The Taizhou School, an important social trend that rose in the late Ming Dynasty, was regarded that rose in the late Ming Dynasty, was regarded as “the sprout of capitalism in modern China” because of its clear and radical utilitarian orientation. On the other hand, however, the school showed an obvious historical regression to ancient Chinese ethical subject by profoundly exploring the “familybased” ideological resources originated from the Rites of the Zhou Dynasty in Chinese culture. Therefore, it was due to this combination of economics and ethics that the Taizhou School managed to skillfully control and thoroughly balance “conscience” and “profit”, contributing a profound basis for Chinese traditional economic ethics. Meanwhile, an exploration of the school’s theory of “birealization of conscience and profit” will offer an answer to whether there was a universal economic ethic in Chine will offer an answer to whether there was a universal economic ethic in Chinese traditional culture and reveal the true feature of Chinese traditional economic ethics.

the Taizhou School; the familybased economics; economic ethics; utilitarianism