Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T18:54:46.177Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Benevolent Societies: The Reshaping of Charity During the Late Ming and Early Ch'ing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Joanna F. Handlin Smith
Get access

Abstract

During the late Ming an entirely new charitable institution, the benevolent society (t'ung-shan t'ang), emerged even though there were already in place channels for charity provided by lineage organizations, religious institutions, and the state. To account for the appearance of benevolent societies, this article attempts explanations in terms of worsening conditions and dynastic decline and then moves beyond such considerations for several reasons. Although China had long experienced much poverty and numerous periods of extreme social unrest, it was not until the late Ming that the responses to these maladies took the form of benevolent societies. Although the benevolent societies were sometimes founded in an atmosphere of social tension, they endured long after any sense of crisis had passed and thrived through periods of calm. The benevolent societies arose because they satisfied—in ways that existing forms of charity could not—the emotional and social needs of the sponsors in an environment altered by commerce. To achieve a harmonious society, officials and gentry acquiesced to the investment mentality of merchants, and by making charitable contributions toward a moral society, merchants justified their wealth. Highly visible and tolerated by the state, the benevolent societies expressed social alliances based on money and a spirit of civic pride.

Type
Giving in Asia–A Symposium
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , May 1987 , pp. 309 - 337
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

An-fu-hsien chih [Gazetteer of An-fu county]. 1872.Google Scholar
Kengo, Araki. 1975. “Chin Ryūsei no shisō—Tōringaku no ichi keishō keitai” [On the thought of Ch'en Lung-cheng: A form of successíon in Tung-lin learning]. Chūgoku tetsugaku ronshū 1:1–16.Google Scholar
Atwell, William S. 1975. “From Education to Politics: The Fu She.” In The Unfolding of Neo-Confucianism, ed. Bary, Wm. Theodore de and the Conference on Seventeenth-Century Chinese Thought. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Atwell, William S.. 1977. “Notes on Silver, Foreign Trade, and the Late Ming Economy.” Ch'ing-shih wen-t'i 3.8:1–33.Google Scholar
Berling, Judith A. 1985. “Religion and Popular Culture: The Management of Moral Capital in The Romance of the Three Teachings.” In Popular Culture in Late Imperial China, ed. Johnson, David, Nathan, Andrew J., and Rawski, Evelyn S.. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bohr, Paul Richard. 1972. Famine in China and the Missionary: Timothy Richard as Relief Administrator and Advocate of National Reform, 1876–1884. Cambridge, Mass.: East Asian Research Center, Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brokaw, Cynthia. 1984. “Philanthropy in the Ledgers of Merit and Demerit of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.” Paper for panel, Philanthropy and Public Welfare During the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, March, in Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Carus, Paul, and Suzuki, Teitaro, trans. 1906. T'ai-Shang Kan-Ying P'ien: Treatise of the Exalted One on Response and Retribution. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Ch'ang-sha-fu chih [Gazetteer of Ch'ang-sha prefecture]. 1747.Google Scholar
Chi-ju, Ch'en. 1606–20. Kuang-fu chih yen [The words of a madman]. In Pao-yen t'ang pi-chi.Google Scholar
Hu., Ch'en 1868. Sheng-hsüeh ju-men shu [A guide to sage learning for beginners]. In Chi-kuo chai tsung-shu.Google Scholar
Ch'en, Kenneth. 1964. Buddhism in China. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
K'uei, Ch'en, ed. 1665. Ch'en Tz'u-pu kung chia chuan [Biographies of Ch'en Lungcheng's family]. In Ch'en Lung-cheng 1665.Google Scholar
Lung-cheng, Ch'en. 1665. Chi-t'ing ch'üan-shu [The complete works of Ch'en Lungcheng].Google Scholar
Chia-shan-hsien chih [Gazetteer of Chia-shan county]. 1786.Google Scholar
Shih, Chu. [1833] 1930. Kuang hui pien [Records of spreading charity]. Japanese reprint entitled Kokei hen zokai. In Nihon keizai taiten, ed. Seiichi, Takimoto, pp. 119–90. Tokyo: Keimeisha.Google Scholar
Wan-li, Ch'u, ed. 1975. P'u-lin-ssu-tun ta-hsüeh Ko-ssu-te tung-fang t'u-shu-kuan chungwen shan-pen shu-chih [A catalogue of the Chinese rare books in the Gest Collection of the Princeton University Library]. Taipei: I-wen yin-shu kuan.Google Scholar
Elvin, Mark. 1973. The Pattern of the Chinese Past. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Feng-ching hsiao-chih [A small gazetteer of Feng-ching]. 1911.Google Scholar
Fu-shou ch'üan-shu [A complete book of blessings and long life]. Ch'ung-chen (1628–44) ed.Google Scholar
Susumu, Fuma. 1982. “Tōzenkai shōshi: Chūgoku shakai fukushi shijō ni okeru Minmatsu Shinshō no ichizuke no tame ni” [A brief history of benevolent societies: On the place of the late Ming and early Ch'ing in the history of Chinese social welfare]. Shirin 65. 4:37–76.Google Scholar
Susumu, Fuma. 1983. “Zenkai zentō no shuppatsu” [The emergence of benevolent societies and benevolent halls]. In Min Shin jidai no keisei to shakai, ed. Kazuko, Ono. Kyoto: Jinbun kagaku kenkyūjo.Google Scholar
Goodrich, L. Carrington, and Fang, Chaoying, eds. 1976. Dictionary of Ming Biography. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
The Great Learning. [1893–95] 1963. In Legge [1893–95] 1963, vol. 1.Google Scholar
Handlin, Joanna F. 1983. Action in Late Ming Thought: The Reorientation of Lü K'un and Other Scholar-Officials. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Hang-chou-fu chih [Gazetteer of Hang-chou prefecture]. 1784.Google Scholar
Ho, P'ing-ti. [1962] 1964. The Ladder of Success in Imperial China. New York: John Wiley and Sons.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsiang-ch'eng-hsien chih [Gazetteer of Hsiang-ch'eng county]. 1746.Google Scholar
Hsiao, Kung-chuan. [1960] 1967. Reprint. Rural China: Imperial Control in the Nineteenth Century. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Yün-ch'eng, Hua. 1876. Kao Chung-hsien kung nien-p'u [A chronological biography of Kao P'an-lung]. In Kao 1876.Google Scholar
Hucker, Charles O. 1957. “The Tung-lin Movement of the Late Ming.” In Chinese Thought and Institutions, ed. Fairbank, John K.. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hummel, Arthur, ed. 1943–1944. Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
P'an-lung., Kao 1876. Kao-tzu i-shu [The bequeathed works of Master Kao].Google Scholar
James, Legge, trans. [1893–1895] 1963. The Chinese Classics. Reprint. Taipei: Wenhsing shu-tien.Google Scholar
Leung, Angela K. 1985. “L'accueil des enfants abandonnes dans la Chine du bas-Yangzi aux XVIIe et VIIIe siècles.” Études chinoises 4.1:15–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsi-ch'i., Ling 1889. Tsun-tao hsien-sheng nien-p'u [A chronological biography of Lu Shih-i.] In Lü-tzu i-shu.Google Scholar
Liu, Hui-chen Wang. 1959. The Traditional Chinese Clan Rules. Monographs of the Association for Asian Studies, no. 7. Locust Valley, N.Y.: J. J. Augustin.Google Scholar
Liu, James T. C. 1978. “Liu Tsai (1165–1238): His Philanthropy and Neo-Confucian Limitations.” Oriens extremus 25.1:1–29.Google Scholar
K'un, Lü. 1827. Ch'ü-wei chai wen-chi [Writings from the studio for the elimination of falseness]. In Lü-tzu i-shu.Google Scholar
Shih-i, Lu. 1889a. “Ch'ang-p'ing ch'üan-fa” [An expedient method for an ever-normal (granary)]. In Lu 1889c.Google Scholar
Shih-i, Lu. 1889b. Chih-hsüeh lu [A record of regulating study]. In Lu 1889c.Google Scholar
Shih-i, Lu. 1889c Lu Fu-t'ing hsien-sheng i-shu [The bequeathed works of Mr. Lu Fut'ing].Google Scholar
Lum, Raymond David. 1985. “Philanthropy and Public Welfare in Late Imperial China.” Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Mencius. [1893–95] 1963. In Legge [1893–95] 1963, vol. 2.Google Scholar
Meskill, John. 1969. “Academies and Politics in the Ming Dynasty.” In Chinese Government in Ming Times: Seven Studies, ed. Hucker, Charles O.. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Yūzō, Mizoguchi. 1978. “Iwayuru Tōrinha jinshi no shisō—zenkindaiki ni okeru Chūgoku shisō no tenkai” [The thought of the “Tung-lin School”: An aspect of the development of Chinese thought in premodern times]. Tōyō bunka kenkyūjo kiyō 75:111–341.Google Scholar
Mori, Masao. 1980. “The Gentry in the Ming—An Outline of the Relations Between the Shih-ta-fu and Local Society.” Acta asiatica 38:31–53.Google Scholar
Ocko, Jonathan. 1983. Bureaucratic Reform in Provincial China. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hiroshi, Okuzaki. 1978. Chūgoku kyōshin jinushi no kenkyū [Researches on Chinese gentry landlords]. Tokyo: Kyūko shoin.Google Scholar
Ting-ch'iu, P'eng. 1881. Nan-yün wen-kao [Draft prose writings of P'eng Ting-ch'iu]. In Nan-yün ch'üan-chi.Google Scholar
Rawski, Evelyn Sakakida. 1979. Education and Popular Literacy in Ch'ing China. Michigan Studies in China. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
“Report of the Foundling Hospital at Shanghai, translated from the original for the Chinese Repository.” 1845. Chinese Repository 14.4:177–95.Google Scholar
Rhoads, Edward J. M. 1974. “Merchant Associations in Canton, 1895–1911.” In The Chinese City Between Two Worlds, ed. Elvin, Mark and Skinner, G. William. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Rowe, William T. 1984. Hankow: Commerce and Society in a Chinese City, 1796–1889. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Tadao, Sakai. 1960. Chūgoku zenshō no kenkyū [Researches on Chinese morality books]. Tokyo: Kokusho kankōkai.Google Scholar
Tadao, Sakai. 1969. “Gan Moyu no shisō ni tsuite” [On the thought of Yen Mao-yu]. In Kamada hakushi kanreiki kinen rekishigaku ronsō. Tokyo: Tōtsūsha shuppanbu.Google Scholar
Tadao, Sakai. 1970. “Confucianism and Popular Educational Works.” In Self and Society in Ming Thought, ed. Bary, Wm. Theodore de. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Scogin, Hugh. 1978. “Poor Relief in Northen Sung China.” Oriens extremus 25.1:30–46.Google Scholar
Smith, Arthur H. 1894. Chinese Characteristics. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company.Google Scholar
Yu-Yue, Tsu. [1912] 1968. The Spirit of Chinese Philanthropy: A Study in Mutual Aid. Reprint. New York: AMS Press.Google Scholar
Twitchett, Denis. 1959. “The Fan Clan's Charitable Estate, 1050–1760.” In Confucianism in Action, ed. Nivison, David S. and Wright, Arthur F.. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
von Glahn, Richard. 1986. “Community and Welfare: Zhu Xi's Community Granary in Theory and Practice.” Paper for Workshop on Sung Dynasty Statecraft in Thought and Action in Scottsdale, Ariz.Google Scholar
Lan-yin, Wang. 1935. “Ming-tai chih hsiang-yüeh yü min-chung chiao-yü” [The rural lecture system and popular education during the Ming dynasty]. Shih-ta yüeh-k'an 21:103–22.Google Scholar
Te-i, Wang. 1960. Sung-tai tsai-huang te chiu-chi cheng ts'e [Political policies for famine relief during the Sung dynasty]. Taipei: Shang-wu yin-shu kuan.Google Scholar
Tsung-p'ei, Wang. 1935. Chung-kuo chih ho-hui [Chinese cooperative associations]. Reprint. Nanking: Chung-kuo ho-tso hsüeh-hui.Google Scholar
Huang, Wen. 1920. Wen-shih mu hsün [A mother's instructions by Ms. Wen]. In Hsüeb-hai lei pien. Shanghai: Han-fen lou.Google Scholar
Will, Pierre-Étienne. 1980. Bureaucratie et famine en Chine au XVIIIe siècle. Paris and La Haye: Mouton.Google Scholar
Tung-ming, Yang. 1624. Shan-chü kung-k'o [Achievements during retirement].Google Scholar
Yen Mao-yu. n.d. Ti-chi lu [Records of right behavior and good fortune].Google Scholar
Chih, Yü. [1869] 1969. Te-i lu [Records of having obtained what is good]. Reprint. Taipei: Hua-wen shu-chü.Google Scholar
Yü, Chün-fang. 1981. The Renewal of Buddhism in China: Chu-hung and the Late Ming Synthesis. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Yü-ch'eng-hsien chih [A gazetteer of Yü-ch'eng county]. 1895.Google Scholar