This dissertation seeks to answer the following question: “What is the place of philanthropy in a modernizing society?” It draws from rich archival sources that represent the international and trans-local influences that reshaped the ethics of social responsibility in early twentieth century Tianjin, China. The complex relationship between national identity, diverse civil governance, and institutional legitimacy form the context for each of the dissertation’s chapters. The first chapter records the foundation of the Tianjin Chamber of Commerce and its philanthropic work, analyzes transformations in urban policing that presented new expectations placed on state institutions, and examines the journalistic responses to two significant regional disasters that involved the city in 1917 and 1920. The second chapter centers on the powerful effects of Nationalist discourse on social welfare even in the absence of strong state institutions using communications between different branches of the municipal government and multiple non-state actors to reveal new ways that civil society interpreted and transmitted state ideologies. The third chapter takes a step back from Tianjin to talk about how the secular and spiritual aspects of philanthropy overlapped and reacted to one another in the context of growing nationalism and anti-Japanese sentiment, arguing that small religious associations could have a significant impact on shaping the contours of institutional relief. The concluding chapter examines the conflicting outcomes of philanthropic work under Japanese occupation and discusses the intimate responses of the nationalist government to refugee suffering as bureaucratic control dissolved towards the end of China’s civil war.
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