How did the ancients in China do charity?

Jiangning Hall (located in Bozhou, Anhui Province) with charity function in the Qing Dynasty, the victims of the late Qing Dynasty were waiting for help (photos collected by the Palace Museum). The Lushan 7.0 earthquake in Ya 'an, Sichuan Province once again triggered a hot discussion on the topic of "charity". In fact, China has a tradition of charity since ancient times. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Wang had already set up the position of "Situ", a local official in the Central Administrative Office. In addition, the means of social assistance adopted during the famine period is called "famine policy". How to carry out charity activities in ancient China? In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Liu Xie "went out to Taicang and Mi Dou to make porridge for the hungry." According to Li Zhou's Local Officials, Zhou Wang set up a local official in the Central Administrative Office to help him educate the people and stabilize the world. Situ, who has some functions as a minister of civil affairs in modern times, should take six measures to do a good job in civil affairs, namely, "Poly supports the masses: first, caring for the young, second, supporting the elderly, third, helping the poor, fourth, caring for the poor, fifth, tolerating diseases, and sixth, being rich". The so-called "raising children to prevent old age", "revitalizing the poor", "caring for the poor", "being tolerant of illness" and "settling the rich" mean taking care of children, supporting the elderly, helping the poor, giving preferential treatment to the disabled and appeasing the rich in modern terms. These are the concrete contents of modern charity concept. The charitable activities in this period were mainly promoted by the imperial court, and the social relief measures taken during the famine period were called "famine policy". In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, all vassal states attached great importance to charity work. For example, He Lv, the king of Wu, one of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period, recorded in Zuo Zhuan that after the AD, he would visit the people in the disaster area every time there was a natural disaster or plague, to appease the widowed and help the poor. The emergence of individual charitable activities with the people as the main body is a sign of the progress of China's ancient charity. The folk charity activities in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are relatively simple, and one of them is to provide meals directly to people in need on the roadside, which is called "giving porridge". Although it is simple, it is the most popular charity act, which has been passed down from generation to generation in China. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in the autumn of the first year of Xingping (A.D. 194), there was a drought in Gyeonggi, and victims were everywhere. According to "Xian Di in the Later Han Dynasty", the then emperor Liu Xie (Xian Di) arranged for Hou Wen, the minister around him, to "make a tour of Taicang and Mi Dou to cook porridge for the hungry". Folk porridge is more common and used to be called "big food". For example, in the seventh year of Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 483), there was famine in Jizhou and Dingzhou, and local sages "lived on porridge". According to the biography of Emperor Wen of Shu Weixiao, this saved hundreds of thousands of people. Until the late Qing Dynasty, it was the first choice for China ancient philanthropists to distribute food and give alms to porridge. In the modern shooting of the Qing Palace, from time to time, there will be scenes where good people set up large iron pots to cook porridge to help the victims. When did the earliest charities in ancient China begin? During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, King Jing of Qi Jingling set up a six-disease clinic to help the poor. The ancients in China had their own charitable ideas. "Li Yun" said: "An old friend is both a relative and an only child, so that he can have a sense of security in his old age, be strong and useful, be young and have strengths, and be pitied, lonely, lonely and disabled." The general meaning of this sentence is that people can't just support their parents and raise their children, but let the elderly in the world enjoy their old age, let the young and middle-aged serve the society, let their children grow up smoothly, and let the lonely elderly, orphans, childless elderly and disabled people get social care. This is the "Great Harmony Society". The policy of "raising the sick" is another main content of ancient people's charity, providing basic medical services for vulnerable groups such as the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled, including victims. For example, in the second year of the Western Han Dynasty (AD 2), drought occurred in many places, accompanied by locust plague, and then an epidemic broke out. "History of Emperor Ping of Han Dynasty" records that the method adopted by the court at that time was, "People suffering from diseases and epidemics leave their homes for medical treatment." Although it is an isolation measure to prevent the spread of the epidemic, it is actually a charitable act. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, folk charity activities became more active. At that time, Wang Xiao, one of the most famous philanthropists in the Southern Dynasties, opened a disaster relief warehouse. According to the Biography of the Crown Prince Qi in the Southern History, he also co-founded the "Six Diseases Pavilion" with the Crown Prince Xiao Changmao, which is dedicated to those who are poor and unable to stand on their own feet, that is, the so-called "Six Diseases Pavilion to help the poor". The time was in the late 5th century and early 6th century. The "six diseases" originated from Zuo, which refers to many diseases. The "Six Diseases Hall" opened in this way is regarded by modern charity circles as one of the earliest charities in China. Before Liu and Song Dynasties, social relief work has been highly valued. According to "Song Ming Di Ji", in the first year of Taishi (AD 465), Liu Mi (Ming Di) just became the emperor and wrote a letter, "If you are widowed and widowed, you can't save yourself from six diseases, you can give it to the county." Later in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were also acts of kindness. "History of the North Wei Benji IV" records that in October of the third year of Yongping, Emperor Yuan Ke (Xuan Wudi) "wrote a letter to the Taitai Permanent Pavilion, so that people suffering from diseases inside and outside Gyeonggi could live in salty places". Where did the ancient charity funds in China come from? As we all know, Cui Li, Tang Yizong needs sufficient economic strength to provide rice for the "sick and wounded areas" in various counties. So, where did the money for charity come from in ancient times? According to historical records, as in modern times, ancient charitable funds mainly came from state financial allocations and private donations. Monks are the most active and enthusiastic folk charities in ancient times. The purpose of Buddhism is to educate all beings, do good and help others, and it is also an inevitable choice for monks to participate in charitable activities. As mentioned earlier, the earliest charity "Six Diseases Hall" in China, its founders Jingling Wang Xiao and Prince Xiao Changmao both believe in Buddhism. The most successful and influential Buddhist charity is the "mourning field" in the Tang Dynasty. Buddhism has the saying of "five blessings", and "sorrowful field" is one of them, which is mainly used to give alms to the poor, sick and widowed, hence the name "sorrowful field for the wounded and sick". By the Tang Dynasty, Sada sanatorium was spread all over the country. Its economic source, in the early days, relied on the dedication of believers and the income from the temple's own land. Because Sardian nursing home has a good social assistance function and plays an obvious role in solving people's livelihood problems and maintaining social stability, the court attaches great importance to it and actively intervenes in management. After the intervention of the imperial court, the financial assistance provided by the state treasury became the main source of income. This kind of assistance includes living assistance, providing food, disaster relief sundries and so on. In the article "About Jin Wuwei" in Four Records of Guan Bai in the New Tang Dynasty, there is a record of sending blankets to nursing homes. When Cui Li (Emperor Zong Yi) became emperor, he also sent rice to the sickrooms in various counties. The second is official direct investment and land property distribution. During the reign of Li Longji (Xuanzong) in the first century A.D., the practice of "official establishment and capital collection" ensured the "cash flow" of Sardian sanatorium. Although the charity "Sada Hospital" lost its popularity in the late Tang Dynasty because of the movement of "destroying Buddha", it had a far-reaching impact on the charity in China in the future. Sada Hospital and Sanatorium in the Five Dynasties, Futian Hospital and Anjifang in the Song Dynasty, Puji Hospital in the Jin Dynasty and Sanatorium in the Ming and Qing Dynasties were all influenced by Sada Hospital. Which ancient dynasty had a perfect charity mechanism? Compared with official investment, fundraising and private donations have always been the most stable economic sources for ancient charities and welfare organizations. It can not only avoid the restriction of rulers' likes and dislikes on official investment, but also affect the whole society and mobilize the whole society to participate, especially in the case of major disasters and insufficient government financial resources. The best official charity work in ancient times should be in the Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, there were corresponding charitable organizations in various fields, such as "Futian Hospital" and "Nursing Home" to adopt beggars, the disabled and the elderly. Diseases include "Anji Hospital" and "Huimin Pharmacy"; There is a "leaky garden" in death; Children have a "nursery warehouse" and a "child-friendly office" ... these are government-run charitable organizations and welfare institutions. Because the government encourages people to participate in charitable activities, there have been many privately sponsored charities with a certain scale. For example, Zhu Zeng, a famous philosopher, set up a "social warehouse" in Chong 'an County, Jianning Prefecture for disaster relief, and the local government allocated a certain amount of cheap food to be managed by the villagers. Fan Zhongyan, who "worries about the world first", founded an "Yizhuang" in Suzhou, setting up fertile land for more than ten hectares. Every year, he "rents rice from his ancestors and goes to several households for food, clothing, weddings and funerals". China's famous philanthropists in ancient times, such as Liu Zai, Liu Zai, Liu Yi and Liu Yi, all came from the Song Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, non-governmental charitable organizations further developed and expanded, involving almost all social fields. Of course, this is related to its rich economic resources. Donation is the main source of charity organization economy in Ming and Qing Dynasties, which is obviously different from the official charity activities in Tang and Song Dynasties. Moreover, during this period, there were rich sources of charitable funds, especially in the Qing Dynasty, donating charitable activities became a social atmosphere, with a wide range of participants, officials donating honesty, gentry donating real estate and landlords donating land. In ancient times, what was the punishment for failing to cash donations? During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, pharmacies in Beijing could not afford to pay a fine of two taels of silver at noon. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, various new mutual aid and relief organizations in the form of "guild halls" directly promoted the great development of folk charity. Guild Hall is a kind of rural gang organization with obvious geographical and industrial features. To put it bluntly, its opening purpose is to "answer the gods, cherish the hometown and extract the goodness". Guild Hall is a platform for fellow villagers and peers to help each other, and it plays an outstanding role in donating money for education, helping the funeral, sending doctors and helping the poor. For example, Chen Zongfan, a Fujian native in the Qing Dynasty, founded the "Fujian Fellowship Hall" in Beijing, which was clearly defined as "the place where the provincial entrance examination went to Beijing for a fake museum, and the cold suddenly occurred"; Guild halls set up by Huizhou merchants often include "funeral homes", "righteous graves" and "righteous villages" to provide free services for the dead and patients. In addition to individual voluntary donations, there are two common ways of financial resources for charitable activities in Ming and Qing Dynasties: sharing funds and drawing royalties. Sharing fund-raising is easy to understand, that is, participants share donations equally. The extraction of royalties depends on the business volume and income of participants. For example, in the thirty-second year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty, Suzhou "established a school by stone industry to run charity", and its perennial funds were used by means of extraction. 17 stone workshop agreed that "every thousand businesses, put forward 20; Donate four pence a day. " It should be noted that in ancient times, donations were mandatory, and there was a mandatory "fine" for those who could not donate in time. For example, in the twenty-second year of Qing Jiaqing, Beijing drugstore agreed: on the first day of the first month of each year, you should pay money in the hall on time, "without delay." Before noon, you will be fined two taels of silver.