1:00 pm-3:00 pm Historical Antecedents: Ming, Qing and the Republican Era
Chair: Peter Bol (Harvard University)
• Joanna Handlin Smith (Harvard University) Charity in Late Ming China
• Michael Szonyi (Harvard University) Traditional Lineage Corporate Trusts as Charitable Nonprofits
• Elisabeth Kőll (Harvard University) Nonprofit development in the context of business growth and new
entrepreneurial agendas during the Republic era
• Peter Bol (Harvard University) A case study on the funding of education from 1050-1850 in one locale
Charity in Late Ming China
Joanna Handlin Smith
A change that took place during the late Ming dynasty roughly from 1580 to 1644. Before then, most
charitable activities had been carried out by the imperial government, Buddhist institutions, and lineages.
During the late Ming, local residents formed additional types of charitable organizations like medical
dispensaries for the sick; foundling homes; soup kitchens; programs for providing vagrants with clothing
and shelter; and the so-called benevolent societies.
Why did these new types of charitable organizations arise?
First, poverty and need were spreading. Secondly, the [Ming] state was ineffective in dealing with the
food shortages, social unrest spread; and, as conditions deteriorated, the responsibility for social order and
the people’s welfare shifted from the imperial court to local society, in particular to the gentry.
These explanations are unsatisfactory, however. I directed my attention to questions about the particular
strategies. Why, for example, did some men choose to form charitable associations while others chose to
act individually? What moved wealthy members of large lineages to extend their beneficence beyond
their kin? And what sustained the cohesion of the late Ming organizations over the long term?
The key to what was distinctive about late Ming charity was, the unprecedented availability of large
numbers of volunteers who were literate and informed. During the late Ming, the ranks of the lowest
degree holders may have skyrocketed as much as twenty fold. It was these ever-hopeful students who
provided the manpower and know-how for managing and running the charitable projects. Their very
presence in vast numbers gave members of the gentry new opportunities for building organizations. The
late Ming charitable organizations required an enormous amount of paper work. It was the abundance of
physicians that made it feasible to set up medical dispensaries on at least three occasions in Shaoxing
(1636, 1641, 1642).
Additionally, many of the new charitable organizations grew out of fellowships, or social clubs, whose
goal was not philanthropy but simply to bring together residents who had in common some education or
wealth. The authority of the gentry and a respect for the social hierarchy played important roles. The
students and other small players scrambled to cooperate not only because they were dedicated to a good
cause, but also because they understood that they might thereby garner certain benefits. The volunteers
and donors understood that members of the gentry had the authority to send favorable reports up to local
officials, and that word of their good deeds might then travel up the bureaucratic hierarchy, even to the
emperor. The surplus of educated men not only provided the critical mass for forming charitable
organizations; it also expanded the social networks of the gentry and facilitated communication across
social strata and across administrative boundaries.
In sum, late Ming charity was embedded in a particular set of social and political conditions. It differs
from what came before and from what would follow, and it provides little if any key to what might be
called a “Chinese tradition” of charity. The case of late Ming charity nonetheless deserves note, for it
raises many questions about charity in general.
Charitable Linage Corporate Trust in Late Empirical China
Michael Szonyi
I’m going to focus on corporate trusts that were endowed in the name of an ancestor that was very wide
spread in the late empirical China, and suggest some of the ways in which it parallels non profit
organizations. Yitian, Yizhuang, Zhuangtian, even Hui are all words that characterize this organization. It
emerged in the Song, became very wide spread in Ming and Qing. It persists to the present day, in
Taiwan, in Hongkong, among overseas Chinese Communities in southeast Asia. There’s a connection
with the solitary communities.
The historical prototype for the kind of institution was established in the eleventh century by states man
called Fan Zhongyan (989 to 1052). He was inspired by much older Buddhist antecedents. He endowed
in an estate of about five hundred acres, the income of which was to be dedicated to various charitable
philanthropic purposes. This is not a small and trivial charitable organization. The idea of using one’s
accumulated wealth to endow an estate, the income from which could be used for purposes that we would
called philanthropic, education, disaster relief, support for the elderly, spread very rapidly. Both because
of its ideological pedigree, because it could be justified in terms of a neo Confucian agenda, and also
because of its flexibility, and effectiveness in dealing with a wide range of social problems. Of course
many of these estates were short-lived, but the finest state that I just talked about continued to pay out into
the early Qing. So we have an estate that, it fluctuated in value, people stole from it. There were scandals.
The corporate estate serving philanthropic goals, continued for at least six hundred years.
These organizations were legal persons. The ancestor in whose name, the estate was endowed, was like a
legal person but the members of this estate could sign contracts. It had a legal standing, we know because
the state intervened to resolve disputes. It had various tax privileges, and tax exemptions. One way in
which it differed is that there was no charitable or even corporate law as we would think of that.
On the economic side, they were typically formed in one of two ways, either through donation or
subscription or through a process of inheritance. And in that case, the charitable functions of the
organizations, often developed after the fact, what typically happened was a portion of a household estate,
was set aside during family debate, especially for ancestral sacrifice. And if that state grew over time, it
might eventually take on other function that we would call philanthropic functions, but the other thing
that happened was that as the number of people with a claim on the state grew, it became much harder to
mange the estate. Initially what would happen was the charitable corporate estate would rotate among the
descendent, but then when we had our ten sons, twenty sons, it became impossible to do this. So
centralized management was imposed . At this point, that local elites that typically took the lead in
imposing centralized management, would often extend the functions, to what we would call charity, or
philanthropy.
The organizations had a clear separation of ownership and management. It was clear that the, those who
had a claim on the estate, ought to select a management team, that should operate relatively
independently. They were certainly nonprofit, in the sense that income were responsible for much of the
land of development, the reclamation of land from the delta. Shenzhen, and Donghuan today, are in many
ways, the product of NGOs seeking a good investment route. The same sorts of problems that occur, the
same sort of scandals that set modern NGOs that were problematic for the kinds of organizations I’ve
been talking about. In one case to come back to the fine lineage in 1541, the descendants of Fan
Zhongyan, brought suit against their relative that was managing the land, because he had been mortgaging
it, and skiming the proceeds.
In the western tradition, we think of the NGO, as a particular form of corporation. In the Chinese
tradition, in Chinese history, maybe that the corporation is a particular form of lineage, charitable trust.
CSR in Entrepreneurial Agendas During Qing Republican Transition Period
Elisabeth Kőll
I am going to talk about how the emergence of modern companies industrial corporations can be viewed
from a philanthropic and nonprofit perspective because these enterprises that came into existence in the
late Qing, after 1895, really started a wave of new institutions in the context of corporate social
responsibilities, workers housing, clinics, ect,, ect. And also community initiatives of famous, very locally
dominant entrepreneurs, who became the sponsors and founder of schools.
They started all after 1895. Before 1895, there was no legal possibility for Chinese private enterprise in
China, any kind of large-scale business, with an industrial or military production manufacturing portfolio
had to run under state patronage. In 1895, after the lose in the war to Japan, suddenly foreign powers
were allowed to run businesses in China in the treaty ports and interier, and as a result, this business
opportunity also becomes available, to Chinese businessman. So what we see from basically 1900
onwards, is the founding of substantial industrial enterprises in the light industry sector.
These enterprises now have work force often three to four thousand people. They are not situated in the
industrial centers. This created a special environment in terms of rural urban relationships, in terms
workforce , as well as the communities these enterprises operated in. The factories were run in a way
remind us of family businesses, and a very personalized managerial concerns.
Daoshan textile, in Nantong, which is a pretty good example of how this company, the founders’ attitudes
to corporate social responsibility, and community philanthropic activities became part of very clever
business strategy, and were a very well crafted strategy to enhance both the financial aspects of the
company as well as elevate his position in society.
So, in terms of corporate social responsibility, we see for the first time massive building of worker’s
housing, clinics, all sorts of social benefits. Corporate social responsibility, at that time, was really based
on the very paternalistic authoritarian management in the factory that was also applied to any kind of
philanthropic activity in the factory compound, in the community. So basically, housing and benefits
were only available to skilled workers employees. This kind of philanthropy was applied to keep very
scarce, skilled labor in place. So by applying a very stratified structure, on these offering, who could
qualifying, who not, became a tool to create social stratification, and to decide who belongs to the white
collar force, who belongs to the worker.
Why did he do this? His company became a famous case that was constantly discussed in the newspapers.
It was a good way to raise money because by using all sorts of progressive factory management
foreigners were mightily impressed. It also worked because with the tight social control, the social
engineering of the factories went hand in hand with social engineering of the community of Nanchong.
He found schools, orphanages, he donated a new prison, the first museum in China. At the time because
of course whenever the company wanted to extend, buy land, there were deals to build a road, to build a
jetty, and do things that could be interpreted as indirect taxation.
Zhang Jian’s indirect control of the publishing and newspapers sphere of Nanchong city had a very clear
agenda to reinforce his image as an entrepreneur, and as a benefactor. During the period of Qing
Republican transition, these entrepreneurs all still came out of the traditional education system, and really
very keen on showing that they were successful entrepreneurs, but also had the good of the community
and the people at heart. In terms of using philanthropy for marketing and advertising products, I see that
later on in the 1930s and 40s, when we have more commercialized economy and then we get to the point
where, for example, the Yong’an Department Stores, for flood relief, sent out boats that had advertising.
By Yong’an, which is a way of aligning interest.
Now, to conclude, I think that the approaches are not necessarily very different from what happened in
the early period of the industrial revolution England or in Europe, or in other countries. Obviously this is
the first generation of industrial entrepreneurs, who really were very very keen, on operating and trying to
find the footing in local society and obviously the alignment of interest between the entrepreneur and the
local government was the most important aspect, that guided the funding and management of these
philanthropic institutions. Philanthropic cases were also wonderful ways of cooking up the books. You
could write off a bad debts, by using your philanthropic activities, and a lot of shareholders got burned
that way in the 1920s and 30s, and there were many complaints. Getting official appointment for these
businessmen was also an important reason. The integration into the political power. Authorities at the
local but also at the central level enabled them into become for example, businesses of agricultural
commerce for a short while, or take on positions in the cotton mill associations, and be leaders there. So,
I think there is enough to think about of contemporary similarities, and differences.
Donating to Educational Institutions: A Study if Historical Inscriptions
Peter Bol
Schools are a type of organization that is integral to any notion of civil society. In China, it was not until
late 11th century, when for the first time, schools are mandated for all 1500 counties at that point. These
were boarding schools. There’s only one school in each county, and by the early 12th century, there were
around 200,000 students on stipends and was living in these schools. It was very expensive, so the
government started to reduce expenditures, and with that came with the rise of private schools in the 12th
century. “Shu Yuan”, or private academies. In some places there were 10 times as many private
academies, funded by various individuals, families, lineages, as there are public schools.
I studied about sixty inscriptions from Dongyang county, Zhejiang, for schools and private academies
going from 1150 to 1825. I’m very interested in what these documents tell us about the problem of
charitable giving, and funding schools, funded education. My discussion will be analyzing what is
supposed to accomplish, and what the givers and the recorders thought was accomplishing, and what
meaning they attached to in this social act of giving, what reasonable understanding was at the time of
what it meant to give.
The most massive form of charitable giving was given to religious institutions. If you look at any map or
any local history of China, you’ll see that the number of religious institutions, far outstrips the number of
schools. Almost all these religious institutions after Tang Dynasty are funded by private institutions,
although they have government protection in the sense that they are tax free.
It’s clear from these documents that what was being commanded and recorded is gifts of giving to those
building, gifts of endowment, fields that would produce income, that could be used for schools and
scholarships. The local histories have documents after documents recording all these inscriptions that
were done in conjuncture with education. Authors of these inscriptions are often successful literati, but
also sometimes county officials themselves, often magistrate. They don’t tell us all that we could know
about major gifts. What they do allow us to see is what the justifications were for taking this money from
people, and putting into schools or giving money to schools. They tell us who is doing the giving. They
tell us sometimes how much is being given, and they tell us something about what’s being done and
what’s being given.
I am particularly interested in the justifications, because they tell us the discourse in which philanthropy
takes place, and in this case of charitable education, and there’s some evolution over time in this sorts of
details and financial details that were given, but there’s continuity. One thing is that we give to schools
because we’ll make the literati successful in competing civil service examinations, so that we have better
representation in the government. Another major argument is that local literati need aid to go to schools.
This is one of the reasons why private academies exist, it is a way of supporting a large number of
students outside government schools. A glorious school we were told improves our image as literati in the
eyes of the common folk. They also make us literati here in our school, in our district, look good in the
eyes of surrounding districts. And then there was the fact schools are a way of extending learning, that
learning is fundamental to the public good, that there is a philosophy of learning that’s schools can teach,
and should teach, and that make students better people, and as better people, and more responsible people.
Even if they don’t pass the examinations to become officials, they are able to provide various kind of
local leadership. Schools and education is a way that local voluntaries, local leaderships, and being
righteous is inculcated in people.
There’s a large conclusion that we can draw from this. There is a sense that education is a government
responsibility, certainly that’s embedded in the rhetoric of later imperial government with the whole
notion of jiao hua, transformation of society through instruction. Since the government keeps failing to
realize the responsibilities, and that’s why you need private donation. We do see literati constantly
pressing the government to do more for education, and local officials constantly pressing literati and local
rich families to give more to education, to pay for renovation of the school. In fact, the government faces
three kinds of physical demands for education. First, salaries for the teachers, and that it tends to pay.
Secondly, it has to give by law stipends to the students, and that it tends to. But nothing says that it has to
renovate the buildings. That is really up to local government to figure out how they are going to do that
with local people. Literati are willing to give because it’s in their interest, it’s good for their communities
and themselves. If to think only in terms of official recruitment, the government doesn’t need to have
schools in every county to recruit adequate number of officials, but there is tremendous demand that it do
so. The government has to do enough to keep private money going into these public school, because if it
doesn’t do enough, then all that money will go to private academies and schools, so we see an interesting
pattern that private schools continue to exist and continue to get funded, but the government is constantly
willing to go out to private citizens to ask them to give to public institutions as well. The private schools,
for their part, keep going to the government, asking for the salaries for the teachers. The ideal of social
transformation through education was always there, and more than anything else that was formal
justification for private academies. Private academies promised a place where education will be for one’s
own improvement, not just for political success. But in practice, educational ideal are meaningful only to
a very small but also a non trouble making segment of the local population. It was that segment that had
the land, the money, and the political influence, which wrote the inscriptions, which my commands were
based on.