State and society in Republican China: The rise of Shanghai professional associations, 1912-1937

This study examines how middle class professionals grew out of and interacted with the modernization process in Republican China and how they played social and political as well as professional roles through their efforts at professionalization. In discussing the role of modern professionals in the process, the study aims to address the larger issue of state-society relations during that period.;The main thesis is as follows: On the one hand, the development of modern professions and professional associations in Republican China was called for by the modernization process itself, and on the other hand, in their efforts at modernization and state-building, successive Republican governments promoted modern professions and sanctioned professional associations. Government sanction provided those associations with legitimacy and the latter gained considerable space to function socially and politically, especially in the national salvation movement of the 1930s. The state played a significant role in helping bring about an emerging civil society of which professional associations were an important part. But throughout the pre-war period, professional associations and other urban voluntary associations never reached the point of becoming a fully institutionalized civil society.;Following the Introduction which lays out theoretical issues, the study is organized in three parts. Part I includes three chapters. Chapter one gives an overview of the modernization process in Shanghai as a historical background to the rise of modern professions. Chapter two defines and describes modern professionals as an urban middle class. Chapter three looks at the role of the state in promoting and regulating modern professions (the legal profession in particular) and its efforts at controlling all societal organizations. Part II has four chapters. Chapter four tells the story of the Shanghai Bar Association as the best organized and most effective professional association. Chapter five deals with the rivalry between the associations of native medical practitioners and those of Western-trained doctors. Chapter six discusses the new career patterns and the new concept of the intellectual's role as reflected in the associational behavior of accountants and engineers. Chapter seven traces the retarded development of professional associations of professors and journalists and highlights the role of nationalism in politicizing and maturing these two groups and their associations. Part III provides the Conclusion to this study.