Nonprofits in China � China’s Charitable Past

Nonprofits in China � China’s Charitable Past: "The relatively small amount of charitable giving in modern, Communist China is an aberration in the longer sweep of Chinese history. In late imperial China, bridges, ferries or schools — what a modern person might see as public or civic facilities — were often run with charitable land or cash endowments set up by local notables. Village social-welfare — in the form of clinics, refugee shelters or soup kitchens — was often paid for and managed by prominent resident households.

China’s moguls of the imperial period traded in salt, which like Microsoft software was essential for the imperial economy, used for everything from cooking, preserving and pickling foods to tea, leather, paint, medicine and fireworks."