The understanding of social welfare is divided into a broad and narrow sense, social welfare in a broad sense generally refers to providing all members of society with all measures to improve their material and cultural living standards, and social welfare in the narrow sense is mainly aimed at groups in social difficulties, such as the elderly, children, the disabled, etc., to provide them with welfare materials and services and other support.
Although some people think that whether there was social welfare in ancient society still needs to be studied in detail, the Northern Wei Dynasty did implement many measures that were higher than the basic guarantee standard to benefit the people, so it can be regarded as a welfare policy in the ancient sense.
The social welfare of the Northern Wei Dynasty was between the broad and narrow senses, and the implementation objects included some social difficult groups, but also some other special groups, these welfare measures can help this part of the people to obtain better living security, but it is highly targeted, the audience is relatively limited, and the upper layers of society often benefit more.
Elderly
The rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty attached great importance to the propagation of filial piety, not only to punish filial piety and disobedience, but also to learn the Han etiquette system to set up three old and five more respectful elderly people, and also built the Ming Hall to open up the Yong, set up the Guozi Study, and even personally taught the "Filial Piety Classic" in the main hall, took the lead in setting an example, and taught filial piety, so the welfare policy for the elderly group was very rich, providing meticulous care for the elderly.
Reward food and clothing
Giving food and clothing for the elderly to ensure the basic living needs of the elderly, so that they can avoid the suffering of hunger and cold, and can enjoy their old age in peace, is a special guarantee for the social difficult groups - the elderly groups, and Emperor Xiaowen attaches special importance to them.
Later, Emperor Xiaowen gave different sizes of clothing and food to different groups of elderly people between the third year of Yanxing (473) and the twentieth year of Tai (496), and at first the rewards were mostly for the high years of the Jingshi, and the rewards were mainly clothing and clothing.
In the fourth year of Taihe (480), Emperor Xiaowen met with the elders of the capital, in addition to bestowing them with brocade. He also gave them a few scepters, rice, honey, wheat, and other items, and exempted his family from servitude.
From the sixth year of Taihe (482), Emperor Xiaowen gave most of the clothes to the poor and the elderly, and in the seventeenth year of Taihe (493), Emperor Xiaowen not only personally met with the elderly in the places where he passed, inquired about the suffering, and gave millet, but also ordered the supply of food for the people of the six towns and the city of Yuyi who were over eighty years old and had no brothers and grandchildren, and gave millet to the poor old people over seventy years old.
In addition, Emperor Xiaowen gave great preferential treatment to the elderly of higher status, and in the twentieth year of Taihe (496), he feasted on the elders of the state in the Hualin Garden of the Royal Palace, and gave a rich reward after Erzhu Rong's grandfather Erzhu Dele was old.
Later, You Minggen also issued an edict: "You Wu is more light and plain, and in the end, Hengli can be described as the old virtue of the dynasty and the old success of the country." Five hundred horses and five hundred grains can be given", and the reward specifications are significantly higher than those of the general elderly group.
Give a staff for food
Giving a few rods and sending meals for the high years were all respected and cared for by the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty for the elderly.
A few staffs, that is, sitting and canes, and sometimes only dove sticks— a cane with a dove-shaped shape carved into the head of the staff, which are auxiliary objects that will be used at any time in old age. The first meal is to send the meal to the high-age house, and it is also a kind of care and preferential treatment for the elderly group.
In ancient times, there were records of giving a few rods to the elderly very early, such as the "Ritual Record and The Moon Order" wrote: "It is the moon, nourishing the old, giving a few rods, and practicing a porridge diet", and the Han Dynasty further improved it, formulated the royal staff system, and became a representative measure of respecting the elderly. The Northern Wei Dynasty had always been filial and had also inherited the practice of giving staffs. When Emperor Taiwu was emperor, because of his pity for the elderly, he first ordered "giving a staff to the temple".
Emperor Xianwen also gave several staffs to Yuan Shu, Yuan Xingdu, Diao Yong, Jia Xiu, Tuoba Yu, and others, and almost all of them enjoyed the treatment of "dining in the first place". By the time of Emperor Xiaowen, the preferential treatment of the meal was rare, most of which was only given to the dove staff, and also rewarded Him with an ancha.
After Emperor Xiaowen, only Emperor Xiaoming issued an edict once, "With his (Zhen Chen)aging, he gave the imperial staff." Straight staff to in and out".
The gift of the staff not only shows the ruler's respect for the high age, but also helps to establish the traditional Confucian ethical relationship, stabilize the social order, and maintain and consolidate the rule, but the recipients are mostly elderly officials with high moral integrity, and only a very small number of upper-class seniors can enjoy this benefit.
Plate official knighthood
The granting of knighthood by the banguan refers to the awarding of honorary titles and knighthoods to the elderly, which is an honor for the elderly and even their families, and is also a manifestation of the Northern Wei's attention and respect for the elderly.
Banguan originated from the Han Dynasty, when the kings and ministers granted subordinate officials the title of "Plate Grant", this way of appointing officials is different from the emperor's appointment, they are not formal officials of the imperial court, can not enjoy the corresponding treatment.
The Wei and Jin dynasties inherited this system, but the meaning has changed, and the power to grant official positions has also been vested in the rulers, gradually becoming a means for the state to respect the elderly.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the conferment of knights to the elderly mainly occurred during the period of Emperor Xiaowen, and the high years of the Banzhi were all in the three generations of Emperor Xiaowen, Emperor Xiaoming, and Emperor Xiaozhuang. In August of the seventeenth year of Taihe (493), Emperor Xiaowen traveled to Wanton Prefecture and decreed that "the seventy years of the people have been raised, and the knighthood has been granted", which was the first time that Emperor Xiaowen had given a knighthood to an old man.
In September of the same year, "the people of the four prefectures of Zhaoluo, Huai, And Wanton: more than a hundred years of false county orders, more than ninety years of knighthood of the third level, more than eighty knighthood of the second degree, more than seventy degree of knighthood of the first degree", this time the hierarchy is more detailed, and the older people are more generous. After that, Emperor Xiaowen's awarding of knighthood to high-ranking officials was roughly based on this time, and the overall change was not much.
However, in the twenty-first year of Taihe (497), Emperor Xiaowen issued a number of edicts for rewards, and the level of board granting was greatly increased, of which the standard issued in February was the highest: "The edict and the state of the state have been raised in the sixtieth year, and the county is under the pretext of guarding the county."
Previously, most of them had to be at least 100 years old to be awarded county orders, but this time it was ordered that the elderly over sixty years old could be awarded the county sheriff, which was quite preferential, which was the lowest age limit for the elderly in the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the most generous one, but it was also the only time to limit the specific group of people, requiring that the recipient of the board must be a scholar.
In the period of Filial Piety and Xiaozhuang, it was almost no longer given titles for high years, only official positions were granted, and there was no restriction on the number of scholars, but the regulations on the grades of officials were more specific, such as the second year of Xiping (517), "Zhao Jing Yin unified, more than a hundred years to give large county boards, more than ninety to give small county boards", all divided into large and small grades.
The tailoring system
Zhi Shi means to return to official positions and retire, also known as "Zhi Shi", "Xiu Zhi", "Zhi Zheng", which originated in the Zhou Dynasty and gradually formed a system after the Han Dynasty. The age of Zhishi is generally set at seventy years old, but in fact it can be adjusted according to the situation, so there are both those who are under 70 years old and those who are delayed in 70 years.
The Northern Wei Dynasty did not clearly stipulate the treatment of officials after they were sent to shi, but it was assumed that it would inevitably be affected by various factors such as position, ruler, and relationship, but there was no doubt that the pension treatment of prominent officials was often very rich.
Pension
During the reign of Emperor Xiaoming, he issued Feng Lu to support Gao Nian. In the fourth year of Zhengguang (523), Emperor Xiaoming issued an edict: "If you are not a talented official, see the official in the dynasty, according to the order, you can give the official Half Lu, for the rest of his life."
He demanded that the old people who had been dismissed from their official posts continue to provide half of the original Feng Lu until they died, so that these old people who had lost their official positions could enjoy the old-age security provided by the state and live in peace.
Subsequently, in the first year of Xiaochang (525), Emperor Xiaoming also ordered that anyone whose parents were over the age of eighty could serve as an official, support their parents with their own fenglu, and serve day and night.
Although this edict does not directly provide material support for the elderly, allowing senior children to serve as officials and requiring them to support and serve their parents can also give the elderly a layer of security, and also allow ordinary elderly people who have not been officials to enjoy a welfare, and the beneficiaries will be more.
Relief
The Northern Wei government's leniency for the people was also one of its social welfare contents, and the leniency and preferential exemption measures of the emperors of various generations could greatly reduce the burden of the poor people and ensure and support their lives, the most important of which was still to reduce the rent, which was undoubtedly the most popular welfare for the ancient people who were given heavy service.
Post-war pension
Whenever war breaks out, the people are the most innocent and vulnerable. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, wars were frequent, and the people of the world suffered greatly, living in poverty, and displacement, so the rulers of the Northern Wei often took various measures to give preferential treatment to their people after the war.
In the first year of Tianxing (398), Emperor Daowu "renewed the rent for one year in the prefectures and counties where the army passed, except for half of the rent of the people in Shandong", exempting the people affected by the war from taxes.
During the reign of Emperor Mingyuan, the Three Qin regions suffered from rebellion by thieves and many exiles, and Emperor Mingyuan adopted the advice of Yuanfan, the king of Le'an, to alleviate the servitude for the local people so that they could recuperate.
In the seventeenth year of Taihe (493), Emperor Xiaowen again "decreed that Xu, Nanyu, Shaanxi, Qi, Dongxu, Luo, and Yu prefectures should be spared military food." In the fourth year of Jingming (503), after Emperor Xuanwu destroyed Xiao Yan's army, Zhaoyuan Huai comforted Lao Daidu and Beizhen and gave them relief according to the actual situation.
In the third year of Xiaochang (527), Emperor Xiaoming issued another "Edict of Granting Officials to The Wheel of Millet", because the land of Guanlong suffered from thieves and chaos, and the area around Yanzhao was unstable, resulting in many people wandering and unable to cultivate, and because there was a lot of labor in transit, there were no grain reserves in the warehouses of the prefectures, so Emperor Xiaoming decided to issue regulations on losing rewards.
As long as millet can be transported to a designated place, the corresponding official positions are rewarded according to the regulations, and there is no limit on the quantity of its transportation. It can be seen that the Emperors of the Northern Wei Dynasty provided great support for ensuring the normal life of the people after the war.
Exempt from military service
In addition to giving preferential treatment to the people after the war, the Northern Wei government often reduced the rent and transferred the people on weekdays, and treated the people leniently. From Emperor Mingyuan to Emperor Xiaoming, every emperor has issued relevant edicts.
Judging from the specific contents, Emperor Mingyuan and Emperor Taiwu were mostly exempted from half of the field rent or the annual field rent where they passed; Emperor Xiaowen increased the preferential exemption, and the small number was exempted from the field rent for one year, and the most were exempted from rent adjustment for fifteen years, such as the sixth year of Taihe (482), and the edict "Lingqiu County's soil is both a dirt and a road rush in various states, and the official and private offices are through, and the payment is not one, and the patrol in previous years, seeing its labor, can be restored to the rent for fifteen years."
This was the longest reduction in the entire Northern Wei Dynasty, but overall it was exempted for one or three years, and in addition, Emperor Xiaowen also took the initiative to compensate the grain for the people who were injured by the patrol car.
Emperor Xuanwu, on the other hand, because the people suffered greatly from heavy labor, issued an edict to exempt them from miscellaneous adjustments, and in the first year of the first year of the reign (504), he ordered the states to stop conscription and conscription in order to save the people's suffering, which was undoubtedly a great preferential treatment for the people at the bottom of the feudal society. By the time of Emperor Xiaoming, the state's superiority and exemption had become less, but in the first year of Xiaochang (525), the requisition of the people of the world was still reduced by half.
Put it home
Because of frequent natural and man-made disasters and a difficult life, there were often cases of poor families selling children in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty also issued many edicts to release men and women who sold their horses.
First, in the fourth year of peace (463), Emperor Wencheng ordered the return of men and women who had previously been sold by their families because they were unable to survive due to hunger and cold, and at the same time carefully investigated the situation of some people who used their power to collude with each other to make the children of the good family still slaves, and if they were not checked and released according to the regulations, they were allowed to sue the father and brother of the seller to the government and be dealt with as a crime of human trafficking.
In the ninth year of Taihe (485), Emperor Xiaowen also decreed that all the good people who had purchased the homes of the starving people in the four prefectures of Ding, Ji, You, and Xiang six years later, even if some of them had been married as concubines, if they did not want to, they should be separated.
In the fourth year of Yanchang (515), Emperor Xuanwu also issued an edict that if he lost his business due to famine and his family was displaced, he would sell his children as slaves and allow these trafficked people to return home.
In addition, Emperor Xiaowen also released the palace people many times, such as the third year of Taihe (479) "The old and sick people of the Zhao Palace are exempted", and the fifth year of Taihe (481), and the edict "the old man who is exempt from the palace is still his relatives".
get married
The rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty also paid attention to the marriage matching of socially disadvantaged groups, and Emperor Mingyuan and Emperor Xiaowen repeatedly issued edicts to ration their wives to them.
In February of the third year of Yongxing (411), Emperor Mingyuan released many palace ladies and geisha in service, and rationed them to the wifeless. In May of the same year, "the comeback palace people gave widowers", and the palace women were once again released to give widows.
In the second year of Taihe (478), Emperor Xiaowen also gave the palace daughter to the poor widower as a wife. In the third year of Taihe (479), he again gave the widowers poor women to the palace women. In the thirteenth year of Taihe (489), Emperor Xiaowen also specially released a group of palace women for the widowers and poor people in Beizhen and gave them wives.
The biggest benefit of the Northern Wei Dynasty in solving the marriage problem for the widows and poor people was that they could better engage in agricultural production after they formed a family, which was convenient for improving their personal lives and was also conducive to stabilizing social order.
From this point of view, the welfare treatment in the Northern Wei Dynasty was still good.
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