Abstract: This article uses local gazetteers and clan genealogies from the Yixing and Jingxi regions in order to analyze lineage-organized charitable granaries. It focuses on the relationship between kinship and regional social structures in the management of charitable granaries and relief. The article concludes that in Qing-era Jiangnan society, lineage control of local communities could not be realized until the lineage fulfilled its service function to the entire community rather than limiting its attention solely to its own lineage.