Abstract | Keywords | Export | Availability | Bookmark

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

In the early twentieth century, a time of political fragmentation and social upheaval in China, poverty became the focus of an anguished national conversation about the future of the country. Investigating the lives of the urban poor in China during this critical era, Guilty of Indigence examines the solutions implemented by a nation attempting to deal with "society's most fundamental problem." Interweaving analysis of shifting social viewpoints, the evolution of poor relief institutions, and the lived experiences of the urban poor, Janet Chen explores the development of Chinese attitudes toward urban poverty and of policies intended for its alleviation. Chen concentrates on Beijing and Shanghai, two of China's most important cities, and she considers how various interventions carried a lasting influence. The advent of the workhouse, the denigration of the nonworking poor as "social parasites," efforts to police homelessness and vagrancy--all had significant impact on the lives of people struggling to survive. Chen provides a crucially needed historical lens for understanding how beliefs about poverty intersected with shattering historical events, producing new welfare policies and institutions for the benefit of some, but to the detriment of others. Drawing on vast archival material, Guilty of Indigence deepens the historical perspective on poverty in China and reveals critical lessons about a still-pervasive social issue.Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Poverty --- Urban poor --- Destitution --- Wealth --- Basic needs --- Begging --- Poor --- Subsistence economy --- City dwellers --- History --- China --- Social conditions --- S11/0550 --- S11/0900 --- China: Social sciences--Social welfare system --- China: Social sciences--Social pathology, social deviance (incl. infanticide, abandoned children, hoodlums) --- Cina --- Kinë --- Cathay --- Chinese National Government --- Chung-kuo kuo min cheng fu --- Republic of China (1912-1949) --- Kuo min cheng fu (China : 1912-1949) --- Chung-hua min kuo (1912-1949) --- Kina (China) --- National Government (1912-1949) --- China (Republic : 1912-1949) --- People's Republic of China --- Chinese People's Republic --- Chung-hua jen min kung ho kuo --- Central People's Government of Communist China --- Chung yang jen min cheng fu --- Chung-hua chung yang jen min kung ho kuo --- Central Government of the People's Republic of China --- Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo --- Zhong hua ren min gong he guo --- Kitaĭskai︠a︡ Narodnai︠a︡ Respublika --- Činská lidová republika --- RRT --- Republik Rakjat Tiongkok --- KNR --- Kytaĭsʹka Narodna Respublika --- Jumhūriyat al-Ṣīn al-Shaʻbīyah --- RRC --- Kitaĭ --- Kínai Népköztársaság --- Chūka Jinmin Kyōwakoku --- Erets Sin --- Sin --- Sāthāranarat Prachāchon Čhīn --- P.R. China --- PR China --- PRC --- P.R.C. --- Chung-kuo --- Zhongguo --- Zhonghuaminguo (1912-1949) --- Zhong guo --- Chine --- République Populaire de Chine --- República Popular China --- Catay --- VR China --- VRChina --- 中國 --- 中国 --- 中华人民共和国 --- Jhongguó --- Bu̇gu̇de Nayiramdaxu Dundadu Arad Ulus --- Bu̇gu̇de Nayiramdaqu Dumdadu Arad Ulus --- Bu̇gd Naĭramdakh Dundad Ard Uls --- BNKhAU --- БНХАУ --- Khi︠a︡tad --- Kitad --- Dumdadu Ulus --- Dumdad Uls --- Думдад Улс --- Kitajska --- China (Republic : 1949- ) --- Beijing. --- China. --- Communists. --- Japanese penology. --- Nanjing Decade. --- Nationalist Party. --- Nationalist government. --- People's Republic. --- Republican-era China. --- Shanghai. --- World War II. --- agrarian revolutionaries. --- beggars. --- citizenship. --- coffin repositories. --- custodial detention. --- detention. --- government custody. --- government institutions. --- homelessness. --- incarceration. --- industrial training. --- labor. --- nonworking poor. --- poor relief. --- poorhouses. --- poverty policies. --- productive citizens. --- productivism. --- reforming elites. --- refugee crisis. --- refugees. --- relief agencies. --- relief agenda. --- scientific charity. --- security. --- shantytowns. --- social dislocation. --- social parasites. --- socialist ideology. --- sociology. --- straw huts. --- twentieth-century China. --- urban disorder. --- urban poor. --- urban poverty. --- vagrancy. --- war victims. --- work relief. --- workhouse. --- workhouses.