Statute law of ancient China was derived from martial law. Its advantages lay in fairness, openness and firmness and its disadvantages in harshness and brutality. All its advantages and disadvantages arose from the same reason, that is, the need of war context. To correct the defects of the Qin Dynasty, Confucians introduced etiquette into law, which led to malpractices of substituting etiquette for law or abusing law by means of etiquette, however, owing to the double standards. As a result, China in ancient times always remained at the stage of rule by man, in which law failed to result in government by law. In order to build a lawgoverning society, we must learn successful experience from other countries in the world with an open mind. An overexaggeration of the significance of introducing etiquette into law means a tortuous show of affirming the hierarchy of law. Therefore the greatest trouble facing construction of government by law in China is that, albeit admitting the superiority of government by law over government by man, no one is willing to bound by law by attaching closely to judicial priviledges.

government by law in China； introduction of etiquette into law； substituting etiquette for law； abusing law by means of etiquette； judicial priviledge