Relationships in a World Turned Cold - Civil Society in China
by Li Xue
"Sir, can you tell me why these people do not allow a stranger into their homes to warm his hands? Look at the bright windows. Their fires must be huge."
The bus is rumbling up. I hastily withdraw my hand from his and shout: "It's because these people are more civilized than the mountain people …"
Ai Wu: A Winter Night
Snow this year was heavy. On the sidewalk of a little street connecting the neighborhood residences with the supermarket, a homeless person was wrapped between a cotton-padded mattress and a quilt, stiff with dirt. As I returned home passing through this modern and expensive part of the city, where people use number codes to unlock their doors, I thought of Ai Wu's "A Winter Night". A stranger who wanted to find a place to rest or to warm his hands here would find it difficult.
The next day my mother and I took some money to give to the homeless man. He took the money and stuffed it into his pocket but did not answer any questions. Instead, he just stared expressionless down the street. My mother and I did not give up, though. We kept asking questions, trying to find out if maybe he was mentally ill. It did not take long for people to stop as well. An elderly man said: "He has mental problems. I gave him some clothes but he wasn't sure if he wanted to wear them and just threw them aside." A young woman said: "Give him some instant noodles!" And an elderly woman recalled: "My son has called the television channel, which runs a 'suggestion box' program, twice so far but they said that they couldn't do much …they didn't come."
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An Amity volunteer helping an orphaned girl with her homework. |
Apparently quite a few people in this neighborhood knew the man. Everybody stopped to pity him and then -- left again. I could not help thinking: the media felt that showing such a man would not translate into high viewing rates. The people in the street in turn were not sure which government department was responsible in such a case, and should not there be charities to take care of people like this man anyway?
Charity traditions
In Chinese tradition "the poor", "the scholar" and "the official" are social terms interconnected in a special way. Confucian scholars of the early times liked to be associated with a poor and humble lifestyle because it expressed their aloofness from material pursuits and politics. Poverty was in this sense perceived as a social value. Nevertheless, the term also described the regrettable state of penniless people, a state which destroys family relationships.
About ten years ago, the Taiwanese scholar Liang Qizi evaluated 2615 historical documents on charities of the Ming and Qing dynasties, which he collected in mainland China and abroad [Liang Qizi, Shishan yu jiaohua: Ming Qing de cishan zuji, (Philanthropy and edification: philanthropic associations in Ming and Qing times), Taipei 1997.]. He looked at charities which stressed philanthropy, helped people and did not worry about their own benefits. In those days, he found, charities educated society just by doing good and taught people values shared by Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism alike.
Similar to early western charitable organizations, it was religious belief which prompted philanthropy. But there are differences between China and the West. Unlike western charities in the 18th and 19th century, Chinese organizations were not yet confronted with social change. Chinese society at that time was mainly rural and did not have to deal with an impoverished working class. There was no renewal of ideas, nor were there any irritations with the effects of an industrial revolution. Instead, Chinese charities in Ming and Qing times played their part in preserving the social status quo. As a consequence, reexamination or innovation of the social welfare system was never a topic.
During Ming rule (1368-1644) it was mainly the high-ranking and influential members of the gentry who founded charitable organizations. They did this in a rather offhand manner. Until the Qing dynasty these charities depended solely on local resources. Only gradually did they draw the attention and support of the central government. When the Qing came to power, local people, who were socially active, no longer relied exclusively on one patron from the elite class. More and more Confucian scholars from the lower levels of society became involved in the smaller towns. These lower-class scholars received an orthodox Confucian education but they were also influenced by Buddhist and Daoist beliefs. They were not concerned with reforming the system, nor did they deliberately side with influential groups in opposition to the Qing government. Instead, they only tried to consolidate their own social position and strengthen their influence on local affairs.
Since the 1990s, scholars and business people have discussed the question of whether China has a civil society. If it has, they have wondered, what are its characteristics, and is the emergence of charities and welfare organizations something which will eventually lead to the development of a civil society? Chinese history suggests that even during times of strong central government control, a certain public sphere has always existed apart from the two major focal points of society: family and the nation.
For example, during early Qing rule in the second half of the 17th century, the government was determined to rein in the influence of literary societies. Still, local philanthropic societies prospered. Charities in ancient China were of a non-confrontational sort, trying to teach people basic values and, at the same time, reducing social problems. The government and charities, bureaucrats and members of charitable organizations relied on each other. There were also tensions, though, when, for example, taxes and duties were levied and when organizations like charities could be used to ease tensions between the local governments and the center.
Current Developments
The public space of current society is becoming ever more difficult to describe. Pages of history books filled until only recently no longer discuss "poverty" as a strain on family relationships or a culturally high-ranking status in the Confucian sense of the word. The texts now implicitly refer to poverty as a group of related social problems: education, health care, job search etc. Poverty is not regarded as having one cause but many: Migrant workers, children who drop out of school, disabled people, AIDS patients, sex workers, drug addicts, and all those people who struggle at the edge of society, having different grievances and needs.
Compared with organizations during the Ming and Qing periods, charities in China have become very diverse. Charities and welfare organizations have worked with various poverty-afflicted groups in many different areas. Some of today's welfare organizations receive funds from the government, some from overseas and some from individual "benefactors". Their focuses and work ethics are different from each other, too. And new challenges are emerging.
Today, material goods and financial resources are sent from the east of China to the west, from cities to villages, from developed areas to economically backward regions. This seems to be a good thing; however, the differences between the local people and those coming from outside in order to help often create problems which are difficult to solve. At Amity we used to say that the resources which come to us from overseas do good to everybody who is involved in Amity projects at the grassroots level; but the geographical distance between the local communities and Amity staff members remains a problem. It puts one more barrier between them and us.
Nevertheless, the effort of building bridges is very important and should not be underestimated. I remember last year's international HIV/AIDS conference in Henan. Participants had different religious beliefs and, in fact, had never met before, but they participated in the same training class on AIDS prevention. In the special atmosphere of this training class everybody quickly warmed up to each other. The Muslims were able to experience the charms of their Christian brothers and sisters and the Christians caught a glimpse of genuine Muslim culture. The most important thing, however, was that local people had an opportunity to learn the basic facts about AIDS. Many projects are like this. The scale of such projects seems to be small but the projects have an important and long-lasting impact: a legal aid station for migrant workers, a class in sign language for disabled children and a lot of other activities designed to reach people who are cast away by the rest of society.
In that pile of blankets at the corner of the snow-covered street, there is this poor man. Looking at him, I forget all those theories about where social responsibility fits in between the political arena and the forces of the market. He just reminds me that civil society starts right at our doorsteps.
