The Research On Charitable Group In The Late Qing Dynasty In Jiangnan

In the Late Qing Dynasty, charitable activities in Jiangnan were very active, philanthropists kept in touch with each other directly or indirectly, gradually they formed a Jiangnan-based regional social network, namely, the Late Qing Jiangnan charitable group. Difference existed in their identity——bureaucrat, or comprador, or scholar, but they were finally able to combine together,the key reason was that they all knew Yu Zhi——a well-known philanthropist.YuZhi was an esquire,who lived in WuXi during the period of Daoguang, Xianfeng and Tongzhi.He engaged in charitable activities such as the infant-raising and beneficence-persuading,and went throughout Jiangnan. His friends such as Pan Zengyi, Xie Yuanqing, Hua Tingfu, Gu Yiqing,Feng Guifen,Yan Chen and Zheng Guanying had a positive performance in charitable activities.His disciples such as Li Jinyong, Xiong Qiying,Jing Yuanshan, Xie Jiafu and Yan Youzhi were the backbone of Compulsory Relief.In this paper, the author analyzes the charitable activities, the charitable motives and the charitable thoughts of the charity group,so as to sort out the complex social relations to have an objective understanding of the function and the influence to the society of the Late Qing Dynasty.The experience of such philanthropists may play an important role of the development of Philanthropy in China.