Philanthropy and revolution in Shanghai during the May 30th Movement

ABSTRACT

During the May 30th Movement of 1925, the Shanghai Provisional Society of Aid and Pacification epitomized contemporary philanthropy in Shanghai with its transitional character that combined the old with the new. On the one hand, the society inherited the organizational tradition of modern charitable groups, but on the other hand, it also came to terms with the revolutionary upsurges then occurring in China and in the international Communist movement. Inside the Provisional Society of Aid and Pacification, the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Industry, Commerce, and Education led by the Chinese Communist Party maintained cautiously collaborative relations. After the disbanding of the society, the Patriotic Fundraising Meeting, a successor organization founded by the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, soon failed, and the Chinese Communist Party launched the China Hardship Relief Society in an effort to radicalize philanthropy. Revolutionized philanthropy grew out of the development of the modern Chinese philanthropic tradition yet transcended it. Finally, proponents of these two approaches to philanthropy split after a symbiotic collaboration.