Origin:
There are different opinions about the origin of the mutual aid association.
There is a saying that originated from Fuzhou folk and later spread to Wenzhou, which is directly related to the rise of Wenzhou businessmen. The system in the meeting is divided into "meeting head" (that is, sponsor) and "meeting child" (that is, member). Some members need the recommendation of guarantor to join the meeting. Sponsors usually hold meetings for business, while members join the club just in case. When they need money badly, they don't need to borrow it from others.
There is another saying that was invented by Pang Degong in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but there is no record of how it was founded.
Another view points out that the standard meeting originated from the seven sages of bamboo forest in Jin Dynasty. Because Jiangsu, Anhui and other places once prevailed the Seven Sages' Club, which is said to have originated from this.
Development course:
In addition, according to the ancient documents found in Dunhuang, it is found that the emblem may have spread eastward from India with Buddhism in the Tang and Song Dynasties. According to the Book of the New Tang Dynasty (197), the mutual aid society had begun to take shape at the latest in the late Tang Dynasty.
In the second Shang Dynasty of Ryukyu Kingdom, Cai Wen of Kumi Village introduced China's Mutual Aid Association to Ryukyu.
Around 1977 in China, some enterprises, institutions and government agencies have also set up mutual aid associations for employees. However, in the mid-1980s, due to the general improvement of workers' living standards, various social security organizations were established one after another, workers' ability to resist disasters and major events was greatly improved, and employees' actual income was diversified, so the workers' mutual aid associations spontaneously established by various units were automatically dissolved.
A mutual aid organization voluntarily organized by individuals to prevent debts caused by illness, death or old age.