The Research On Charity Organization Of Henan Province In Qing Dynasty

During Qing Dynasty,ancient philanthropy in China reached its peak and a number of charitable institutions has been established around the country,which is promoted by the spread of charitable ideas,the promotion of charitable policies,and the leading role and support of the Qing government,as well as the participation of non-governmental forces.In accordance with the nature of creation,these institutions can be divided into three categories: the ones fully established by government,the ones established by civilians but governed by officials and the ones fully established by civilians.Charitable organizations of different sorts cooperate with each other and each of them has its emphasis,which guarantees the disaster relief and the populace's basic life in Qing Dynasty.Thus,they jointly construct the social charitable rescue system of Qing Dynasty,promoting the development of charitable causes then.In Qing Dynasty,the development of the welfare house was rapid and the radiation range was rather wide because of being supported by the policy and fund.Although the scale and strength of welfare house in Henan was in the medium level during the Qing Dynasty,it also played an irreplaceable role,satisfied the basic needs of those who have no kin and cannot support themselves and maintained the social harmony and stability to some extent.However,the development of welfare house tends to be worse and worse because of the shortage of operating funds,the limited number of adoptees,the common corruption of officials and the serious abuse of favoritism.At this time,Pu Ji Tang came into being as a supplement to welfare house.Originally,Pu Ji Tang was established as a civilian charitable institution which is constructed by local powers with local gentry as the main body,and the funds was mainly self-financed by the civilians themselves.Under the influence of charity thought,local gentry took active part in and funded it enthusiastically,thus leading to the excellent development of Pu Ji Tang.There were totally 129 such houses inHenan only and their rescue ability was strong.But in the later period,most of the Pu Ji Tang were supported by officials.Hence,the official color is becoming stronger and stronger,and most of them were gradually changed to the organizations supervised by official governors.On the other hand,with the color of official welfare house gradually weakening,there exists actually the similarity between Pu Ji Tang and welfare house.