Zhu Yuanzhang's elderly care policy: Eighty-year-old poor people receive five buckets of rice every month

As my country's society gradually deepens, the issue of elderly care has attracted more and more attention. Recently, the news that "housing for the elderly" will be piloted has once again sparked heated discussions. The Chinese nation has a cultural tradition of respecting the elderly and filial piety, and successive governments have made achievements in pension policies.

"History of the Ming Dynasty·Food and Goods Annals" said: "When the people were born, they were called Bucheng Ding. They were born at the age of sixteen. They served at the age of sixty, and were exempted from duty." In the Ming Dynasty, relatively complete pension policies were formulated for the elderly over 60 years old. This is related to the degree of social development and to the fact that Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was born in poverty and personally experienced civil suffering. He fully realized that properly handling elderly care issues plays an important role in maintaining social stability and forming honest social customs. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang personally formulated a series of representative pension policies to promote the central government, local governments, clans, civil society, including individual government officials, to play their respective roles. Reviewing this period of history is of great reference significance to reality.

Officials can serve nearby to support their parents

The words and deeds of government officials have the significance of social vane. How officials treat their parents and how the government creates conditions for officials who honor their parents directly affect the atmosphere of elderly care in society. With Zhu Yuanzhang's attention and promotion, the court designed a series of policies to urge and encourage officials to take care of the elderly. For example, in order to make it easier for officials to take care of their parents nearby, the court allowed officials to be transferred to places closer to their parents.

In the fourth year of Hongwu, Xu Lin, the prefect of Henan Prefecture, requested to resign his post and go home to take care of his mother because his old mother lived in Guangji, Qizhou Prefecture. Zhu Yuanzhang did not remove him from office, but changed him to the prefect of Qizhou Prefecture so that he could filial piety his mother. This year, Zhang Lun, a native of Linhao, a hundred households in Youwei, Henan Province, reported that his parents were both over eighty years old and were unable to serve their parents because their workplace was too far away from home. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered him to be transferred to the position of deputy thousand households of Haoliang Wei to support his parents nearby. These examples show that Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to the social demonstration role of officials.

Some officials were unable to bring their parents to serve them for various reasons, nor could they be transferred to places close to home. The court allowed them to divide their wages into two parts, one for them to receive, and the other for their parents to be paid by the government near their parents 'residence for their elderly care.

The lonely old man spends his life in a nursing home

The law of the Ming Dynasty stipulated: "Anyone who is widowed, lonely, and seriously ill, is poor and has no relatives to rely on and cannot survive on his own. If he is privately raised by the official but not adopted, he will be punished with a stick of 60 yuan. If he should be given food and clothing, but officials reduce him, he will be accused of being a prisoner and stealing himself." In the early Ming Dynasty, an edict was issued to establish nursing homes in various prefectures and counties to adopt "lonely elderly people." 1480, Chenghua 16th Year of the Ming Dynasty), there were more than 7000 elderly people who had been supporting widowed, widowed and lonely people in the capital alone over the years. In the sixth year of Jiajing (1527), the court also ordered all five cities in Beijing to set up nursing homes to adopt all poor elderly people.

The work of grassroots governments in adopting orphans is strictly supervised by the imperial court. In the term assessment of local officials, caring for orphans is an important part. Officials who have been evaluated well in this regard will be recorded in files as an important basis for promotion. If officials fail to fully report the situation of the elderly in their territory, responsible officials at all levels from Chief A to Chief A will be punished.

There are three criteria for adopting elderly people in nursing homes. One is that they are over 60 years old, the second is that they have no spouse, children or brothers, and the third is that they have no bad records. Those who have corrupt moral character, have committed crimes, or have violated customs are not included.

How is the life of the elderly in the nursing home? According to historical records, there are generally fire kang houses, datongpu houses, and men and women separated. There are locust trees and willows planted in the courtyard. The elderly can enjoy the shade and dry clothes. They are also equipped with labor tools such as mills, mills, and wells for daily use. The local government conducts regular inspections of the houses and facilities in the courtyard every year. Elderly people who enter nursing homes can receive rice, cloth, firewood and silver every month. If the elderly person falls ill, the government allocates doctors to recuperate. When the old man dies, the government is responsible for buying a coffin for burial, and the couple can bury him in the same cave, reflecting better humanistic care.

The court also encouraged elderly people in better health to carry out productive labor within their capabilities in nursing homes, such as cooking, babysitting, guarding the door, and manual work such as spinning and twisting. Relevant departments are responsible for lending the elderly the cost, and elderly people who work well can also receive rewards.

In addition to setting up institutions to support orphans and foreigners, the court also instructed relatives and neighbors to support these helpless elderly people. Those families who are willing to serve the elderly will be given tax exemptions and other rewards, and those who refuse adoption will be punished accordingly.

Give five bushels of rice to the 80-year-old poor elderly every month

Before the Ming Dynasty, the state would also provide "welfare" to the elderly during festivals or celebrations. By the Ming Dynasty, daily regulations were made.

In the 19th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, issued an edict: "If a person is poor and has no industry over eighty years old, he will be given five buckets of rice, five kilograms of meat, and three buckets of wine a month. If he is over ninety years old, he will be given an additional piece of silk and a pound of wadding every year." "Those who are widowed, widowed, lonely and unable to survive on their own will be given six stones of rice every year." In other words, poor people over the age of 80 can get five buckets of rice, five kilograms of meat, and wine every month, while people over the age of 90 receive more generous treatment.

Zhu Yuanzhang made his fortune from the lowest level and had a clear understanding of the execution power of grassroots officials. Therefore, the following year, he was afraid that the relevant departments would fail to implement it, so he urged the Minister of Rites to reiterate this policy again in the name of the emperor.

In order to allow home-based elderly people to have someone to serve, in the sixth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, stipulated: "People over seventy years old are allowed to have a son to serve them and be exempted from forced labor." In other words, in order to better allow people over 70 years old to live in their old age, the state allows one of the old man's sons to be exempted from military service.

To those who showed filial piety to the elderly, the court not only gave spiritual praise, but also gave material rewards, clothing, and bonuses. Moreover, these dutiful sons and daughters can enjoy special treatment when they are old. When they reach the age of 60, they can enjoy the benefits that ordinary elderly people can only enjoy when they are 80 years old. If model filial piety unfortunately becomes lonely, then they can enjoy the same treatment at home as in nursing homes. The local nursing homes will send money and food to their homes every month according to standards; after their death, the government will also distribute three taels of silver as funeral expenses.

Under the requirements and drive of the imperial court, a culture of respecting the elderly and providing for the elderly was formed in various places, and the requirement to support the elderly also penetrated into the family laws and rules of various places. The "Zheng's Code" by the Zheng family in Pujiang, called by Zhu Yuanzhang as the "No. 1 family in Jiangnan", is a representative work of traditional family laws and clan rules in China. It stipulates that on the new moon, parents lead people to visit the ancestral hall and send people to beat drums. At the same time, the children of the clan said loudly: "Listen! Listen! Listen! Anyone who is a son must be filial to his relatives." As a lesson to the entire family. The clan rules stipulate: "Men and women who are sixty years old should have good meals with courtesy. The old management is dedicated to caring for him and is dedicated to being appropriate. Violators will be punished." "All women take charge of the feeding, and they take turns every ten days. Those who are over sixty years old are exempted." The so-called "old management" refers to the person in the family who is responsible for weddings, funerals, and food. In other words, people over the age of 60 should be taken care of with all their heart and food should be better, and elderly women should be exempted from kitchen work.