The Study On Refugee Relief In Shanghai(1937-1942)

The Battle of Shanghai burst out in August 13^th,1937,and residents of Shanghai stampeded to the International Settlement and the French Concession to flee violence.Millions of refugees crowded into the Shanghai Concession,producing severe social problems.Facing the huge flood of refugees,the Nationalist government,Shanghai Municipal government,charitable organizations,associations of aliens in Shanghai,guilds,associations of medicine,religious organizations,the branches of charitable organizations of different countries in Shanghai,Shanghai Municipal Council of the International Settlement of Shanghai,Conseil Municipal of the French Concession,Communist Party and other organizations took part in refugee relief in 1937-1942,playing their respective strengths and helping each other on information and resources.They united to create Shanghai Municipal Relief Commission,Shanghai International Relief Association,Shanghai International Red Cross,Shanghai Refugee Relief Association,the Jacquinot safe zone and other relief organizations.They organized together and helped each other on resources and refugee relief,forming a relief network centered by subjects of relief that covered refugees in Shanghai.To help the refugees persistently,the Nationalist government,the Shanghai Municipal government,relief groups,social groups and other people organized fundraising activities to raise funds for refugee relief.The Nationalist government kept appropriating funding to relief groups.Relief groups organized various fundraising activities like posting on newspapers or donating some daily.Guilds in Shanghai worked on a commission basis,the International Settlement and French Concession issued charity lottery for refugee relief,and Shanghai Conservation and Rescue Committee launched save and rescue campaign.People from all walks of life bought government bounds and donated funeral supplies.Overseas Chinese and international friends also raised funds for relief groups.At the same time,relief groups in Shanghai set up emergency relief of rescuing,accommodating the refugees,and organized rescue teams to the warfare.They set up shelters to shelter refugees who could not live independently or have relatives to go to.They provided shelter,food,clothing and other necessities to refugees.They established rules for refugee management to keep the order of shelters and standardize refugee management.They attached importance to sanitation in shelters,taught knowledge about health and hygiene and improved the sanitation supplies in shelters.They also set up circuit medical teams,clinics and hospitals for refugees,providing them medical service and safeguarding the life of refugees.Not only that,to solve the problems essentially and make refugees learn to raise themselves,relief groups set up rehabilitation relief like refugee education,work and sending back,and developed the refugees'ability to live independently.Relief groups developed children's education in shelters.Elementary schools and high schools were developed for refugee children.They also collaborate with high schools in Shanghai,letting some refugee children be enrolled for free.Adult education was organized at the same time,popularizing common sense,improving their knowledge,and increasing their national awareness.Relief groups investigated the refugees'professions and skills and introduced jobs for refugees.Small-scale workshops were developed for refugees to be trained,improving their productive skills.Organizations to sell productions of refugees were formed,and in this way,jobs for refugees could increase.Relief groups sent refugees from other provinces to their home,making them live independently in their hometown.Refugees also be sent to the rear for production and construction.Refugee relief in Shanghai was both national and international since it happened in Shanghai in the period of total resistance.During the relief,social groups like charitable organizations,associations of aliens in Shanghai and guilds united with the Nationalist government,combined emergency relief and rehabilitation,and helped each other in rescue,accommodations,sanitation,education,production and evacuation,forming the relief pattern of network,saving several hundred thousand refugees,maintaining the social order.Problems like the limitation of the scope of relief,the shortages of resources and problems in management also existed.