Research On The Hongjiang Foundling Hospital In The Late Qing Dynasty

Drowning infants,especially female infants happened a lot in Hongjiang area due to bad economic development.The local government and all sectors of the society did a lot of effort to solve this problem.The Hongjiang Foundling Hospital was a very famous and useful effort they made.On the premise of collecting historical materials as many as possible and from the point of view of Anthropology and sociology,this article systematically analyzes the origin,process of establishment,management status,capital source and various charitable functions of Hongjiang Foundling Hospital in the late Qing Dynasty by using various historical methods.This article is divided into five parts.The first part mainly introduces the historical background of Hongjiang Foundling Hospital,including the reasons for the establishment of it,such as the cognition and understanding of drowning infants at that time.At first,the Hongjiang Foundling Hospital was a private charitable institution,founded by Shiguan gentry merchants.The government also gave great support to them.The second part expounds the operation and management of Hongjiang Foundling Hospital,which had its own strict and standardized organization and management regulations.This part's contents mainly include:the composition,employment,duties,salaries,rewards and penalties of the managers and staff,the survey of the infants,the expense and specific implementation methods of adoption and so on.The third part analyzes the source of the funds of Hongjiang Foundling Hospital and how they used it.There were three important sources of the funds.The first source was the government's help;the second was mainly from the donations from the public,business group donating most.The third was the annual rent of the Hongjiang Foundling Hospital's property,which was more abundant than other areas.The use of the funds was also varied.Apart from the daily expenses of the hospital,a large part of it was to buy land and property for interest.The money again wouldl be paid for the cost of the hospital.The fourth part expounds other charity works of Hongjiang Foundling Hospital,which had undergone many years of reform and had various ways of infant care and various charitable functions,mainly including:knowledge of vaccinia drugs,lifeboats,establishment of compassion hall,construction of "Fire Wall and Water Dragon",promotion of relief for poor widows and so on.These charitable functions showed that the Hongjiang Foundling Hospital was not only a simple child-raising institution,it basically covered all the other local charitable activities,and can't be ignored when researching the development of Hongjiang's society.The fifth part mainly discusses the effect and deficiency of Hongjiang Foundling Hospital,and demonstrates its advantages and disadvantages.Hongjiang Foundling Hospital adopted many infants during the sixth year of Guangxu's reign to the thirty-second year(1880-1906),but resulted in high infant mortality due to the limitations of medical conditions and imperfect management.This article also makes objective evaluations and summarizes historical effect and limitation of Hongjiang Foundling Hospital.In a word,Hongjiang Foundling Hospital was an important local existence,and had a profound influence on the development of the local society.