2011-07-18 19:28

CHANGSHA - Archaeologists have discovered ruins in central China that have provided evidence for the existence of an early 20th-century non-governmental charity organization.

Five dilapidated houses that were built before the 1920s in Yanglin township, which is located in the city of Shaoshan in Central China's Hunan province, have been ascertained as the headquarters of the charity. The charity was created by a family surnamed Yang.

A white marble stele was found built into a wall in one of the houses. Sheng Zhaohua, the deputy head of the municipal Cultural Relic Administration of the city of Xiangtan, which administers Shaoshan, said that inscriptions on the stele condemned the practice of drowning female infants, which was common at the time.

Around the turn of the century, there was a general preference for male children in China in order to carry on family bloodlines. Many people illegally abandoned or even killed infant girls.

Through further investigations in the surrounding area, archaeologists found that the charity offered 250 kg of millet twice a year to families who refrained from drowning infant children. It is believed that this action saved the lives of many infants in the area.

The houses have been added to the township's local cultural relic protection plan.