A Study On The Chambers Of Guangxi In Modern China

It's commonly acknowledged by the domestic sdtolarsthal the nature of modern chambers of commerce is asort of society witli the attribute of bourgeoisie. Their establishment relied on the slow progress of bourgeois industry and commerce and the increase of the power of the national bourgeoisie in modern china. This was the classical attribute of the chambers. At the same time, the chambers were not taken as a sort of society purely for business. According to the Regulation for Merchants issued in 1914, "merchants" were the men who formed t he main body of business while "commerce" included some different trades like buying and selling, borrowing or lending money, inanufacturig, processingi publishing and banking. Thus, the chambers covered business and some processing industries that involved in the circulation and production of commodities. Mr. Zhu Hanguo believed that'the attaching of the modern industrinal enterprises lo the commercial associations embodied the characteristic that more capital flowed into commerce than industry in the course of transition from the traditional cliinesc agricultural society to industrial society . . . "This was also the characteristic of commercial capitalbefore the establishment of capitalism, which was hold by Karl Marx---- commercialcapital played a leading role. In effect, this displayed the backwardness of the modernization of the Chinese society.As we know, the Chinese modern society was in the period of transformation. Many historical events embodied transitional qualities and depicted the transform! tivc process of history. The development of modern chambers of commerce might be a drop in the buchet, but it was unavoidably characterized by progress and backwardness. The efforts to renovate the conservative society and to adapt the turbulent age were the history confirmation of the development of modern society, The two major characteristicsof the modern chambers, progress and backwardness could be seen in the following aspects.First, the organization mould of the chambers used the experience of the usual practice of western chambers and their regulations were the imitation of that of the western chambers. In 1902, Sheng Huaixuan ordered the directors of all sorts of trades in shanghai to set up the chambers of commerce and he further instructed them*to imitate the rules of western chambers and to meet and discuss at. regular intervals". And the regulations of the chamers of other provinces mostly consulted that of shanghai. To introduce and practise the western chambers of commerce in modern china was one of the ways for the Chinese witli breadth of vision to seek wealth and strength of the country. The structure, nature and functions of the Chinese chambers used the reference of that of the western ones. Therefore, one progressive aspect of the Chinese chambers lay in the fact that the mature mould which helped to bring forth their establishment.Second, the chambers of commerce was a sort of intermediary organ. The reseuibl ing organs which played an intermediary role in tin- circulation of commodities inChinese history were as follows. First one was brokers which first appeared in Handynasty. The main characteristic of the brokers was that, not being engaged in productionand commerce, the brokers exploited the both sides of trades, second one was the feudal guilds which developed from commercial, guilds to guild hails. The former approximately appeared in sui dynasty and Tang dynasty. To deal with the control of the governments, resist the multifarious taxes and protect the interests of the merchants of the same trade or' occupation, the merchants set up the gui Ids which were loosely organized wit hout fix place for get together. Evolving from the guilds, guilds halls sprang up in Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty. Assigning the merchandise in unified way and control! ing the prices, these organs restrained the management of the members to protect the economic interests of the merchants of same trade and birthplace. On the other hand, their exclusion...