ABSTRACT
This chapter establishes a theoretical framework for the study of the social production of religious compassionate fields in modern society in the twenty-first century. The family, religious institutions, legal institutions, educational institutions, and various kinship-based social institutions have different levels of influence in teaching and safeguarding the moral values of a society, including Chinese society. From the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the role of various cultural institutions in formulating and safeguarding the moral framework of society has shifted in importance. Some religious compassionate fields are exclusively targeted towards individuals and social groups of the same religious faith. At the same time, there are also some that transcend their own religious groups and reach out to individuals and social groups of different ethnic, religious, and gender backgrounds. Religious groups that engage in religious philanthropy focus primarily on the poor, marginal, social misfits, and those affected by natural calamities.
