清朝早期的慈善组织——育婴堂

An Analysis of the Charity Organization in the Early Qing Dynasty-Foundling

育婴堂是清朝初期担任骨干角色的一类慈善组织。为解决社会中存在的杀婴、弃婴问题,地方精英分子和政府开始着手建立拯救婴孩的慈善机构——育婴堂。育婴堂主要由地方士绅、商人出资和政府辅助资助而创办,收容的婴孩由乳妇喂养,实行"轮值制"和"董事制"的管理制度。育婴堂地域分布广泛,属官督民办性质。育婴堂的创办起到了拯救婴儿的积极作用,但也存在资金不足、人员贪污腐败等问题的局限。

Foundling is the backbone of a charitable organization in the early Qing Dynasty.In order to solve the problem of infanticide in society,local elites and government began to set up a charity to save the babies—foundling.Foundling was mainly founded by the local gentry and businessmen,and relied on government subsidies,and the babies were fed by milk women.The foundlings implemented the management system of "rotation system" and "director system".Their main features lied in that foundlings were widely distributed and civilian-run with official supervision.The foundation of foundlings played a positive role in saving babies,but it was undeniable that it also had limitations such as insufficient funds and also corruption,ect.