Commercial Association Of Zhili Province And Rural Social Economy

For more than twenty years, great achievements have been obtained in the study of commercial association history, many of which, however, have been focused on the commercial associations in such large cities as Shanghai, Tianjing and Suzhou. As a result less study has been made on the relation between commercial association and rural society. Focusing on the commercial associations in large cities, this paper, at the same time, takes the commercial association of Zhili Province as a whole and strengthens the study on the commercial associations in rural areas such as villages and towns.The birth of commercial association in Tianjing disclosed the prelude to the establishment of commercial association in Zhili Province. Through the development from 1903 to 1937,the commercial association in Zhili Province accomplished the network construction in cities and enormous villages as well as towns. Since the founding of commercial associations all over the province, they took an active part in developing rural markets, activating and stabilizing financial order, carrying out commercial and rural investigations, assisting the local government unify dimension units, fighting against and rectifying the rural taxes, with the results that rural trades prospered and great evolution of the rural business was facilitated. To make rural industries prosperous, commercial associations all over the province, starting from developing the local favorable specialties, improved the investment environment, advocated technological innovations, facilitated industrial improvements, establishedIndustrial education, sought government supports and organized commodities fairs , leading the hand-made industry to a new age of reform and development. The commercial associations all over the province, through fortifying the cooperation with the government, participating in the agricultural innovations, disciplining rural markets, enhancing the circulation of rural products and developing rural welfare, promoted the commercialization of agricultural development.The wide immersion of commercial association of Zhili Province in the villages and towns, particularly the efforts made by the associations in developing rural and urban commerce, prospering rural industry and improving agriculture, has combined with the joint force of rural evolution. As a result, the birth of rural capitalist factors was promoted, the prosperity of villages and towns was propelled, a new class of rural elites was made to come into being and further intensifying the connection between cities and villages. This became another"propeller"for the social economic transformation in the rural areas in Zhili Province in the first half of the 20th century.The study on the commercial associations in Zhili Province and the rural social economy revealed from one more angle the general trace of the evolution of rural areas from tradition to modernization, disclosed the role and function of the commercial associations in rural social transformation and offered a new perspective for us to know the society better. The academic study on them offers significant reference to the role of commercial associations under the present economic conditions and the construction of new rural areas.