Institutional Design of Rural Charity Model in the Ming Dynasty and the Evolution of Charity Function of Grass-roots Organizations:A Study on Hunan and Hubei
In the early Ming Dynasty's rural governance philosophy,the village community system,centered around the li-jia system,served as a comprehensive and multifunctional entity.It embodied diverse functions such as social management,education,public order,and ingeniously incorporated charitable functions.The charitable goals,including supporting widows,widowers,orphans,the elderly,and individuals with disabilities,as well as providing assistance for marriage and funerals,have been integrated into the official ritual system and various institutional arrangements of the li-jia system.In the mid-Ming period and beyond,social differentiation intensified,leading to the disintegration of the li-jia system.Some functions weakened,and in the process of reorganizing rural order,enlightened individuals continued to draw upon the early Ming village governance philosophy.The design of systems such as bao-jia and she-cang,with xiang-yue at the core,became the primary components of grassroots governance and charitable assistance in the middle and later periods of the Ming Dynasty.The integration of bao-jia,xiang-yue,she-cang,and she-xue formed the ideal model for rural governance in the middle to later Ming Dynasty,known as the"Four-in-One"system.Due to the Ming Dynasty's rural governance principles that combined spiritual and material aspects,charity and control,grassroots society managed to maintain a relatively stable order for an extended period.
Ming DynastyRural CharityVillage Community SystemGrass-roots Organization
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