Rediscover society through "Good Deeds"

This article is reprinted from Jingjiu Evening News

Rediscovering Society Through Acts of Kindness

— Reading “Living Up to My Ancestral Land”

Professor Zhang Peiguo of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in his new book “Living Up to My Ancestral Land,” delves into specific contexts such as Jiading Shantang, Foshan Ancestral Temple, and Haining Tang Factory from a historical anthropology perspective. He reveals the multiple facets of gentry and merchant involvement in acts of charity during the Qing Dynasty: there are Confucian scholars practicing the ideals of social salvation, shrewd merchants using these acts to elevate their family status and expand connections, and intermediaries balancing pressure from officials with local ties. Their acts of kindness are simultaneously moral practice, power management, and social investment, collectively painting a vivid picture of a Qing-era local society where power, ethics, and interests are intertwined.

The detailed analysis of Jiading County’s charitable halls in the book is an excellent example of this perspective. The operations of Cungen Hall, Yuying Hall, and Qingjie Hall go far beyond simple labels of “government-run” or “private.” We see how resources such as official allocations, confiscated land, merchant donations, pawnshop interest payments, and temple wishes for the city god’s temple are gathered and circulated in dazzling ways. The directors of these halls, while enjoying the prestige of being promoted by the magistrate’s advocacy for honesty, also face the practical pressure of covering deficits through shared investments. They are exempted from miscellaneous duties due to their management roles but also become indispensable organizers in projects like dredging rivers. Here, the boundaries between “public” and “private,” “official” and “civilian,” “righteousness” and “profit” are highly blurred, permeating each other and weaving a resilient, flexible local governance network.

The author keenly captures the core logic of these practices and distills the concept of “tribute and tax transformation.” This means that local acts of charity are fundamentally embedded in the imperial system’s overall logic of extracting agricultural surplus and managing society. The “righteous acts” of gentry and merchants are strategic moves to gain cultural leadership, accumulate moral capital, and consolidate local power. At the same time, under imperial fiscal pressure, they assist or even perform state functions, functioning as a form of “corvée.” This presents a profound paradox: gentry and merchants gain reputation and power through donations and charity, but this reputation and power, in turn, reinforce the imperial system’s reliance on and utilization of them.

The author extensively researches local archives, utilizing previously overlooked sources such as credit records, charity hall registers, steles, genealogies, and county documents. We see, for example, Wang Fuan, the Jiading magistrate during the Tongzhi period, writing a memorial to revive the righteous granary, expressing the urgent need to restore order after chaos; we read about the directors of Cungen Hall expressing helplessness over longstanding issues like “grain but no land” and “more grain than land” while sorting through land assets; we also glimpse the subtle conflicts between Huang’s father and son, who served as managers of Yuying Hall, over loans and repayments. These details are no longer cold data or dry regulations but vivid portrayals of governance dilemmas,利益斗争, and human relationships. Through these micro-level case studies, the book successfully allows the concepts of “tribute and tax transformation” and “dual governance” to naturally grow from the soil of history, filled with experiential texture and persuasive power.

Reading “Living Up to My Ancestral Land,” we gain not only knowledge about Qing society but also a complex perspective on examining history and reality. This historical complexity remains highly relevant today. When discussing corporate social responsibility, the role of civil society organizations, or elite social participation, the book reminds us to go beyond simple debates of “altruism” versus “self-interest.” How can we build healthy, mutually beneficial “public-private cooperation” models in social governance? How can wealth accumulation, moral reputation, and social responsibility form a virtuous cycle? The tensions and dilemmas faced by Qing gentry and merchants in acts of charity continue to offer valuable insights for reflection.