Identity, Organizational And Political

China Defense League was a national salvation organization, which was founded by Soong Ching-ling in Hong Kong in 1938. It launched fund-raising at home and abroad, by means of organizing charity performance and sale of work, conducting industrial cooperatives activities. It provided a large number of medical and material assistance for the CCP and its army. It published "China Defense League Newsletter" and "Commerce Newspaper" to propagandize to the world the outstanding achievement of Chinese Communist Party's in the Anti-Japanese War.The League moved to Chongqing when Hong Kong was occupied by Japanese army in 1941, continued to raise money to support anti-Japanese base areas, and relieved the sufferer of natural disaster. After we won the war in 1945, the League was reorganized to China Welfare Found, and then moved to Shanghai. It had evolved as a social relief agency. In addition to continue to provide assistance to the liberated areas, the major mission was to relieve the refugees and orphans, the impoverished cultural worker.After the PRC was founded, Soong Ching-ling restructured China Welfare Fund to the China Welfare Institute in 1950. It was dually leaded by the central government and the Shanghai Municipal Government. It mainly engaged in women and children's welfare work, to make up the social welfare work which the new regime couldn't take into account. It issued an English language publication named "China Reconstruction", on behalf of welfare research agency, which broke the embargo of a few countries to the new China, by promoting the new regime to the international community.With the progress of a series of political movements and administrative personnel changes during the beginning period, the CCP organizations at all levels were gradually established and perfected in China Welfare Institute as well as its subordinate units. In 1958, the China Welfare Institute became a public institution under the leadership of the CCP, which owned eight institutions about maternal and child health, children's culture, out-of-school education, international promotion.The institute could go through three different historical periods, i.e. the Anti-Japanese War, the liberation war and the PRC, experienced two different political and social systems, existed to nowadays and made its own unique contributions to modern China's social relief and welfare services. Not only because the special nature of the organization itself, but also Soong Ching-ling's special status and the power influence of the social relation network that it had weaved. Of these factors, whether the ruling Party was the KMT or the CCP, they all showed a certain degree of tolerance to the existence of Soong Ching-ling and her institute. They created a delicate political atmosphere virtually. For this reason, the institute could support the CCP at the same time of carrying out social relief and welfare, and it could avoid the fate of the banned and continue to serve in the national system after the CCP got the power, and in this process, Soong Ching-ling's social thinking and practice was reflected.