From Guild to Interest Group

The Transformation of Public and Private in Late Qing China

Bibliographic Data

ID2107300
AuthorsJoseph Fewsmith (0000-0002-6210-3385, Kent State University, corresponding author)
Year1983
Volume25
Issue4
Pages617-640
Publication date1983-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative Studies in Society and History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-4175 • E-ISSN: 1475-2999
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0010417500010641
OpenAlexW2045248473
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited20

Voluntary associations of one sort or another were clearly an important component of traditional Chinese society. Their importance for the economy has long been recognized, and their potential political efficacy was acknowledged-albeit negatively-by the government, which prohibited gentry from forming study associations (xuehui). An earlier generation of Western observers was quick to note this facet of Chinese life. The French social scientist, Maurice Courant, declared that 'the fact that dominates the Chinese life is the existence of associations,' and E. T. C. Werner, in a less scholarly vein, commented on 'the tendency of the Chinese to act not singly but in groups.' As early as 1803, the American missionary S. Wells Williams had observed in a manner reminiscent of Tocqueville that the natural tendency of the Chinese people to 'crystallize into associations' provided a 'stimulus to activity,' which he credited with 'quickening the vitality of the mass

China · Gentry · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Quickening · Sociology · Theology · Vitality · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Law · Medicine · Philosophy

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