With the rapid development of today's society, people are facing more and more problems in their lives. Correspondingly, there are more and more people
In order to maintain the rule of the Zhou dynasty from the ideological level, the Duke of Zhou created a complete hierarchical ethics system, admonishing people to love each other and treat others with corresponding etiquette according to their different status levels.
For this purpose, although gods and ghosts still occupy a certain proportion of the traditional culture of the mainland, it is the most important thing for people, as the implementers of this set of ethical systems. Confucius's Confucianism originated from it, and naturally inherited this characteristic.
As it is said in the Book of Shang: "But the spirit of all things is man." In one sentence, the importance and superiority of human beings are reflected. After that, with the ideological change of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to "depose the hundred schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone", Confucianism began to dominate its ideology in ancient China for nearly a thousand years.
In the Song Dynasty, with the creation of science, Confucianism was able to innovate, and many of its theories and ideas were more adaptable to the development of the times, and flourished throughout the country under the spread of several masters such as Zhu Xi, Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai and others. In addition, the Song Dynasty has been implementing the basic national policy of governing the country with literature since the founding of the country, so that science can also be loved and practiced by the emperor.
In such an ideological atmosphere, the main body of human beings is particularly important. One or two civilians can be deliberately ignored or even wronged by the government, but when they are numerous, the government must take them seriously.
It just so happens that charity, as an act of helping the disadvantaged, can not only solve the problem of social security, but also highlight the humanistic care of the government.
What should you do if you encounter difficulties? When you look for the government, charities can always help you! After the government sets an example and earnestly fulfills the importance it attaches to people, it will undoubtedly be a great help to the spread of science, and it will also be of great benefit to the government itself.
2. The problem of land annexation in the Song Dynasty was more serious
If you want to say the most famous thing in the early years of the Song Dynasty, the allusion of a glass of wine to release military power must be on the list. As a person who ascended to the throne of the emperor through rebellion, Zhao Kuangyin had a deeper sense of distrust of other military generals who held military power. Coupled with the bad results caused by the secession of feudal towns in the last years of the Tang Dynasty, he was even more wary of military generals.
Therefore, Zhao Kuangyin was determined to send them all home to farm, but from a general of a country to an ordinary person all of a sudden, the psychological gap was indeed boundless. Zhao Kuangyin also knew this, and in order to compensate them to comfort the wounded hearts, he had always been permissive and indulgent in their annexation of other people's land.
At the same time, Zhao Kuangyin himself also has a "unique" understanding of land annexation - as long as I collect your taxes, no matter how much you earn, in the end it will be the state.
Under such circumstances, the Song Dynasty implemented a two-tax system of taxation according to land, which not only did not suppress land annexation at the institutional level, but encouraged its development.
Therefore, the phenomenon of land annexation in the whole Song Dynasty society was much more serious than that of other dynasties, and one of Qin Hui's subordinates had "lived in Fuzhou, relying on the power of Qin Hui, and robbing the people's fields and houses, which was worse than robbing the people, and the people of Jiangxi suffered." "The high-ranking officials have become rich, and the country has become rich, but it is a pity that the majority of the people have since fallen into a state of dire existence.
Once they lose the land on which they depend, they will either starve to death or sell themselves, and most of them will not have a good result. As this phenomenon becomes more and more serious, and more and more people lose their basic ability to survive, the government can only vigorously develop government-run charities to take them over, so as to avoid further disorder of social order.
3. The existing experience of the previous dynasty provides a blueprint for reference
In fact, as early as the pre-Qin period, the mainland already had the idea of social charity relief, "to support the people with six interest guarantees: one is Salesian, the second is old-age, the third is to revitalize the poor, the fourth is to help the poor, the fifth is to relieve the sick, and the sixth is to be safe and prosperous". Although this overview is mostly utopian, after all, the level of social productivity at that time is really not enough to support its realization, but it always points out a development idea for the relevant philanthropy in subsequent dynasties.
In the early years of the Han Dynasty, with the prevalence of the idea of recuperation, the government also introduced some relief policies for widows, widows and lonely people. Although they were only temporary at the time, they were undoubtedly progressive.
Then, with the spread and deepening of Buddhism, the development of philanthropy has entered a relatively rapid stage, Emperor Xiao Yan of Liang Wu was deeply influenced by Buddhism and founded the "Lonely Garden".
In the Tang Dynasty, the first real charity institution in Chinese history was born, Beitian Sanatorium, which was dedicated to helping a socially disadvantaged group such as the poor, the elderly, orphans, the sick and the disabled.
Later, as the Tang Dynasty government increased its control over monasteries and Buddhist temples, the Beitian Sanatorium was gradually transferred to the government management, and the corresponding rules and regulations were produced, which provided direct reference experience for the Song Dynasty.
2. The specific content of the development of government-run philanthropy in the Song Dynasty
1. There are two different kinds of charities: central and local
During the Song Dynasty, there were two types of government-run philanthropy: those directly under the central government and those handled by local governments. Among them, the former mainly includes Futian Courtyard, Nursing Home, Anji Fang and Drain Garden.
It is worth mentioning that Futian Hospital is the inheritance of the Beitian Nursing Workshop, "East and West Futian Hospital, to the elderly, sick and lonely and poor beggars".
As the name suggests, nursing homes provide a place for those who do not have the ability to live and recuperate, including the elderly, the poor and the disabled, which can actually be regarded as an upgraded version of modern nursing homes. Anjifang must have a special doctor in the hospital, and it has a function of treating diseases and saving people, which can basically meet the normal needs of the vast majority of people.
The Drain Garden is to provide coffins and funeral matters for those who cannot be buried because of family poverty or who died violently on the road and no one collects the body, after all, in ancient China, which paid attention to entering the earth for safety, it was too miserable to not be able to bury it peacefully.
At the local level, on the one hand, the central government called on all localities to build charitable institutions such as Futian Yuan and Nursing Home, and "all cities, towns, towns, and city households, as well as more than 1,000 people with knowledge and prisons, are added according to each county." On the other hand, the localities themselves have also shown a more positive attitude towards philanthropy, such as Zhen Dexiu, who founded the Salesian Village during his tenure as a transit envoy to Jiangdong, to provide a place for those abandoned children to live and grow up.
2. The management of charity is more comprehensive and meticulous
As an organization, it must have the right people to manage it. Because of the special nature of Buddhism itself, even if it is no longer in charge of charity, it can still be an important administrator among it, after all, the Buddhist teachings and philanthropic ideas are too much in line.
At the same time, there are also other such as official officials, children's travelers, box codes, military codes, hand divisions, etc., which are respectively responsible for the liaison between the agency and the government, the purchase of daily sundries, the cleaning of the courtyard, and the copying of documents, etc., in general, it is quite specific and comprehensive. And because Anjifang also undertakes the function of medical assistance, it also has a special medical officer inside.
In addition, because charities are basically disadvantaged, they cannot effectively protect their own interests. In order to prevent the phenomenon of internal disorder among managers, the government has also implemented a relevant system of reward and punishment supervision for them.
Managers are not allowed to deliberately embarrass the rescued or loot their belongings, and if their own relatives want to enter, they will need to go through more stringent qualifications. Finally, the government will keep a count of the number of people who have been assisted as an important criterion for their evaluation, especially for medical officers.
Although there are a large number of people in society who need to be helped, there are still more lazy people who do not produce and just want to rely on government relief to live. Therefore, the charities at that time had to set certain thresholds and screenings for the rescued, such as the Yuanfeng Benefiting Beggars Law, which stipulated: the state will be sent to inspect the old and sick at home and abroad, and the poor and unable to survive on their own should be registered.
For the larger number of beggars, the charity provides seasonal assistance, mainly during the colder winter months, and then removes them when the weather warms up.
3. Summary
In general, the degree of philanthropy during the Song Dynasty was actually quite commendable, and it showed a state of perfection in the social environment at that time. Although due to the backward social system and the level of productive forces at that time, it was unable to play its greatest role, but it alleviated social contradictions to a certain extent and made its own contribution to the stability of the Song Dynasty.
At the same time, the development of philanthropy also reflected the great humanistic spirit of Chinese at that time, and has gone further until now and has become a special symbol of Chinese.