Modern China Legislation Of The Chamber Of Commerce And The Governance Structure

The modern chamber of commerce has a significant impact on the transformation of Chinese society from tradition to modern. After the1980s the chamber of commerce is becoming the focus of research and the academic circles have made a particular and deep research on it. But the researches which take the chamber of commerce in history from1902to1949as one time level are not much. This paper aims at studying the whole modern chamber of commerce legislation, investigating the evolution of the governance structure of the chamber of commerce which included the organizational structure, operating mechanism, and the actual effect of its activities. Then on the basis of this analysis I can reveal the relationship between the government and the chamber of commerce.The modern chamber of commerce for various periods and under different legislation idea formed a special organizational structure and operating mechanism, as well as rendered diversified relationship with the government. In the end of Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, the government changed the traditional policy of physiocracy and restriction of business, and promulgated three chamber of commerce Laws in the legislative idea of the mercantilist ideas. At that time the chamber of commerce had just set up. The legislation system of it was relatively simple. It used Directors system and was mainly composed of individual membership. Its operation mechanism was also presented relatively rough and simple characteristics of the built in the early period. During this period the power of the government was weak, commercial arbitration of the chamber of commerce played an important role in the protection of the legitimate rights of the commercial subject, and regulating market order, and even made up for the shortcomings of the judicial system. The chamber of commerce was in higher autonomy and stronger independence. When it was in the period of National Government of Nanjing, under the "Run the country by parties" ideas, the judicial system was gradually improved. The chamber of Commerce formed standard and stable Legislation Model that was still in use later. The organizational structure and operating mechanism of it were gradually improving. The KMT tried to enforce its control over the whole society, reshuffled the chamber of Commerce. But in the law the government gave the chamber of commerce’s power was still widely, involved in economic affairs, political affairs, social affairs, etc. The government also attached great importance to the chamber of commerce. When dealing with commercial disputes, the court often searched local commercial custom from the chamber of commerce. During this period the chamber of commerce was still very important, rather than completely succumbed to the government and even became tools that the government controlled the society, as some scholars had said. It was sufficiently discrete, and its activities had achieved very good results in a certain range. During the Anti-Japanese War and after the war, under the Controlled Economy thought, for the need of war the chamber of commerce’s member was composed of three parts. The chamber of commerce was running on the governing and supervisors system. Although there had little relationship to the period when it was before the war in many regulations, in actual operation the power that the KMT controlled the chamber of commerce was increasingly strengthened. In the occupied areas the chamber of commerce was in the hands of Japanese. Under such circumstances even if the chamber of commerce wanted to fight for the rights and obtain the development, but it was not efficient. The commercial jurisdiction of chamber of commerce was likely to be eroded. I think that the chamber of commerce had gone through three different governance stages:the period of continuous development in the weak government, the formal formation period of management control governance mode, the period that management control had been further fortified.The legislative history of Modern Chinese chamber of commerce in about fifty years revealed diversified relationship between the government and the chamber of commerce, which was not to control and to be controlled. The government not only depended on the chamber of commerce to establish business order, but also controlled its development and put it in its control range. It fluctuated between laissez-faire and control. On one hand, the chamber of commerce fought with on the government, tried to expand their own power. On the other hand, it depended on the government to seek development. But from beginning to end, it was not likely to develop a strong power to against the government.