A Study Of Charity In Hunan In The Early Period Of The Republic Of China From 1912 To 1937

This thesis mainly studies the charity in Hunan during 1912 to 1937 when Hunan is in the period of transition from traditional society to modern one. The charity at that time had the characteristics of being imprinted by times, traditional and modern charity coexisting, imbalanced developments, as well as with strong transitional features. At present, there are few systematic and comprehensive research results of charity in Hunan in the early period of the Republic of China and the aim of this thesis is to make a complement in this aspect.In order to make a fairly systematic study, this thesis develops in six chapters with an introduction and a conclusion.The significance and the objectives of the study, a general introduction to the previous analyses, research ideas, innovations and shortages of the research are presented in the introduction.Chapter 1 gives a macro-analysis of the social background of the development of charity in Hunan in the early period of the Republic of China. The author discusses the basic system of charity in Hunan at that time from the level of system and at the aspects of new space of charity developments, new developments of charity ideas and new explorations of charity rules.Chapter 2, 3, and 4 make an overall introduction of charity in Hunan in the early period of the Republic of China. Section 1 in Chapter 2 describes the general situation of the charity in Hunan in the end of the Qing Dynasty and at the beginning of the Republic of China. The next section in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 and 4 are divided into 3 parts, namely Northern Government, Nanjing Government, and the Western Church. The author presents charity in these three periods respectively, then, macro-paints the historical pictures of charity in Hunan in the early period of the Republic of China, and at last, draws an outline of their developments with disaster relief, daily relief, and charity education as lines.Chapter 5 and 6 integrally evaluate the charity in Hunan in the early period of the Republic of China. Chapter 5 sums up five basic characteristics of charity in Hunan. And Chapter 6 analyzes the relationship between charity and social changes in Hunan.The last part is a summary of the thesis. The author makes an integrated comment of the charity in Hunan in the early period of the Republic of China as well as absorbs the previous research results into this thesis and gets a conclusion: the more thriving and prosperous of charity may not get more value. Charity should be developed healthy and orderly, that is to say, it should not be changed via the shifts of political situation and personnel. On the contrary, it needs to be developed accordance with its rules. Based on the above perspectives, the author presents three ideas: 1. the essential ways of solving the problems of charity are the overall enhancement of the levels of productive forces; 2. the standardization of charity is the necessary condition of the sound development of charity; 3. arousing the initiative of the government and the community promotes a better development of charity. Only the development of charity suits the productive forces and the specific situation of the country can it benefit people and realize the win-win situation of the country and the society.