Philanthropy is an important part of a society and reflects some of the conditions of society at the time. Throughout the history of Chinese philanthropy, we can get a glimpse of Chinese society. Specifically, there are the following aspects:
1. Ancient China did not have the tradition of the Western welfare state. In ancient societies, a small group of people in the upper strata of society owned the vast majority of the means of production and material wealth, while the masses of people in the lower strata of society had no place to stand. It is precisely because of the existence of these destitute strata that the rulers, in order to maintain their rule, provide certain relief to the poor and helpless. The disparity between the rich and the poor is the social root of the existence and development of philanthropy in ancient China, which has promoted the development of philanthropy to a certain extent. Some of the official policies and activities of a charitable and welfare nature are based on the need to maintain the rule, rather than treating it as a social cause, and these policies and activities are all promoted and abolished by people. Folk philanthropy is motivated by human compassion.
In the early years of the Republic of China, the Charity Association distributed porridge to the disaster area
Second, the status of the sexes in ancient China was very unequal. During the Han and Tang dynasties, due to the harsh labor and forced labor of men, and the need to divide the family property when the male child grew up, it was easy to make the family road fall into an embarrassment, so the trend of drowning male babies prevailed; In the Ming and Qing dynasties, under the influence of the concept of male superiority and inferiority of women, the trend of drowning female babies was blazing. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the custom of drowning women was deeply influenced by the traditional idea of "unfilial piety has three, and no queen is great". The prevalence of drowning women is not conducive to the development of society and has attracted the attention of the rulers. In order to curb this bad custom, some knowledgeable officials and gentry successively set up childcare charities, and by the Qing Dynasty, Salesian institutions had spread to all provinces, prefectures and counties across the country. Although the ruling class also built a number of benevolent churches in order to take care of widows, festival women and virgins, such as the Ching Festival Hall and the Compassion Society. Although these benevolent associations and charity halls helped and relieved women, at the same time, they attached more importance to women's morality, further strengthened their spiritual control over women, and were the guardians of feudal ethics. In patriarchal societies, women's social status is often subjugated within the family. Women's charity is also not considered an independent social activity. Although women's philanthropic activities have long since transcended the family, their philanthropic activities are usually extended sequentially from the inside out, that is, where conditions permit, they are devoted to clan philanthropy first, followed by open philanthropy. Women's charity activities are mainly manifested in five aspects: food and clothing, marriage assistance, salesianism, orphan care, and public welfare undertakings.
Foot binding was a bondage to women in ancient China
3. The disintegration of traditional moral concepts. "Valuing righteousness over profit" and "noble righteousness and low profit" are traditional Chinese virtues, and in the Ming and Qing dynasties, in the process of carrying out charity, the phenomenon of corruption and fraud was very serious. Some unscrupulous people, in the name of organizing charity activities, seek their own personal interests, so that those who really need relief are excluded. This reflects the decline of traditional morality.
Fourth, changes in social classes. Merchants have always been at the "bottom" of the four people in traditional society. Despite their economic wealth, they have extremely low political and social status. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, early capitalism began to sprout in China, and the mentality of the citizens changed, and merchants became an important force in local relief activities. After becoming rich, many businessmen enthusiastically donated money to participate in charity and public welfare undertakings. Among the merchants, Hui merchants are known for their benevolence and righteousness, and their generosity has always been praised by people. At the same time, the Confucian gentry class was originally in the upper echelons of traditional Chinese civil society, but they were afraid of the "literary prison" and the high-pressure policy of prohibiting literati associations during the Kanggan period, so they devoted themselves to researching evidence, asked little about the people's suffering, and gradually lost their dominant position in non-governmental charity activities.