This paper aims to explore the construct and characteristics of Chinese private-firm entrepreneurs’ ethical leadership by employing the methods of case study and scale developing. The results show: 1) Influenced by Chinese Confucian ethical culture, Chinese private-firm entrepreneurs’ ethical leadership includes virtue cultivation, collectism motivation and social spirit. 2) "Self-discipline and stabilizing others" is the nature of Chinese private-firm entrepreneurs’ ethical leadership, which means that entrepreneurs have their own high-level ethical standards, and also demand their employees to behave like this. 3) Chinese Private-firm Entrepreneurs’ Ethical Leadership Scale developed by this study has good reliability and validity. This study enriches the research of ethical leadership theory and higher-order theory, which could provide suggestions for Chinese private-firm entrepreneurs to improve their leadership skills.