The Charity And The Divine

The south of Yangze river has centuries-old philanthropic traditions. The rise and development of charity organizations in this area during the Ming and Qing dynasties is a noticeable phenomenon. As the ruling classes and the Confucian elite advocated, the Confucian ethics and the belief of karma which were propagated in morality books spreaded widely in all sections of the community during the whole Qing dynasty. In this atmosphere the philanthropists in this area influenced or inspired each other, accelerated the formation and development of the pedigree of philanthropist.In the late imperial China,the political situations were turbulent, and the hazards heappend frequnently, the whole society faced up to severe problems. Not only the Confucian ethics from the rulling classes, but also the regional intellectual group did their best to overcome the crisis. the intellectual group in local places had played an even more irreplaceable role than that from the upper strata in enhancing social morality, improving social environment and maintaining social stability. Meanwhile, the thought of comeuppance and strong belief in supernatural powers made philanthropists to do good and accumulate merit. The paper focused on the philanthropists such as Peng Shaosheng, Pan Zengyi, Yu Zhi, Yan Chen,Jing Yuanshan. Analzed the thoughts and motives of the charity group, so as to help us to learn the essence of the charity movement and the secularization of Confucianism.