Religion and Charity by Robert P. Weller, C. Julia Huang, Kep... - 9781108418676

Religion and CharityThe Social Life of Goodness in Chinese Societies\nAuthor(s): Robert P. Weller, C. Julia Huang, Keping Wu, Lizhu Fan\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9781108418676, 978-1108418676\nSynopsis\nFree markets alone do not work effectively to solve certain kinds of human problems, such as education, old age care, or disaster relief. Nor have markets ever been the sole solution to the psychological challenges of death, suffering, or injustice. Instead, we find a major role for the non-market institutions of society - the family, the state, and social institutions. The first in-depth anthropological study of charities in contemporary Chinese societies, this book focuses on the unique ways that religious groups have helped to solve the problems of social well-being. Using comparative case studies in China, Taiwan and Malaysia during the 1980s and onwards, it identifies new forms of religi.