小武海 櫻子

コレクション : 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション > デジタル化資料 > 雑誌

The new religious redemptive societies which appeared in China at the turn of the nineteenth century adopted unique doctrines based on Chinese thought and religion, practiced a form of spiritual writing and conducted philanthropy with deep religious fervor. In the recent research that focuses on their charitable activities, not enough attention is paid to the relationship between the specific activities in question and! the local community, despite the fact that many of these societies became involved in charities promoted by local elites and businessmen. What is needed is a historical context for this phenomenon positioned so as to understand the modern development of Chinese popular religion. The present article focuses on one of the best-known redemptive societies, the Fellowship of Goodness (Tongshanshe 同善社), in order to analyze the organization of its local branches and their actual practices, using the case of a charitable association under its Hechuan ( Chongqing) branch called the Huishan Hall Cishan Association 合川会善堂慈善会 during the early twentieth century. While carrying out the religious activities of the Tongshanshe, the Hall was also an active private charitable institution. It was in this way that the Tongshanshe developed from a spiritual writing hall during the last years of the Qing Dynasty into a charitable organization, which during the 1930s was actively involved in disaster relief efforts in coordjnation with Local relief missions and general philanthropic groups in the district of Hechuan, financially supported by the district's elite. The idea of "restoration of morality" preached by the Tongshanshe was resonated successfully with the ideas of local conservative elites, who desired to revive the social and moral order that had been overturned by Chinese society during the early years of the Republic, resulting in the latter's support in conducting its various activities. The author concludes that the Tongshanshe was by no means an organization that could work independently from other charitable organizations, and in fact exerted a great deal of influence on other organizations, included the Red Swastika Society.