anti-Marxist things before our comrades, before the masses and democratic personages, allowing them to be tempered” [1]1 The Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927-1937) was the period of the Chinese Communist Party’s armed struggle to establish rural base areas and oppose the Kuomintang’s rule, also known as the Second Revolutionary Civil War. Wang Ming (1904-1974) was a senior CPC leader whose dogmatic line caused significant damage to the Party.196. “Publishing *Reference News* and other negative teaching materials is like ‘vaccination,’ strengthening the political immunity of cadres and the masses” [1]1 The Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927-1937) was the period of the Chinese Communist Party’s armed struggle to establish rural base areas and oppose the Kuomintang’s rule, also known as the Second Revolutionary Civil War. Wang Ming (1904-1974) was a senior CPC leader whose dogmatic line caused significant damage to the Party.196. Using some negative remarks published in *Reference News* as negative teaching materials, as well as publishing and using other negative teaching materials, is intended to let the Chinese people understand that in the world there are Marxism and socialism, as well as anti-Marxist and anti-socialist ideas and forces, and to learn to use the Marxist stance, viewpoint, and method to analyze and expose the errors, essence, and roots of anti-Marxist and anti-socialist ideas and forces, continuously enhancing political discernment and political immunity, and strengthening the political conviction in Marxism and the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

党的思想政治工作历来注重运用反面教材提升免疫能力。毛泽东曾经谈到，扩大《参考消息》的发行量，把国际各种言论包括骂我们的反动言论也要登，目的在于“把非马克思主义和反马克思主义的东西，摆在我们同志面前，摆在人民群众和民主人士面前，让他们受到锻炼”[1]196。“发行《参考消息》以及出版其他反面教材，就是‘种牛痘’，增强干部和群众在政治上的免疫力。”[1]196运用《参考消息》刊登的一些负面言论作为反面教材，以及出版和运用其他反面教材，就是要让中国人民了解世界上有马克思主义、社会主义，还有反马克思主义、反社会主义的思想和势力，学会运用马克思主义的立场、观点和方法分析和揭露反马克思主义、反社会主义思想和势力的错误、实质及其根源，不断增强政治判断力和政治免疫力，坚定马克思主义信仰和走中国特色社会主义道路的政治信念。

(2) Utilizing Negative Teaching Materials Is an Important Supplement to Positive Education as the Main Approach

（二）运用反面教材是正面教育为主的重要补充

Positive education is the main method used in ideological and political work, primarily employing positive cases and models to educate people, guiding and inspiring them to advance in the correct direction. However, in a complex society, using only this single method greatly diminishes its educational effect. After all, negative phenomena in social life frequently occur and exist objectively, easily causing confusion in people’s thinking. Therefore, while adhering to positive education as the main approach, we must focus on leveraging the role of negative teaching materials, forming an important supplement to positive education, and continuously improving the practical effectiveness of ideological and political work.

正面教育是思想政治工作中采用的主要方式，主要是运用正面的事例和典型对人们进行教育，引导激励人们沿着正确的方向前进。但在复杂的社会中，只是单一地用这种方法，其教育效果就会大打折扣。毕竟社会生活中的负面现象经常发生并客观存在，极易造成人们思想上的困惑。因此，在坚持正面教育为主的同时，必须注重发挥反面教材的作用，形成对正面教育的重要补充，不断提高思想政治工作的实效。

Utilizing negative teaching materials is a dialectical supplement to positive education as the main approach. Positive education and negative education constitute a dialectical relationship. Positive education cannot do without the supplement of negative education; negative education deepens positive education. Only by combining positive education and negative education can we promote the exchange, confrontation, and contradictory movement of different or even opposing ideas. “A policy that forbids people from coming into contact with erroneous, ugly, and hostile things, with idealist and metaphysical things, with the things of Confucius, Laozi, and Chiang Kai-shek, is a dangerous policy. It will lead to the decline of people’s thinking, to a one-sided approach, to being sheltered from the world, and to being unable to sing duets with opposing voices.” [1]1 The Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927-1937) was the period of the Chinese Communist Party’s armed struggle to establish rural base areas and oppose the Kuomintang’s rule, also known as the Second Revolutionary Civil War. Wang Ming (1904-1974) was a senior CPC leader whose dogmatic line caused significant damage to the Party.192-193 Positive education promotes truth, goodness, and beauty; negative education castigates falsehood, evil, and ugliness. Positive education of truth, goodness, and beauty focuses on “promoting good,” while education using negative teaching materials of falsehood, evil, and ugliness focuses on “eliminating evil.” “Promoting good” requires “eliminating evil”; only by “eliminating evil” can “good” be truly promoted. If only truth, goodness, and beauty are discussed without criticizing falsehood, evil, and ugliness, people will doubt and waver in their commitment to truth, goodness, and beauty, unable to uphold them or thoroughly overcome falsehood, evil, and ugliness. Using negative teaching materials of figures, misdeeds, and erroneous viewpoints of falsehood, evil, and ugliness to educate people enables them to see clearly the manifestations, essence, and harm of falsehood, evil, and ugliness, and consciously use truth, goodness, and beauty to criticize and overcome falsehood, evil, and ugliness, resisting and eliminating their negative influence.

运用反面教材是正面教育为主的辩证补充。正面教育和反面教育是一种辩证的关系，正面教育离不开反面教育的补充，反面教育是对正面教育的深化。正面教育和反面教育相结合，才能促进不同甚至对立思想的交流交锋和矛盾运动。“禁止人们跟谬误、丑恶、敌对的东西见面，跟唯心主义、形而上学的东西见面，跟孔子、老子、蒋介石的东西见面，这样的政策是危险的政策。它将引导人们思想衰退，单打一，见不得世面，唱不得对台戏。”[1]192-193正面教育弘扬真善美，反面教育鞭笞假恶丑。真善美的正面教育重在“扬善”，假丑恶的反面教材的教育重在“祛恶”，“扬善”需要“祛恶”，“祛恶”才能真正地“扬善”。只讲真善美，不批假丑恶，人们就会对真善美产生怀疑和动摇，不能坚持真善美，也不能彻底克服假丑恶。运用假丑恶的人物、劣迹和错误观点的反面教材教育人们，就使人们能够看清假丑恶的表现、实质和危害，自觉地用真善美批判和克服假丑恶，抵御和消除假丑恶的消极影响。

Utilizing negative teaching materials is a comprehensive supplement to the predominance of positive education. From the very beginning of its founding, the Communist Party of China focused on spreading Marxism, using Marxism to mobilize and rouse the masses of workers and peasants, and carrying out worker and peasant movements to oppose imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism. However, it lacked a comprehensive and profound understanding of the basic Marxist principles of establishing a revolutionary armed force, carrying out violent revolution, and seizing state power through armed force. The “April 12” counter-revolutionary coup [3]3 The “April 12” counter-revolutionary coup refers to the purge of Communists and left-wing Kuomintang members by Chiang Kai-shek’s forces in Shanghai on April 12, 1927, marking a major break between the CPC and the Kuomintang. launched by Chiang Kai-shek, which brutally massacred Communists and progressive individuals, was the most direct and tragic negative teaching material. This negative teaching material, with its bloody facts and the lives of tens of thousands of martyrs, painfully taught the Chinese Communists that they must establish their own armed forces and use revolutionary armed force to repel counter-revolutionary armed force. It was precisely based on the profound lessons and intense shock of the “April 12” counter-revolutionary coup as a negative teaching material that the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong as their chief representative, put forward the brilliant thesis that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” [4]4 “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” is a famous thesis by Mao Zedong, first articulated at the August 7, 1927 emergency meeting of the CPC, emphasizing the necessity of armed struggle. It was also under the impetus of the policy of using revolutionary armed force to resist counter-revolutionary armed force that the CPC successively launched the Nanchang Uprising, the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and the Guangzhou Uprising, [5]5 The Nanchang Uprising (August 1, 1927), Autumn Harvest Uprising (September 1927), and Guangzhou Uprising (December 1927) were early armed uprisings led by the CPC against Kuomintang rule. unveiling the prelude to armed resistance against the Kuomintang, promoting the vigorous development of the worker-peasant revolutionary armed forces led by the CPC, and finally, with the support of the people across the country, smashing the old state apparatus, seizing national power through armed force, and establishing a new China where the people are the masters of the country. Without the negative teaching material of Chiang Kai-shek’s “April 12” counter-revolutionary coup, the Chinese Communists’ understanding and application of the basic Marxist principle of violent revolution would not have been so comprehensive, profound, and conscious.

运用反面教材是正面教育为主的全面补充。中国共产党成立伊始，注重传播马克思主义，用马克思主义动员、发动工农群众，开展工农运动，反对帝国主义、封建主义和官僚资本主义，但对建立革命武装、实行暴力革命、武装夺取政权的马克思主义的基本原理缺乏全面、深刻的认识。蒋介石发动的疯狂屠杀共产党人和进步人士的“四一二”反革命政变，是最直接、最惨烈的反面教材，这一反面教材用血淋淋的事实和数万烈士的生命，惨痛地教训了中国共产党人，必须建立自己的武装力量，以革命的武装来击退反革命的武装。正是基于“四一二”反革命政变这一反面教材的深刻教训和强烈震撼，以毛泽东同志为主要代表的中国共产党人提出了“枪杆子里面出政权”的光辉论断，也正是在以革命武装反抗反革命武装方针的推动下，中国共产党先后发动了南昌起义、秋收起义、广州起义，揭开了武装反抗国民党的序幕，推动了中国共产党领导的工农革命武装力量的蓬勃发展，在全国人民的支持下，最后砸碎了旧的国家机器，武装夺取了全国政权，建立了人民当家作主的新中国。没有蒋介石“四一二”反革命政变的反面教材，中国共产党人对马克思主义暴力革命基本原理的认识和运用就不会那么全面、深刻和自觉。

Utilizing negative teaching materials is a genuine supplement to the predominance of positive education. Positive education often involves learning theory, presenting facts, and reasoning from the positive side, describing positive or even ideal states. Positive education usually emphasizes “purifying the educational environment” and stresses an “aseptic and non-toxic” environment, but people, including young people, often do not live in a “vacuum” state but in the actual state of society. Humans are real people; the real social environment in which people, including youth, live is a complex social living environment. In this environment, there are both positive and uplifting aspects and negative and dark aspects; both positive models and negative models; both truth, goodness, and beauty, and falsehood, evil, and ugliness. In the real-life environment of our country, positive, uplifting, truthful, good, and beautiful things are the mainstream, while negative, dark, false, evil, and ugly things are the tributary. When we conduct ideological and political work, we must not only take positive, uplifting, truthful, good, and beautiful education as the main body but also not avoid the negative, dark, false, evil, and ugly things in social life. By using negative teaching materials—those involving the negative, dark, false, evil, and ugly—to educate people, we can enhance people’s consciousness in struggling against these negative, dark, false, evil, and ugly things, enable them to experience the hardships and frustrations of life in a complex social living environment, undergo tempering and training in adverse circumstances, make correct value choices amidst ideological collisions, and better adhere to and promote the positive, uplifting, truthful, good, and beautiful things in social life, thereby cultivating and practicing the core socialist values.

运用反面教材是正面教育为主的真实补充。正面教育往往是从正面学理论、摆事实、讲道理，讲的都是正面的甚至理想的状态。正面教育通常重视“净化育人环境”，强调“无菌无毒”的环境，而人们包括青年人往往不是生活在“真空”状态，而是生活在社会的现实状态。人是现实的人，人们包括青年生活其中的现实社会环境是一种复杂的社会生活环境。在这一环境中，既有积极向上的方面，又有消极阴暗的方面；既有正面的典型，又有负面的典型；既有真善美，又有假丑恶。我国现实生活环境中，积极向上的、正面的、真善美的东西是主流，消极阴暗的、负面的、假丑恶的东西是支流。我们进行思想政治工作，既要以积极向上的、正面的、真善美的教育为主体，又要不回避社会生活中的消极阴暗的、负面的、假丑恶的东西。通过运用消极阴暗的、负面的、假丑恶的反面教材来教育人们，可以使人们提高同消极阴暗的、负面的、假丑恶的东西作斗争的自觉性，在复杂的社会生活环境中经受生活的艰辛和坎坷，在逆境中接受摔打磨炼，在思想碰撞中作出正确的价值选择，更好地坚持和弘扬社会生活中积极向上的、正面的、真善美的东西，培育和践行社会主义核心价值观。

(III) Utilizing negative teaching materials is an effective way to carry out bottom-line education

（三）运用反面教材是开展底线教育的有效方式

Utilizing negative teaching materials to carry out bottom-line education is one of the most important and effective methods of ideological and political education in the New Era. The bottom line is an insurmountable red line, warning line, and high-voltage line; once breached, serious consequences will occur. The setting of the bottom line is not subjective or arbitrary but a scientific determination based on precise judgments of objective facts and internal and external environments. The quality and quantity of things are unified in measure. Measure is the quantitative limit that maintains the stability of a thing’s quality. Within a certain range of measure, the thing remains that thing; once it exceeds the range of measure, the thing transforms into another thing, a qualitative change occurs, and the nature of the thing changes. The bottom line is the critical point or critical line that maintains measure; every field has its bottom line. If the development of a certain person or thing breaches the bottom line, a qualitative change will occur, often leading to unpredictable, irreversible, fundamental, subversive, or even catastrophic consequences.

运用反面教材开展底线教育，是新时代思想政治教育最重要、最有效的方式之一。底线是不可逾越的红线、警戒线、高压线，一旦突破，就会出现严重后果。底线的设定不是主观任意的，而是基于对客观事实与内外环境的精确判断作出的科学设定。事物的质和量统一于度中。度是保持事物质的稳定性的数量界限。在一定的限度范围内该事物还是该事物，一旦超出度的范围，该事物就会转化为他事物，事物就会发生质变，事物的性质就会改变。底线就是保持度的临界点、临界线，各个领域都有底线。一定的人或事的发展，如果突破底线，就会发生质的变化，往往会产生不可预料的、难以逆转的、根本性、颠覆性甚至毁灭性的后果。

Some negative teachers become negative teaching materials precisely because the development of their persons or affairs has breached a certain bottom line and turned to the opposite side of things. Some people, as leading Party and government cadres, may have done many things for the Party and the people, but if their ideals and convictions slip, they are corroded and co-opted by those with ulterior motives, lose their vigilance, accept bribes, and may degenerate into corrupt elements. The Communist Party of China has clear, iron disciplinary requirements, including political discipline, life discipline, organizational discipline, and other requirements, which must be strictly followed and cannot be violated; violating or overstepping discipline will lead to mistakes. Leading Party and government cadres are public servants of the people; serving the people wholeheartedly is the Party’s fundamental purpose. Using power for personal gain fundamentally deviates from the Party’s fundamental purpose, deviates from the fundamental nature of the CPC, deviates from the Party’s original aspiration and founding mission, reverses the relationship between public servant and master, turns oneself into the master, acts arrogantly and domineeringly toward the people, or even uses the power in one’s hands to harm the people’s interests and line one’s own pockets, ultimately degenerating and changing one’s nature. Therefore, leading Party and government cadres must never use power for personal gain at any time; this is a bottom line. Whoever crosses this bottom line, red line, or high-voltage line will become an opponent of the people.

一些反面教员，之所以成为反面教材，就在于其人其事的发展突破了一定的底线，走向了事物的反面。有的人身为党员领导干部，为党和人民也做过不少事情，但如果理想信念滑坡，受到别有用心者的腐蚀拉拢，丧失了警觉，收受了贿赂，就有可能变成腐败分子。中国共产党有明确的铁的纪律要求，包括政治纪律、生活纪律、组织纪律等各种要求，必须严格遵循，不能违背，违背了、僭越了纪律就会犯错误。党员领导干部是人民群众的公仆，全心全意为人民服务是党的根本宗旨。以权谋私就会从根本上背离党的根本宗旨，背离中国共产党的根本性质，背离中国共产党的初心使命，颠倒公仆与主人的关系，把自己变为主人，对人民群众颐指气使、飞扬跋扈，甚至以手中的权力损害人民的利益、中饱私囊，最后蜕化变质。因此，党员领导干部任何时候都不能以权谋私，这就是一条底线，谁跨越了这条底线、红线、高压线，谁就会走向人民的对立面。

When carrying out bottom-line education, negative teaching materials should be effectively utilized to make the educated clearly aware of the serious consequences of breaching the bottom line. The bottom line often appears in the form of certain behavioral norms, which, through certain procedures, are elevated into Party discipline, Party regulations, laws, and regulations. Bottom-line education is the intersection of ideological and political education with management and the rule of law. The content of bottom-line education is to effectively use negative teaching materials to educate people, especially growing youth, so that they understand how negative teachers crossed the bottom line and ultimately embarked on the irreversible path of life. Let them understand what the most important bottom line in life is; once this bottom line is crossed, it may be irreversible and even lead to catastrophic results. Once an individual breaches the bottom line of morality and law, without timely correction, they will face public condemnation and legal sanctions. A businessman who breaches the bottom line of integrity will lose credibility and be unable to escape bankruptcy. Leading cadres who breach the bottom line of clean governance and self-discipline will ultimately ruin their future and destiny. Citizens who lose their patriotic stance and patriotic sentiment may betray the interests of the nation and the people, degenerating into “modern traitors” despised by the world. Therefore, bottom-line education, in the final analysis, means using negative teaching materials to strengthen Party discipline and legal education, clarify the bottom line, red line, and high-voltage line of life, always strictly abide by Party discipline and state laws, and become good Party members and good citizens who abide by discipline and law.

在开展底线教育时要有效地运用反面教材，使受教育者清醒地意识到突破底线的严重后果。底线往往以一定的行为规范的形式出现，通过一定的程序，上升为党纪党规和法律法规。底线教育是思想政治教育与管理、法治的交叉点。底线教育的内容，就是有效运用反面教材去教育人们，尤其是成长中的青少年，让他们知道反面教员如何越过底线，最后走上了人生不归路。让他们明白人生最重要的底线是什么，这个底线一旦越过，可能就是不可逆转的，甚至会导致毁灭性的结果。个人一旦突破道德和法律的底线，不及时矫正，就会受到舆论的谴责和法律的制裁。商人突破诚信底线，就会丧失信誉，难逃破产命运。领导干部突破廉洁自律的底线，终将断送前途命运。公民丧失爱国立场和爱国情怀，就有可能出卖国家民族的利益，沦为世人不齿的“现代汉奸”。因此，底线教育说到底，就是要运用反面教材，加强党纪、法治教育，明确人生的底线、红线、高压线，始终严守党纪法规，成为遵纪守法的好党员、好公民。

II. The Unique Advantages of Negative Teaching Materials in Ideological and Political Work

二、反面教材在思想政治工作中的独特优势

Negative things have a dual nature; they can both produce a negative effect of hindering people’s cognition and weakening their will, and a positive effect of stimulating people’s fighting spirit and providing warning and spur. Using negative figures, incidents, and setbacks as negative teaching materials can directly enable people to recognize the harm, causes, and lessons from them, prompting people to turn toward the good and achieve educational effects that positive education cannot achieve. Therefore, negative teaching materials have unique advantages in ideological and political work. These unique advantages are specifically manifested in the advantages of opposites complementing each other, comparison and identification, warning and alerting, and introspection and self-seeking.

反面的东西具有两面性，既可能产生阻碍人们认知、消磨意志的消极作用，也可能产生激发人们斗志、警示鞭策的积极作用。利用反面的人物、事例和挫折作为反面教材，能够直接让人们从中认清危害、原因及其教训，促使人们从正向善，达到正面教育达不到的教育效果。因此，反面教材在思想政治工作中具有独特优势，这种独特优势具体表现为相反相成、比较鉴别、警示警醒和反省内求的优势。

(I) The advantage of opposites complementing each other of negative teaching materials in ideological and political work

（一）反面教材在思想政治工作中的相反相成优势

Opposites complementing each other means that opposite things have unity, that is, the two aspects of a contradiction not only mutually exclude and mutually promote each other but also closely connect and transform into each other in the process of interaction, ultimately achieving unity.

相反相成是指相反的事物具有统一性，即矛盾的两个方面不仅相互排斥、相互促进，而且在相互作用中紧密联结、相互转化，最终达到统一。

In social practice and social life, positive matters and negative matters, correct things and erroneous things, always exist in relation to each other and develop through struggle. Mao Zedong pointed out: “We Chinese often say: ‘things that oppose each other also complement each other.’ … ‘Opposing each other’ means that two contradictory aspects mutually exclude or struggle with each other. ‘Complementing each other’ means that under certain conditions the two contradictory aspects become interconnected and attain identity.” [4]4 “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” is a famous thesis by Mao Zedong, first articulated at the August 7, 1927 emergency meeting of the CPC, emphasizing the necessity of armed struggle.333 He also emphasized: “Under certain conditions, a bad thing can lead to a good result, and a good thing can also lead to a bad result.” [1]1 The Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927-1937) was the period of the Chinese Communist Party’s armed struggle to establish rural base areas and oppose the Kuomintang’s rule, also known as the Second Revolutionary Civil War. Wang Ming (1904-1974) was a senior CPC leader whose dogmatic line caused significant damage to the Party.238 “Failure is the mother of success. If failure has no benefit, why is it the mother of success? If mistakes are made too many times, they will inevitably turn around.” [1]1 The Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927-1937) was the period of the Chinese Communist Party’s armed struggle to establish rural base areas and oppose the Kuomintang’s rule, also known as the Second Revolutionary Civil War. Wang Ming (1904-1974) was a senior CPC leader whose dogmatic line caused significant damage to the Party.136 Chen Yun also pointed out: “If bad things emerge, it does not matter; they can serve as negative teaching materials. Positive things are produced and developed precisely through continuous struggle against erroneous things.” [5]5 The Nanchang Uprising (August 1, 1927), Autumn Harvest Uprising (September 1927), and Guangzhou Uprising (December 1927) were early armed uprisings led by the CPC against Kuomintang rule.37 The mutual complementarity of opposites embodies the unique educational role and advantages of negative teaching materials in ideological and political work.

社会实践和社会生活中，正面的事情同负面的事情、正确的东西同错误的东西，总是相联系而存在、相斗争而发展。毛泽东指出：“我们中国人常说：‘相反相成’。……‘相反’就是说两个矛盾方面的互相排斥，或互相斗争。‘相成’就是说在一定条件之下两个矛盾方面互相联结起来，获得了同一性。”[4]333他还强调指出：“在一定条件下，坏的东西可以引出好的结果，好的东西也可以引出坏的结果。”[1]238“失败是成功之母。失败如果没有什么好处，为什么是成功之母？错误犯得太多了，一定要反过来。”[1]136陈云也曾指出：“出了不好的东西也不要紧，可以做反面教材。正面的东西是在不断同错误的东西的斗争中产生和发展的。”[5]37相反相成，体现了反面教材在思想政治工作中的独特教育作用和优势。

The positive is the function of the Way; the negative is the movement of the Way. [6]6 This is a classical Chinese philosophical formulation from the *Laozi* (Chapter 40), often rendered as “Reversal is the movement of the Way; weakness is the function of the Way.” The authors adapt it here to frame the dialectical role of negative teaching materials. That bad things can be transformed into good things lies in the fact that bad things possess a duality containing both bad and good aspects, which determines the possibility and direction of the transformation of contradictions; using bad things to educate the people can enable bad things to play the role of negative teachers; this is the condition for the transformation of contradictions. To draw good results from bad things, one must handle them properly, learn lessons from them, educate cadres and the masses, and overcome shortcomings in work; this is the correct method we must adopt. If the method is improper, contradictions will not transform, or may transform in the opposite direction. Therefore, the roles of positive models and negative models are both objective. We must not only guide people on what they should do through vigorous propaganda of positive models, but also pay attention to exposing and criticizing negative models to educate people on what they should not do.

正者道之用，反者道之动。坏事能够转化为好事，在于坏事具有包含坏的和好的两面性，决定了矛盾转化的可能和方向；运用坏事教育人民，可以使坏事起到反面教员的作用，这是矛盾转化的条件；要从坏事中引出好的结果，必须处理得当，从中接受教训，教育干部和群众，克服工作中的缺点，这是我们所要采取的正确方法。如果方法不当，矛盾也不会转化，或者会向相反的方向转化。因此，正面典型和反面典型的作用都是客观存在的。我们不仅要通过对正面典型的大力宣传，来引导人们应该怎么样，同时还要注重对反面典型进行揭露批判，教育人们不应该怎么样。

Criticizing erroneous ideological trends is an important pathway for the dissemination of Marxist theory. After the 1850s, Marx and Engels successively criticized and settled accounts with various erroneous ideological trends such as Proudhonism, Bakuninism, and Lassalleanism, thereby achieving the widespread dissemination of Marxism. Engels said: “The best road is to learn from one’s own mistakes, from painful experience.” [6]6 This is a classical Chinese philosophical formulation from the *Laozi* (Chapter 40), often rendered as “Reversal is the movement of the Way; weakness is the function of the Way.” The authors adapt it here to frame the dialectical role of negative teaching materials.458 Lenin said: “Openly admitting mistakes, exposing the causes of mistakes, analyzing the environment in which mistakes occurred, and carefully discussing methods for correcting mistakes—this is the hallmark of a serious party.” [7]7 Huang Kegong was a Red Army brigade commander and veteran of the Long March who, in 1937, murdered a female student after she rejected his marriage proposal. His execution, personally approved by Mao Zedong, was used as a high-profile case to enforce strict Party discipline and the principle of equality before the law.37 He also said: “We will not perish, because we are not afraid to speak of our weaknesses and are able to learn to overcome them.” [8]8 Zengzi (Zeng Shen, 505–435 BCE) was a disciple of Confucius. The quotation is from the *Analects* (Lunyu), Chapter 1, “Xue Er.”115 One’s own mistakes and setbacks provide profound lessons and leave indelible impressions. Openly admitting mistakes and setbacks and finding their causes often enables one to discover and grasp the laws of development of things from the unity of positive and negative aspects, correctly guiding and promoting the development of practice.

批判错误思潮是马克思主义理论传播的重要途径。19世纪50年代以后，马克思恩格斯先后对蒲鲁东主义、巴枯宁主义、拉萨尔主义等各种错误思潮进行了批判和清算，使马克思主义得到了广泛传播。恩格斯说：“最好的道路就是从本身的错误中、从痛苦的经验中学习。”[6]458列宁说：“公开承认错误，揭露犯错误的原因，分析产生错误的环境，仔细讨论改正错误的方法，——这才是一个郑重的党的标志。”[7]37他还说：“我们是不会灭亡的，因为我们不怕说出自己的弱点，并且能够学会克服弱点。”[8]115本身的错误和挫折会给人以深刻的教训，并留下难以磨灭的印象。公开承认错误和挫折，找到其原因，往往能够从正反两方面的统一中发现和掌握事物发展的规律，正确指导和推动实践的发展。

(II) The Comparative and Discriminative Advantage of Negative Teaching Materials in Ideological and Political Work

（二）反面教材在思想政治工作中的比较鉴别优势

Negative teaching materials possess a comparative and discriminative function. Through comparison between positive and negative aspects, one can discriminate the truth and falsehood of things, understand the essence of things, and achieve better educational results. In social life and practice, a large number of heroic model figures and their advanced deeds always emerge, as do some negative teaching materials. Only through comparison and discrimination can the broad masses of Party members and the people enhance their ability to distinguish right from wrong, draw lessons, overcome errors, and always advance along the correct path. Mao Zedong emphasized: “Only through comparison can there be discrimination. Only through discrimination and struggle can there be development. Truth develops in the course of struggle against falsehood.” [9]9 Confucius (Kongzi, 551–479 BCE) was the founder of Confucianism. The quotation is from the *Analects*, Chapter 4, “Li Ren.”186 “We must advocate correct things and oppose erroneous things, but we should not fear people coming into contact with erroneous things.” [9]9 Confucius (Kongzi, 551–479 BCE) was the founder of Confucianism. The quotation is from the *Analects*, Chapter 4, “Li Ren.”187 “The existence of certain erroneous things is not strange, nor is it something to be feared; it can enable people to better learn to struggle against them.” [9]9 Confucius (Kongzi, 551–479 BCE) was the founder of Confucianism. The quotation is from the *Analects*, Chapter 4, “Li Ren.”187 For a long time, some people have been puzzled by China’s steadfast adherence to the leadership of the Communist Party of China and its absolute refusal to adopt Western multi-party rotation in power, failing to recognize the superiority of China’s political party system. The chaotic phenomena in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other Western countries—where multi-party rotation in power leads to intensified partisan strife, national unrest, social turbulence, and sluggish development—prove from the negative side the correctness of China’s treatment of upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China as the most essential feature and greatest advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics.

反面教材具有比较鉴别功能，通过正反两方面的比较，来鉴别事物的真伪，认识事物的本质，可以达到更好的教育效果。社会生活和实践中总会涌现出大量英雄模范人物及其先进事迹，也会出现一些反面教材。通过比较鉴别，才能促进广大党员、群众提高辨别是非的能力，汲取教训，克服错误，始终沿着正确的方向前进。毛泽东强调指出：“有比较才能鉴别。有鉴别，有斗争，才能发展。真理是在同谬误作斗争中间发展起来的。”[9]186“我们要提倡正确的东西，反对错误的东西，但是不要害怕人们接触错误的东西。”[9]187“某些错误东西的存在是并不奇怪的，也是用不着害怕的，这可以使人们更好地学会同它作斗争。”[9]187长期以来，一些人对我国始终坚持中国共产党的领导而绝不搞西方多党轮流执政的问题有所不解，认识不到中国政党制度的优越性。美国、英国等西方国家多党轮流执政导致党争加剧、国无宁日、社会动荡、发展乏力等乱象丛生，从反面证明了中国把坚持中国共产党的领导作为中国特色社会主义制度最本质特征和最大优势的正确性。

Historically, positive figures and negative figures, heroes and treacherous villains, loyal ministers and treacherous ministers, founders of dynasties and rulers who brought about national ruin have all objectively existed, providing people with opportunities to compare and discriminate their historical roles. In the history of the Song Dynasty, Yue Fei and Qin Hui—one a patriotic hero who served the country with utmost loyalty and resisted foreign aggression, the other a historical traitor who persecuted loyal officials and sought glory by betraying the country—when compared, loyalty and treachery are immediately distinguished, making them the best historical teaching materials for promoting the spirit of patriotism and opposing acts of betrayal in contemporary China. Chinese history has positive teachers and negative teachers; world history also has positive teachers and negative teachers. Hitler launched the Second World War, plunging numerous countries into the flames of war, with nations destroyed and people slaughtered. His war of aggression against the Soviet Union caused the Soviet Union to suffer enormous losses in personnel and property. Stalin and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union led the entire people to rise up in resistance and ultimately defeat the fascist aggression of Hitler, becoming a positive model for safeguarding the sovereignty, security, and world peace of the Soviet Union, and creating conditions for long-term peaceful development in the postwar world.

从历史来看，正面人物与反面人物、英雄和奸雄、忠臣与奸臣、创业之主与亡国之君在历史上都客观存在，为人们提供了比较鉴别其历史作用的机会。宋史中的岳飞与秦桧，一个是精忠报国、抗击外侮的爱国英雄，一个是迫害忠良、卖国求荣的历史奸臣，两相比较，忠奸立辨，成为当代中国弘扬爱国主义精神、反对卖国行为的最佳历史教材。中国历史上有正面的教员，有反面的教员，世界历史上也有正面的教员和反面教员。希特勒发动第二次世界大战，使大批国家陷入战火之中，国破家亡、生灵涂炭。其对苏联发动的侵略战争导致苏联蒙受了巨大的人员财产损失。而斯大林和苏联共产党率领全国人民奋起反抗并最终打败希特勒法西斯的侵略，成为维护苏联主权、安全以及世界和平的正面典型，为战后世界的长期和平发展作出了贡献、创造了条件。

Ideological and political work insists on comparing positive things with negative things, comparing Yue Fei and Qin Hui, Stalin and Hitler, and doing so objectively within the historical and contemporary orientation of both China and the world. Only then can it more clearly distinguish the essential differences between patriotism and betrayal, between peace defenders and war aggressors, better uphold patriotism, safeguard world peace, and promote the development of China and the world along the correct path.

思想政治工作坚持把正面的东西同反面的东西加以比较，把岳飞和秦桧、斯大林和希特勒加以比较，而且是放在历史与现实、本国与世界的历史方位中进行客观比较，才能更加清楚地辨别爱国主义与卖国主义、和平维护者和战争侵害者之间的本质区别，更好地坚持爱国主义，维护世界和平，促进中国和世界沿着正确的方向发展。

(III) The Warning and Alerting Advantage of Negative Teaching Materials in Ideological and Political Work

（三）反面教材在思想政治工作中的警示警醒优势

Utilizing negative teaching materials to highlight the serious harm of negative models, incidents, and cases can produce a strong warning and alerting educational effect on the broad masses of Party cadres, the people, and young people. Xi Jinping once emphasized: “Strengthen negative education, so that Party cadres fully recognize the harm of violating laws and discipline, and through strengthening the deterrent effect, make them ‘dare not do it.’” [10]10 Reference [16]293 is a citation from a Chinese scholarly work on the ideological changes after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.70 Selecting and using certain negative teaching material cases with warning and educational significance to educate oneself and others can not only make the parties involved self-alert but also shock others, using this as a mirror and sounding the alarm bell continuously.

运用反面教材，突出负面典型、事件、案例的严重危害，能够对广大党员干部、人民群众和青少年起到强烈的警醒警示教育。习近平曾强调：“加强反面教育，使党员领导干部充分认识到违法违纪的危害，通过强化警示作用使其‘不敢为’。”[10]70选择运用一些具有一定警示教育意义的反面教材案例，来教育本人以及他人，不仅能够使当事人自我警醒，更能震撼他人，以此为鉴，警钟长鸣。

Negative models represent erroneous and backward ideas and concepts, and their thoughts and behaviors have a certain negative influence. Using negative models to educate the masses allows people to draw lessons from negative models, enhance their ability to ideologically distinguish and behaviorally restrain themselves, and strengthen their capacity for self-protection. During the Yan’an period, the Party made full use of the Huang Kegong incident—where an individual who prided himself on his merits but committed serious illegal and disciplinary violations—to educate Party cadres, purify the Party’s ranks, and enhance the cohesion and combat effectiveness of Party organizations. [7]7 Huang Kegong was a Red Army brigade commander and veteran of the Long March who, in 1937, murdered a female student after she rejected his marriage proposal. His execution, personally approved by Mao Zedong, was used as a high-profile case to enforce strict Party discipline and the principle of equality before the law. In his letter to Lei Jingtian, president of the Higher Court of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, Mao Zedong explicitly demanded: “The Communist Party and the Red Army must enforce stricter discipline on their own Party members and Red Army members than on ordinary civilians.” [11]11 A paraphrase of a phrase from Jiang Zemin’s “Three Represents” theory, emphasizing that power and benefits should serve the people.39 Huang Kegong was ultimately executed according to law. Although a senior Red Army general who had committed errors was lost, it served as a warning and alert to the vast number of Red Army commanders and fighters. Red Army soldiers, especially commanders, could only demand even stricter self-discipline, without any privilege to place themselves above the law.

反面典型是错误落后思想观念的代表，其思想行为有一定的负面影响力。运用反面典型教育群众，可以从反面典型身上汲取教训，提高人们的思想辨别能力和行为约束能力，增强自我防范能力。党在延安时期充分利用自恃有功却严重违法犯罪的黄克功事件教育党员干部，纯洁了党的队伍，提高了党组织的凝聚力和战斗力。毛泽东在给陕甘宁边区高等法院院长雷经天的信中明确要求：“共产党与红军，对于自己的党员与红军成员不能不执行比较一般平民更加严格的纪律。”[11]39黄克功最终被依法处决，虽然损失了一名犯了错误的红军高级将领，但却警示、警醒了广大的红军指战员。红军战士特别是指挥员，只能更加严格地要求自己，而不能有任何凌驾于法律的特权。

In real life, some leading cadres have experienced a collapse of their ideals and convictions, engaging in large-scale power-for-money deals, wildly abusing their power for personal gain, and even allowing or indulging their spouses, children, and office staff to violate laws and discipline. The spread of corruption not only buries the future of individuals but also harms the fundamental interests of the people and endangers the future and destiny of the Party and the state. Xi Jinping pointed out: “If these problems are not tackled with great effort, they will spread like an infectious disease, ultimately severely harming the Party’s body.” [12]12 A reference to the anti-corruption documentary series produced by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and China Central Television, first aired in 2023.154 He repeatedly emphasized that Party members and cadres must abide by political discipline and political rules, and deeply draw lessons from the cases of Zhou Yongk

现实生活中，一些领导干部理想信念滑坡，大搞权钱交易，疯狂以权谋私，甚至放任或放纵其配偶、子女、身边工作人员违法违纪。腐败现象蔓延，不仅会葬送个人的前途，还会损害人民的根本利益，危害党和国家的前途命运。习近平指出：“这些问题如不下大气力整治，就会像传染病一样蔓延开来，最终严重危害党的肌体。”[12]154他反复强调，党员干部一定要遵守政治纪律和政治规矩，深刻汲取周永康、薄熙来、徐才厚、郭伯雄、令计划、苏荣等案件的教训[13]349。一个反面教员，往往胜过一本教科书。每一位领导干部，都应当从生活中的反面教材认真汲取教训，时刻警醒警示自己，正确处理事业与家庭、原则与亲情的关系，以令人信服的清廉形象言传身教，以严正的家风影响周围，净化社会风气，弘扬人间正气。

(4) The Advantage of Introspective Self-Seeking in Ideological and Political Work through Negative Teaching Materials

（四）反面教材在思想政治工作中的反省内求优势

Negative teaching materials exert a strong psychological warning effect, and in ideological and political work, they can prompt people to engage in introspective self-seeking, to emulate the worthy when seeing them, and to engage in self-reflection when seeing the unworthy.

反面教材给人以强烈的心理警示作用，在思想政治工作中能促使人反省内求、见贤思齐、见不贤而内自省。

Introspective self-seeking is a principle of Confucian self-cultivation and an important requirement of ideological and political work. Zengzi said: “I daily examine myself on three points.” [14]14 A Chinese idiom meaning to take an action that warns someone indirectly, often used in the context of using punishment of one person to deter others.11 Confucius said: “When you see a worthy person, think of becoming equal to them; when you see an unworthy person, reflect inwardly on yourself.” [15]15 A metaphor from Mao Zedong’s writings, meaning to analyze a typical case in depth to understand general principles.34 Ideological and political work must not only guide and encourage people to take advanced models as examples, consciously align themselves with them, narrow the gap with them, and make progress in the process of learning from and emulating them; it must also guide people to engage in self-reflection when seeing the unworthy, using negative models as a reference to reflect on their own words and deeds, to examine themselves for any unworthiness, and thereby enhance their consciousness in abiding by Party discipline, state laws, and social moral norms through regular reflective self-examination.

反省内求是儒家的修养原则，也是思想政治工作的重要要求。曾子曰：“吾日三省吾身。”[14]11孔子曰：“见贤思齐焉，见不贤而内自省也。”[15]34思想政治工作不仅要引导、鼓励人们以先进典型为榜样，自觉向先进典型看齐，缩小同先进典型的差距，使自己在学习效仿先进典型的过程中取得进步，还要引导人们见不贤而内省，以负面典型为参照，反省反思自己的言行，对照检查自己有无不贤之处，从而在经常的反省自查中增强遵守党纪国法和社会道德规范的自觉性。

Negative teaching materials possess the advantage of reflection through contrast and comparison. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, freedom was gained, but bread was lost. Some intellectuals who had actively promoted liberalization, democratization, and the capitalist path began to reflect, and their thinking changed. A prominent manifestation of these changes was a re-examination and re-evaluation of the Soviet era, a profound expression of the shift in overall social sentiment after the great historical turn. A considerable number of people recognized that they had previously held biased views and realized the need to adjust and correct them in a timely manner. A few even deeply regretted their past words and deeds opposing the Soviet regime and the socialist system. It can be seen that their reflection on the past was, to a certain extent, triggered by the harsh realities following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Here, negative teaching materials played a considerable role; without such negative lessons, some people might not have awakened. It is precisely for this reason that many people combined their reflection on the past with their critique of the present [16]293. Without the stark contrast provided by negative teaching materials, and without the clear comparison with positive teaching materials, it would be impossible to touch and provoke people’s reflection and introspection from the depths of their souls, nor would there be any further elevation of people’s ideological understanding. The immense disparity after the dissolution of the Soviet Union not only shocked and educated the people of the former Soviet region but also broadly educated people across the world.

反面教材具有对照比较的反省优势。苏联解体后，自由有了，面包却没了，曾经积极推动自由化、民主化，走资本主义道路的部分知识分子开始了反思，思想发生了变化。这些变化的一个突出表现，是对苏维埃时代的重新审视和再度评价，这是历史大转折后整个社会情绪变化的深刻体现。相当多的人认识到自己过往存在失之偏颇的看法，并意识到有必要适时调整和改正。还有少数人为自己过去反对苏维埃政权和社会主义制度的言行悔恨不已。可以看出，他们对过去的反思在一定程度上是由苏联解体后的残酷现实引发的，在这里反面教材起了相当大的作用，没有这种反面的教训，有些人可能还清醒不过来。正是由于这个原因，很多人把对过去的反思与对现实的批判结合起来[16]293。没有反面教材带来的强烈反差，没有同正面教材的鲜明对照，就不可能从灵魂深处触动和引发人们的反思反省，也就没有人们思想认识的再提高。苏联解体后的巨大落差，不仅震撼教育了原苏联地区的人民，也广泛教育了世界各国人民。

Negative teaching materials possess the advantage of internal seeking through incentive and regulation. Negative teaching materials can promote self-reflection and inward self-examination, thereby enhancing people’s awareness of self-prevention and avoiding repeating the same mistakes. In real life, some people come from impoverished backgrounds and harsh living conditions, changing their life circumstances through their own efforts and struggles. However, under the influence of various factors, they often forget their own hardships and struggles, indulge in their past successes, covet the extravagant lives of others, abandon strict demands on themselves, and embark on the path of pursuing vanity, pursuing luxury, abusing power for personal gain, and embezzling and breaking the law. Such negative teaching materials leave a profound impression; they show that people do not become bad from the outset, but under the influence of negative factors, they may abandon their pursuits and ultimately take the irreversible path of life. Others once created brilliance in their careers, but became complacent, arrogant, subjective, and dogmatic, making blind decisions, and with one wrong move, lost everything. By using such negative teaching materials, regularly engaging in self-examination and internal seeking, and drawing lessons from others’ mistakes, failures, and setbacks as a warning, one can avoid or reduce detours, better promoting personal development and career progress.

反面教材具有激励调节的内求优势。反面教材可以促进人们反躬自省、内求诸己，从而增强自我防范意识，避免重蹈覆辙。现实生活中，有的人出身贫寒，生活艰苦，靠自己的努力与奋斗改变了生活命运，但在各种因素的作用下，往往忘记了自己的艰辛与奋斗，沉溺于自己过往的成功，贪恋别人的奢侈生活，放弃了对自己的严格要求，走上了追求虚荣、追求奢靡、以权谋私、贪赃枉法的道路。这种反面教材给人的印象是深刻的，它说明人并不是一开始就变坏的，而是在负面因素的影响下，有可能放弃自己的追求，最后走上了人生的不归路。还有的人在事业上曾经创造辉煌，但骄傲自满，狂妄自大，主观武断，盲目决策，一着不慎，满盘皆输。运用这样的反面教材，时常进行自省内求，从别人的错误、失败、挫折中汲取经验教训，引以为戒，就可以不走或少走弯路，更好地促进人生的发展和事业的进步。

3. The Effective Application of Negative Teaching Materials in Ideological and Political Work

三、反面教材在思想政治工作中的有效运用

The application of negative teaching materials is indispensable in ideological and political work. Using and leveraging negative teaching materials well is not only an important method of ideological and political work but also an art of ideological and political work. In the New Era, it is necessary to deeply explore how to effectively use negative teaching materials to carry out ideological and political work, focusing on the selective application, vivid application, and deep application of negative teaching materials, and continuously improving the effectiveness of using negative teaching materials in ideological and political work.

反面教材的运用在思想政治工作中不可或缺，运用和利用好反面教材既是思想政治工作的重要方法，又是思想政治工作的一门艺术。新时代，要深入探索如何有效运用反面教材开展思想政治工作的问题，注重反面教材在思想政治工作中的选择运用、生动运用、深度运用，不断提高运用反面教材开展思想政治工作的实效。

(1) The Selective Application of Negative Teaching Materials in Ideological and Political Work

（一）反面教材在思想政治工作中的选择运用

Negative teaching materials must be carefully selected based on the targets, tasks, characteristics, and actual needs of ideological and political education, ensuring targeted action and improving the pertinence, precision, and effectiveness of their application.

反面教材要根据思想政治教育的对象、任务、特点和实际需要精心加以选择，做到有的放矢，提高反面教材运用的针对性、精准性和有效性。

First, the application of negative teaching materials must be targeted. The key to using negative teaching materials well lies in selecting corresponding negative teaching materials based on the actual targets, tasks, characteristics, and needs in ideological and political work. For Party members and cadres, especially senior cadres, negative models who once held leadership positions but abused power for personal gain and degenerated into corrupt elements should be selected as cases for warning education. Party members and cadres should be organized to attend the trials of duty-related crimes in court, personally experiencing the solemnity of the courtroom and witnessing former leaders and colleagues standing in the dock to repent. This will greatly shock and deeply move the attendees. For ideological and political education of college students, attention should be paid to selecting former college students who later became criminals for education, showing how they went from being pillars of the nation to committing crimes and self-destruction. Therefore, this type of education has pertinence, precision, and comparability, and is an effective method of warning education.

第一，反面教材运用要有针对性。运用好反面教材的关键，在于根据思想政治工作中的实际对象、任务、特点和需要，选择与之相应的反面教材。对于党员干部尤其是高级干部来讲，要选择曾经担任过领导职务而以权谋私沦为贪污腐败分子的反面典型作为警示教育的案例，并组织党员干部到职务犯罪庭审现场旁听，亲身感受法庭的庄严，亲眼目睹昔日的领导、同事站在被告席上忏悔，这会让旁听人员感受到极大触动和心灵震撼。对大学生思想政治教育来说，要注重选择曾经的大学生、后来的犯罪分子进行教育，看看他们如何从国家的栋梁之材走上违法犯罪、自我毁灭的道路。因此，这种教育具有针对性、精准性和可比性，是警示教育的有效方式。

Second, the application of negative teaching materials must be flexible. When using negative teaching materials, attention must first be paid to the reasonable selection of cases and the flexible choice of timing. The selection of cases mainly depends on whether the occurrence, development, and outcome of the case have a meaningful connection with the current educational targets, and whether they can produce a corresponding warning and educational effect. Based on this, negative teaching materials that match the educational targets should be flexibly selected, so that people can suddenly awaken and take warning from the consequences of others’ similar behaviors. Of course, there is also the issue of flexibly choosing the educational timing. That is, on the basis of analyzing and judging the development of the situation, combined with the optimal timing of the educational targets’ psychological activities, negative teaching materials should be selected and used to achieve the best educational effect. The educational effect of using negative teaching materials should be promptly evaluated. If the effect is poor, timely adjustments should be made, grasping the optimal timing for using specific negative teaching materials to carry out educational guidance, and enhancing the flexibility and matching degree of applying negative teaching materials in a timely manner.

第二，反面教材运用要有灵活性。利用反面教材，首先要注意案例的合理选取和时机的灵活选择，案例的选择主要是看案例的发生、发展、结局与当前的教育对象有无意义上的关联，是否能够产生相应的警示教育作用，以此来灵活选择与教育对象相适配的反面教材，以便使人们从他人与自己相近的行为后果中幡然醒悟、以此为戒。当然，这里还存在教育时机的灵活选择问题，就是在分析研判事态发展的基础上，结合教育对象心理活动的最佳时机来选择使用好反面教材，才会达到最佳的教育效果。反面教材使用要及时评估其教育效果，如果效果不佳，就要及时加以调整，把握运用特定反面教材开展教育引导的最佳时机，增强适时运用反面教材的灵活性和匹配度。

Third, the use of negative teaching materials must be measured. Correctly using negative teaching materials to carry out education requires attention to grasping the measure of their use and properly handling the degree of negative education. Otherwise, it will amplify the negative impact of the negative material and produce the opposite educational effect. In our society, positive things are the mainstream, while negative things are a tributary; the primary and secondary cannot be reversed. At present, the cases of corrupt elements disseminated by mass media and self-media are too numerous, with too much process and too many details; some are purely aimed at attracting traffic and audiences, profiting from sensationalism, which often leads to counterproductive educational results. The selection and use of negative teaching materials must pay attention to the distinction between court trials and media dissemination, between intra-Party education and extra-Party education, and between adults and minors. Otherwise, blurring these distinctions and blindly or excessively using negative teaching materials may lead people to develop psychological shadows, amplify the dark side of society, cause people to become accustomed to negative examples and take them lightly, thereby producing a negative impact. Therefore, negative education must not only focus on accuracy and timeliness but also on measure. Only by grasping the key point of measure can the effectiveness of negative education be continuously improved.

第三，反面教材运用要有尺度性。正确运用反面教材开展教育，要注意掌握反面教材运用的尺度，把握好反面教育的度。否则，就会放大反面素材的负面影响，产生相反的教育效果。我国社会正面的东西占主流，负面的东西是支流，不能颠倒主次。现在，大众传媒和自媒体传播的贪污腐败分子的案例过多、过程过多、细节过多，有的纯粹是吸引流量和受众，以猎奇来谋利，往往会导致适得其反的教育效果。反面教材的选择运用，要注重法庭审判和媒介传播有区别，党内教育和党外教育有区别，成年人和未成年人有区别，否则，混淆这些区别，盲目、过度运用反面教材，可能导致人们形成心理阴影，放大社会阴暗面，造成人们对反面事例的司空见惯而不以为然，从而产生消极影响。因此，反面教育不仅要注重准、注重时，还要注重度。把握好度量关键点，才能不断提高反面教育的有效性。

(II) The Vivid Application of Negative Teaching Materials in Ideological and Political Work

（二）反面教材在思想政治工作中的生动运用

When applying negative teaching materials in ideological and political work, attention should be paid to using negative role models and negative instructors’ personal testimonies for education, enhancing the sense of authenticity, reality, and situational immersion. New media and other methods should be used to three-dimensionally reproduce the objective process, typical cases, and psychological journey of negative instructors and negative role models as they move toward the negative side. The ideological interaction between negative role models and the people should also be strengthened, etc., so that through vivid methods, people are subjected to visual impact and spiritual shock.

反面教材在思想政治工作中运用时，要注重运用反面典型、反面教员的现身说法进行教育，增强真实感、现实感、情景感。要运用新媒体等多种方式立体再现反面教员、反面典型走向反面的客观过程、典型事例和心路历程。还要加强反面典型和人们的思想互动，等等，通过生动的方式使人们受到视觉的冲击和心灵的撞击。

First, the personal testimony of negative role models. Warning education is conducted through legal on-site education activities such as prisoners in prison giving personal testimonies, reading confessions, and introducing their criminal psychological journey. In the real setting of a prison, seeing former leaders or colleagues become persons involved in a case brings a very great shock and impact, warning that one could also make mistakes oneself, thereby deeply drawing lessons, consciously accepting education, strictly demanding oneself, tightening the discipline string, and always maintaining clean governance and self-discipline in work and life. By visiting the prison cell environment, understanding the supervision and reform methods of prisoners, and learning that the wall between inside and outside the prison represents two different worlds in life, one continuously enhances the consciousness of clean governance and self-discipline, effectively achieving that “power is exercised for the people” and “benefits are sought for the people,” [11]11 A paraphrase of a phrase from Jiang Zemin’s “Three Represents” theory, emphasizing that power and benefits should serve the people. and forging a solid line of defense against corruption and for clean governance.

第一，反面典型的现身说法。通过监狱里的服刑人员现身说法、念读忏悔录、介绍犯罪心理历程等法治现场教育活动进行警示教育。在监狱真实情境中目睹昔日的一些领导、同事成为案中人，会受到非常大的冲击和震撼，警示自己也有可能犯错误，从而深刻汲取教训，自觉接受教育，严格要求自己，绷紧纪律之弦，在工作中、生活中时刻保持廉洁自律。通过参观监狱监舍环境，了解犯人的监管和改造手段等有关情况，了解高墙内外一墙之隔，却是人生两重天，进而不断增强廉洁自律的自觉性，切实做到“权为民所用”“利为民所谋”，铸牢反腐倡廉防线。

Second, the three-dimensional reproduction of negative teaching materials. Turning negative teaching materials into documentary form and using multimedia, new media, micro-media, and other carriers to vividly and three-dimensionally reproduce them to the public is an intuitive and effective method of warning education. By watching the anti-corruption special film *Always Blow the Charge*, [12]12 A reference to the anti-corruption documentary series produced by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and China Central Television, first aired in 2023. and warning education films such as *The Harm of Fly-and-Ant Graft*, *Strongly Breaking “Networks” and Removing “Umbrellas” to Deepen the Crackdown on Organized Crime*, and *The “Rat Nest” in the “Ivory Tower”*, [13]13 Titles of Chinese anti-corruption warning education films, using colloquial terms for low-level corruption (“fly-and-ant graft”) and metaphors for protection networks (“umbrellas”) and corrupt academic institutions (“ivory tower rat nest”). vivid warning education combining text, images, sound, and emotion can be carried out, skillfully using “persons involved in cases” to awaken “persons in dreams.” The documentary filmed based on Xinjiang’s counter-terrorism operations uses negative teaching materials to restore the “counter-terrorism scene,” delineate legal red lines, and powerfully shock and awaken the world. In the new media era, with the emergence of the mobile internet, micro-media and self-media have penetrated every aspect of life. Platforms such as Douyin should be used to conduct in-depth and vivid anti-corruption and clean governance education by utilizing negative teaching materials.

第二，反面教材的立体再现。将反面教材拍成记录片形式，并运用多媒体、新媒体、微媒体等载体，生动形象地立体再现给大众，是警示教育的直观有效方式。通过观看反腐专题片《永远吹冲锋号》，警示教育片《蝇贪蚁腐之害》《强力破“网”打“伞”深化扫黑除恶》《“象牙塔”里的“硕鼠窝”》等，能够图文声情并茂地进行生动的警示教育，善用“案中人”唤醒“梦中人”。运用新疆反恐行动拍成的纪录片，就是通过反面教材还原“反恐现场”，划出法律底线，有力地震撼和警醒了世人。新媒体时代，随着移动互联网的出现，微媒体、自媒体渗透到生活的方方面面，要运用抖音等平台，利用反面教材，生动深入地开展反腐倡廉教育。

Third, ideological interaction with negative role models. Make good use of resources such as open court hearings, on-site confessions of Party members and officials who have violated discipline, and warning education conferences; strengthen ideological interaction between criminals and observers, between law enforcers and observers, and among observers; adhere to “one case, one analysis”; earnestly conduct self-examination and comparison; achieve genuine ideological impact; and promptly transform negative typical case resources into educational resources and fundamental governance resources, so that the vast number of Party members, officials, and the people are alerted, understand the bottom line, and know to hold in awe. Each negative typical case reveals the ideological roots of disciplinary, regulatory, and legal violations, releases the deterrent force of discipline and law, awakens the conscious awareness of the vast number of Party members to struggle against disciplinary, regulatory, and legal violations, and produces a warning effect akin to “hitting the grass to startle the snake.” [14]14 A Chinese idiom meaning to take an action that warns someone indirectly, often used in the context of using punishment of one person to deter others. Making good use of negative teaching materials, clearly explaining the process of degeneration of negative role models, and clarifying vague ideological understandings through interaction can play a role in correcting public opinion, clarifying right and wrong, and abiding by rules.

第三，反面典型的思想互动。用好用活旁听案件公开庭审、违纪党员干部的现场忏悔、警示教育大会等资源，加强犯罪者和旁听者、执法者和旁听者、旁听者和旁听者之间的思想互动，坚持“一案一剖析”，认真对照检查，思想上真正有所触动，及时将反面典型案例资源转化为教育资源和治本资源，让广大党员干部和人民群众受警醒、明底线、知敬畏。一个个反面典型案例，揭示了违纪违规违法问题的思想根源，释放了纪律法律的震慑力量，唤醒了广大党员同违规违纪违法行为作斗争的自觉意识，产生了“敲山震虎”的警示作用。用好用活反面教材，讲清楚反面典型的堕落过程，互动中澄清模糊的思想认识，可以起到正视听、明是非、守规矩的作用。

(III) The In-Depth Application of Negative Teaching Materials in Ideological and Political Work

（三）反面教材在思想政治工作中的深度运用

A large number of negative teaching materials have accumulated both in ancient and modern times, at home and abroad. Ideological and political work should be adept at deeply applying these negative teaching materials, not only knowing what they are but also knowing why they are so. Through systematic collation, in-depth analysis, and critical construction, the actual effect of using negative teaching materials in ideological and political work to educate, enlighten, and guide people should be continuously improved.

古今中外已集聚大量的反面教材，思想政治工作要善于深度运用这些反面教材，不仅要知其然，更要知其所以然。通过系统整理、深度剖析和批判建构，不断提高思想政治工作运用反面教材教育启示引导人们的实际效果。

First, the systematic collation of negative teaching materials. Negative teaching materials are complex; only through systematic collation can the most solid foundation be laid for fully leveraging the positive role of negative teaching materials. Classifying and collating them according to the phenomena and nature of the negative teaching materials is the most critical step. For example, negative teaching materials on bribery and corruption have the same harmful nature, but their forms of expression and characteristics differ. There are negative teaching materials on waste and extravagance, on using public office for private gain, on power-for-money deals, and on disguised bribery. Similarly, negative incidents of college students harming others have vastly different underlying motives: some are due to psychological jealousy and distortion leading to malicious harm, some are due to misunderstanding and deception leading to passive harm, and some are due to trivial life matters leading to harm. Only by classifying and collating negative teaching materials and establishing a database of negative teaching materials can conditions be created for targeted in-depth application of negative teaching materials.

第一，反面教材的系统整理。反面教材繁杂，只有进行系统整理，才能为充分发挥好反面教材的正向作用奠定最有力的基础。根据反面教材的现象及其性质进行整理分类，这是最关键的环节。同样是贿赂腐败的反面教材，其危害性质相同，但其表现形式和特点却有差异。如挥霍浪费类反面教材、假公济私类反面教材、权钱交易类反面教材、变相贿赂类反面教材等。同样是大学生伤人的负面事件，其背后动机大相径庭，有的是因为心理妒忌扭曲而恶意伤害他人，有的是因为误解蒙蔽而被动伤害他人，有的是因为生活琐事而伤害他人等。只有对反面教材进行分类整理，建立反面教材资料库，才能为有针对性地深度运用反面教材创造条件。

Second, the in-depth analysis of negative teaching materials. Only by analyzing the many phenomena presented in negative teaching materials and excavating the deep-seated roots behind the phenomena—such as ideological and political roots, social and historical roots, economic interest roots, and domestic and international environmental factors—can we precisely focus on the problems presented by the negative teaching materials, trace them to their sources, and adopt targeted, in-depth, and forceful measures to solve them. Ideological and political work must seek truth from facts in conducting in-depth analysis of negative teaching materials, select representative typical cases, and through “dissecting a sparrow,” [15]15 A metaphor from Mao Zedong’s writings, meaning to analyze a typical case in depth to understand general principles. analyze the trajectory of development and change of negative instructors and negative role models, and deeply analyze how they moved from the positive to the negative. This analysis must be factual, objective, in-depth, and accurate; subjective assumptions, emotional indulgence, and exaggeration must be avoided. Some important media, especially central media, have successively established dedicated columns, such as *News Panorama* on China National Radio, *Focus Interview* and *Today’s Legal Report* on China Central Television. These columns focus on sensitive issues in social life, promptly reporting and analyzing cases and causes related to environmental pollution, food safety hazards, credibility crises, and illegal cases, playing a positive role in promoting people’s reflection on and prevention of such phenomena.

第二，反面教材的深度剖析。只有对反面教材中呈现出来的诸多现象进行剖析，挖掘现象背后的深层次根源，如思想政治根源、社会历史根源、经济利益根源和国内外环境因素等，才能针对反面教材呈现出来的问题精准聚焦、追根溯源，才能采取有针对性、有深度、有力度的措施加以解决。思想政治工作一定要实事求是地对反面教材进行深度剖析，选取具有代表性的典型案例，通过“解剖麻雀”，分析反面教员、反面典型的发展变化轨迹，深刻剖析如何从正面走向反面。这种分析一定要实事求是、客观、深入、准确，切勿主观臆断、感情用事、夸大其词。一些重要媒体特别是中央媒体相继设立专有栏目，如中央人民广播电台的《新闻纵横》、中央电视台的《焦点访谈》和《今日说法》等栏目，关注社会生活中的敏感问题，及时报道和分析了环境污染、食品隐患、诚信危机、违法案件等方面的事例及其原因，对人们反思和防止诸如此类现象的发生，起到了积极的促进作用。

Third, the critical use of negative teaching materials. The use of negative teaching materials is aimed at achieving the intended purpose of positive education. Therefore, with regard to negative teaching materials, one cannot stop at listing phenomena or at in-depth analysis; rather, one must critically use negative teaching materials to educate the people, especially the vast number of Party members, officials, and young people. From the selection and use of negative teaching materials, to the choice of educational forms, the advancement of the educational process, and what educational results will be produced, everything must be clearly understood. In the process of using negative teaching materials, the emphasis is on criticism: overcoming the errors and harms of negative teaching materials, negative instructors, negative incidents, and negative role models; eliminating the roots of errors and their harms; persisting in using Marxism, especially Marxism adapted to the Chinese context and the needs of the times, to forge souls and educate people; solving the general switch issue of worldview, outlook on life, and values in life development; forging a solid ideological Great Wall against corruption and change; and constructing long-term mechanisms from economic, political, social, cultural, and legal aspects to prevent the occurrence of errors in negative teaching materials. Only through construction in criticism can the role of negative teaching materials in ideological and political work and even in social development be exerted in a long-term, fundamental, and effective manner.

第三，反面教材的批判利用。反面教材的使用是为了达到正面教育的预期目的。因此，对于反面教材，不能停留在现象的罗列，也不能停留在深度的分析，而是要批判地利用反面教材，教育人民群众特别是广大党员干部和青少年。从反面教材的选择、利用，到教育形式的选取、教育过程的推进以及会产生什么样的教育结果，都要做到胸中有数。在反面教材利用过程中，重在批判，克服反面教材、反面教员、反面事件、反面典型的错误及其危害，消除错误及其危害的根源，坚持用马克思主义特别是中国化时代化的马克思主义铸魂育人，解决好世界观、人生观、价值观这个人生发展的总开关问题，铸牢反腐防变的思想长城，并从经济、政治、社会、文化、法治等方面构建防范反面教材错误发生的长效机制。只有在批判中建构，反面教材在思想政治工作乃至社会发展中的作用，才能得到长期的、根本的、有效的发挥。

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心