One day in 1082, a man named Wang Tianlin crossed the river from Ezhou to Huangzhou to visit his friend Su Shi.
When friends meet, they should talk to each other very happily. But after chatting, Su Shi's mood became very heavy, and he could not calm down for a long time.
The next day, Su Shi hurriedly wrote a letter with a pen and sent it to Zhu Shouchang, a magistrate in Ezhou. In the letter, Su Shi mentioned what he had heard from Wang Tianlin about Ezhou, as well as some related personal experiences:
The disadvantages of the Song people abandoning their sons and drowning babies.
According to Wang Tianlin, the rural people between Yuezhou and Ezhou usually only raise two men and one woman, and once the number of babies in the family exceeds this number, they will kill babies, especially female babies. They kill babies, mostly by pressing them to the cold water basin, and after a few groans, the "trouble" is solved.
There was a poor peasant surnamed Shi who had already killed two babies. One summer, his wife gave birth to quadruplets. This made him unbearable and killed his wife and baby with his own hands.
Su Shi believes that such inhumane atrocities should be curbed. This is also the reason why Su Shi wrote a letter to Zhu Shouchang: he hoped that he would effectively implement the law of "killing children and grandchildren for two years" to the counties of Ezhou, and warn the people that infanticide is punishable.
Su Shi's problem of "not raising children when children are born" (having children without raising children) has already appeared in the poor families of the pre-Qin Dynasty. However, this problem was especially prominent in the Song Dynasty.
In the year of hunger, children with good luck may be sold by their parents to work in rich homes, and those who are unlucky may be abandoned everywhere, and life and death will depend on the sky. The failure to have children can be said to be the most prominent social and ethical issue of the Song Dynasty.
Faced with such a tragic situation, the Rulers of the Song Dynasty proposed many countermeasures, including the establishment of special Salesian institutions, equivalent to today's orphanages.
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The most famous abandoned baby in the pre-Qin Dynasty was the Zhou ancestor Hou Ji - abandoned.
According to historical records, Houji was conceived and born by her mother, Jiang Yuan, after practicing the footprints of giants in the wild. Because of this bizarre experience, Jiang Yuan regarded the baby as "unknown" and abandoned the child in the alley. The name "abandonment" of Houji is derived from this.
Like this kind of mythical "abandoned baby" legend, not an isolated case, many powerful figures have such a birth rumor, such as Dongming, the ancestor of the Fuyu Kingdom, was "donated to the pig" by his mother, "moved to the horse pen"; Xu Yanwang, the 32nd monarch of the Xu Kingdom of The Western Zhou Dynasty, was also "abandoned in the waterside state" by his mother; The famous Xiang Yin of Yin was "given a baby in the empty mulberry" by the sang woman...
Even tribal leaders are abandoned babies, and if it comes to the people, the behavior of abandoning babies should be more common. It can also be seen from the oracle bone of the word "abandoned", which was first used to describe the act of abandoning a baby: holding a basket in both hands and throwing the baby out.
▲ "abandoned" word oracle bone. Source: Etymology
Why abandon babies?
In the tribal era, abandoned babies should be a reflection of material deprivation. In the dynastic era, the government's harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, tragic natural and man-made disasters, or feudal superstition ideas were the last straw that caused the people to abandon their babies.
In the difficult survival environment, abandoning babies and killing babies has become a way out for some families to reduce the pressure of survival, and the number of orphans has risen. Even if the poor persist and do not give up on raising young children, it is very likely that the babies in their families will be forced to become orphans due to sudden changes.
Most of the people abandoning their babies is a helpless move, and this helplessness is extremely unfavorable to the stable development of society. Because the decline in the number of people will affect the development of the country's economy, military and other aspects. King Gou of Yue once increased the population and enhanced the national strength by treating women and children well and encouraging fertility, and finally shamed him.
Since the pre-Qin Dynasty, the rescue of abandoned babies has been an important task in the eyes of the ruling class. For a long time, it has been discussed and solved together with social relief issues such as old-age care and poverty alleviation.
The Book of Rites has a cloud: "To feed the people with six kinds of peace: one is to be kind to the child, the second is to provide for the elderly, the third is to be poor, the fourth is to be poor, the fifth is to be lenient, and the sixth is to be rich." The Zhou Dynasty placed "Salesian" at the top of social welfare relief, which shows the importance that the ruling class attaches to infant assistance.
However, from the historical records, from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Qin and Han Dynasties, the official government's Salesian measures mainly consisted in giving the people child-rearing subsidies through policies, or encouraging clans and neighbors to help orphans.
For example, during the Spring and Autumn Period, when Guan Zhong was in charge of Qi Xiang, he implemented such a salesian policy for orphans: orphans were raised by their original parents' compatriots, acquaintances or old people. Raising one orphan, one son in the family is exempt from conscription, and so on, raising three orphans is exempt from the levy. In the whole process, the "orphan" officials must often understand the situation of the orphans and understand the food, hunger and cold of the orphans. Under the influence of Confucian culture, the folk clans are also more in line with the official cause of the salesian children and orphans.
▲Portrait of Guan Zhong. Image source: Network
The Salesian orphans have slowly formed a development model of "official as the mainstay and folk as the supplement", which has been continued ever since. For hundreds of years, however, most of the Salesian orphans have been at the level of official policies or intermittent relief activities, as well as the benevolent relief provided by civil gentry officials and family groups. Overall, the force is scattered and the effect is limited.
In order to promote the cause of Salesian orphans in an orderly and effective manner, professional relief agencies came into being. Professional charities that take in orphans can now be traced back to the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
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In the 6th century AD, Xiao Yan, the Emperor of Liangwu of the Southern Dynasty, with the purpose of "returning to orphans and children, and not being poor in Huafa", set up a lonely garden in Beijing, and pioneered a professional institution with a welfare nature. In addition to adopting orphans, the Lonely Garden also supports the widows and the elderly.
As soon as this precedent came out, later generations began to set up similar charitable relief organizations.
During the chang'an period of Wu Zetian, the Buddhist style prevailed, and there was a sad field recuperation workshop supervised by the government and operated by the monastery.
The word "sad field" comes from the Buddhist language and means to give to the poor, including the generosity of the poor, the elderly and even animals. It can be said that in the past, the Salesian and Orphans were mainly supported by the Confucian idea of benevolence, so since the introduction of Buddhism, there has been another powerful ideological force.
The workshop contains poor elderly people, patients, the disabled and orphans, and is more comprehensive, much larger than the lonely garden. But later, there was a situation in which the word "sad field" was renamed.
Everything originated from the "Abolition of the Buddha".
Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, Buddhism has grown stronger and stronger, and it has become even more popular under the pursuit of the monarchs of the previous generations of the Tang Dynasty. Since the temple land was not taxed, many people became monks in order to avoid military service. In the long run, it will affect the country's income and cause social problems. Therefore, after Tang Wuzong, who was more taoist, succeeded to the throne, he began a vigorous campaign to exterminate Buddhism.
▲ Portrait of Tang Wuzong. Image source: Network
Between the second year of Huichang (842) and the sixth year of Huichang (846), many Buddhist monasteries throughout the country were demolished, Buddha statues were destroyed, silver was confiscated, scriptures were scattered, and monks and nuns were required to return to the world. In this case, the Misakiya Yakini, run by the monks of the monastery, entered an unattended state.
At this time, the chancellor Li Deyu proposed to Tang Wuzong that the Misery Field Nursing Factory be renamed "Yang Sick Fang" and strengthen the control of the government.
It was not until the Song Dynasty, when philanthropy developed in a breakthrough, that the Salesian orphans gradually became independent from various charitable relief projects and formed a special Salesian orphan institution. The emergence of "orphanages" has further standardized and professionalized orphan assistance.
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The Song Dynasty established the country with literature and vigorously developed the science of science, and the influence of the Confucian doctrine of benevolence and righteousness deepened day by day. On the surface, the Song Dynasty always looked like a song and dance, but in fact, it was turbulent and fragile. War and famine have left displaced people everywhere, followed by an increase in the number of orphans and a rise in infanticide data.
At first, the Song Dynasty inherited the practice of the Tang Dynasty's nursing home, and set up the East and West Futian Courtyards in Kaifeng, which also took in the elderly and children, beggars and the disabled. With the increase in the number of displaced people during the famine, the south and north Futian courtyards were added, and the four courtyards could accommodate a total of about 1200 people.
But it's still not enough.
During the Reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, according to the previously promulgated "Residence Law", under the initiative of Cai Jing, charities called nursing homes began to emerge throughout the country to take care of widows, widows, lonely and poor people throughout the country as much as possible. Although nursing homes provide for up to ten categories of people to be accommodated, they are mainly a combination of nursing homes and orphanages.
When Emperor Huizong of Song implemented the Law on The Cultivation of Residents, he deliberately stipulated that "children who abandon children are hired to breastfeed" to ensure the lives of orphans as much as possible.
▲ Portrait of Emperor Huizong of Song. Image source: Network
Later, the government would send "teachable people" in nursing homes to primary schools, or send some children to monasteries to be "raised as children". In this way, the Cause of Salesian Children is no longer limited to ensuring the survival of orphans, but also provides them with opportunities for education and employment. This is a great advance in the cause of sales of the children and will be used by future generations.
In 1127 AD, the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty, and the long war caused social unrest, and the people were displaced and crossed south. The Southern Song dynasty, which was rebuilt by Emperor Gaozong of song, faced a more severe relief situation in the past.
In the process of migration, there are many people who abandon their children and daughters, and the number of orphans has risen sharply. The manpower of the nursing home was limited, and finally, the Salesian institution was independent from the nursing home.
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The Salesian institutions of the Southern Song Dynasty were initially developed locally.
In the fifth year of Shaoxing (1135), many places in the southern region set up a zi warehouse to provide money, rice and other living assistance for the children's home, which was an earlier organization specializing in the sales of children.
In the second year of Longxing (1163), the poor harvest in the Jiangnan region led to famine, and the local poor people were forced to make a living and abandoned their children. At this time, Zheng Zuosu of WuxingZhi Prefecture set up a Qianmi Institute to raise orphans who were abandoned. This may be the earliest specialized institution for childcare in China.
In the tenth year of Jiading (1217), another person made a major innovation in the cause of Salesian children.
In Jiankang Province (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), Zhen Dexiu, then deputy envoy of Jiangdong Transport, witnessed the devastation of abandoned babies after the famine: adults with difficult lives were unable to raise their young children, so the children were either abandoned on the road or died in the ravines.
Such a scene was shocking and made Zhen Dexiu feel pity.
After some thought, Zhen Dexiu made a decision: to establish a Salesian Village.
▲Portrait of Zhendexiu. Image source: Network
The Salesian Village run by Zhen Dexiu first used the method of recruiting people to rent tenants without official land to obtain income and ensure a steady stream of funds. Second, he elaborated on the responsibilities of officials, the methods of adoption and years of adoption of orphans, and the treatment of sick and burial. These treaties, inscribed on stone tablets, require future generations to "abide by them forever."
During Zhen Dexiu's tenure, he vigorously provided disaster relief and famine relief, and Ci Youzhuang was one of them. When he left office, thousands of people sent him off in the suburbs. On the way, they pointed to the graves on the side of the road, and while crying, they said: These are the people who starved to death in the famine in the past! Without you, we would have gone into the grave with them!
The people's deep feelings for Zhendexiu show the greatness of his achievements.
In the twelfth year of Jiading (1219), Yuan Fu, who was then the general judge of Huzhou, also set up a baby bureau in Huzhou, which functioned similarly to the above-mentioned salesian institutions.
At the initiative of local officials, Salesian institutions have been established in various places, and the problem of abandoned babies in local areas has improved.
Seeing the effectiveness of local Salesian institutions, in the seventh year of Chunyou (1247), the Southern Song Dynasty court ordered the establishment of the Salesian Bureau in Lin'an Province, using the power of the central government to alleviate the problem of abandoned babies. The Salesian Children's Bureau was officially given money and rice and hired poor women to breastfeed their babies. If anyone in the private sector is willing to adopt orphans as children, the government will also subsidize money and rice every month for three years.
After ten years of practice, the imperial court ordered that "the states under the heavens should establish a Salesian Bureau" and promote the Salesian Children's Bureau to the whole country. Zhao Yun, emperor of Song Lizong, had great expectations and visions for the Salesian Children's Bureau: "The road will be free of hungry children." ”
Although the problem of abandoned babies in the Song Dynasty was not eradicated by the establishment of the Salesian Children's Bureau, it did improve.
The management terms and operation methods of these "early orphanages" also provide a good reference for the development of salesian institutions in later generations.
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During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the cause of Salesian children did not continue to develop at the pace of the Southern Song Dynasty, and it was lackluster. Although Zhu Yuanzhang was also an orphan, after he founded the country, he did not pay special attention to orphans in society.
It was not until the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty that the cause of sales and childhood rose again. The first to rely on is still the strength of local elites. The local gentry actively participated in the good deeds and undertook the mission of educating society. During this period, the more prominent Salesian institutions were the Infant Care Bureau and the Nursery Club (the predecessor of the Nursery).
Until the 18th and 19th centuries, sales and child institutions across the country developed in a spurt, not only in large quantity, but also in the concept and quality of conservation. Among them, the most representative are the Nursery, the Infant Care Club, the Orphanage Bureau, the Nursing Bureau, and so on. The first two institutions mainly focus on the rescue of abandoned babies, while the last two are concerned with the rescue of street children over the age of five or six and under the age of sixteen.
▲The gate of Tianjin Changlu Nursery. Image source: Network
According to statistics, between 1724 and 1796, the number of new nursery schools in the country was about 324. The reason why the nursery has developed is due to its effective management of nursing women, through strict management methods, such as stipulating that nursing women are not allowed to leave the church without permission, and the time limit for family visits, etc., so that nursing women can fully devote themselves to childcare work.
Baby-care clubs start caring for children from rural areas. Instead of raising the babies themselves, they give subsidies to poor families and, after five months, urge families to keep the babies. This is a practice to prevent abandoned babies at the source.
As for the OrphanAge Bureau and the Education Bureau, the education and employment of the Song Dynasty were finally arranged for orphans, referred to as "education and giving". They all focus on imparting knowledge and craftsmanship to orphans, ensuring that each orphan has a skill and is able to earn a living. This can also be called a "fishing" type of rescue. Children with ordinary qualifications will be arranged to learn professional skills such as spinning flowers, weaving, knotting net towels, making straw shoes, and rubbing hemp rope; those who are talented will be selected to read and write.
Under the strong promotion of local elites, since the second year of Yongzheng (1724), the official support for the cause of the people's sales children has gradually increased, and the salesian institutions have joined the overall welfare policy of the state in a vigorous and upward state to improve the living environment of the bottom and the babies.
Talking about the cause of the Salesian children during the Qing Dynasty, there is also an integral part that cannot be ignored - foreign churches.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, missionaries entered China. Out of religious belief and its need to spread, the Church is very keen to save babies, especially to pay for the dying babies. Around the 1860s, they began to establish nursery schools and orphanages in China on a large scale.
▲Image source: Network
However, the church's act of salvation seemed strange to Chinese eyes, but also ill-intentioned. Because, they found that missionaries often performed strange rituals for babies —washing. In addition, their rescue survival rate is not high, even lower than the rescue survival rate in China in the same period, so people's rescue of the church is full of imagination.
In the fifteenth year of Guangxu (1889), a baby body was found in the area of the gold panning pit outside the East Gate of Guangzhou. At the same time, a worker picking up the body at a French Catholic nursery was captured just outside the city. The two incidents were related, and rumors spread in Guangzhou, claiming that foreigners had mutilated babies and that there was a hidden trend of riots.
As soon as this matter came out, Zhang Zhidong took the opportunity to ask the church to inspect the church's nursery. But this caused resentment among church personnel, who saw it as a constraint on the freedom of the missionaries. In the end, the weak Qing government chose to back off in protest. Although there were many later outbreaks of teaching cases, the Qing government took the opportunity to audit the church, but none of them succeeded.
Church nursery schools have long been questioned and suspected for their "weird" behavior and high rescue mortality rate, but it is undeniable that they have also played a certain rescue role.
Whether it is the compassion and action of Su Shi in the Song Dynasty, or the good deeds and conflicts of the modern church, perhaps we can see something more essential from the long history of the fate of orphans:
Babies, the hope of the country, every life, should not be easily abandoned.
bibliography:
[Han] Sima Qian: Records of History, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2014
Song Caiyi, Yu Song, "Children's Charity Run by the Officials of the Song Dynasty", Monthly Journal of History, No. 5, 1988
Wang Weiping, "An Introduction to Philanthropy in the Tang and Song Dynasties", Monthly Journal of History, No. 3, 2000
Fan Zhongxin, "The Welfare Relief System and Its Spirit in Ancient China", Chinese and Western Legal Traditions, February 2002
Li Zhigang, "The "Birth of Children Without Lifting" in Ancient China", Ancient Civilization, No. 3, 2011
Duan Zhenghua, "Research on Child Rescue in Modern China", Master's Thesis of Shandong Normal University, 2015