Abstract: One of the important causes on the failure of the administrative ethics in China is the effect of the traditional culture of China for thousands of years on the private option and public option of the people. This paper explains the cultural foundation of administrators' failure in ethics through "official rank standard", "the culture of human relations" as well as regularization based on irregularization in Chinese traditional culture. The article thinks that understanding the powerful inertia and running foundation of social cultural environment has the importanl real significance for reconstructing administrative ethics.