A Study On The Folk Charities Of Chongqing In Late Qing Dynasty And The Beginning Of The Republic Of China

Charitable spirit and act has long been existed in Chinese history. During the period of late Qing Dynasty and the Beginning of the Republic of China, China was experiencing radical changes, which brought great variation to the spirit and act of folk charities. Inland cities such as Chengdu and Chongqing did make great efforts on these aspects, however, the charitable spirit and act lagged far behind those of costal cities because of the limitation of economical condition,geographical environment and social problems. Based on the existing documents and other materials, this thesis will summarize the basic features of the charities in Chongqing, and furthermore, disclose the relationship between government and civilian in charities. This thesis includes three parts:In the forward of the thesis, the author reviewed the studies on Chinese charities, and gave definitions of charity, charitable organization, and territorial scope of Chongqing. There are three parts in the main body of the thesis: first the author discussed the origin of charitable spirit, the change in the spirit and acts of modern charities and its new features; meanwhile, the author also gave an introduction of the purpose and scope of charities; second, the author made a further discussion on basic causes of the development of almshouses and charitable associations in Chongqing during that period, their organizational system; and then discussed the breeding fields with modern features and some characters of clan, and some problems and disputes happened among them, and then discussed the relationship among government, civilian, and gentry. Finally, the author gave a summary of the difference and indifference of the charities in Chongqing and Shanghai by comparing of them. In the epilogue, the author gave a general introduction of the charities in Chongqing during late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, and introduced the charities after later 30s of 21century as well.The charities of Chongqing during late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China had shown some modern features, although it still kept too many traditional features on the charitable spirit and act. The acts of government, civilian, and gentry in charities also shows how every class paid attention to charitable affairs from a certain side.