Chinese Professionals and the Republican State: The Rise of Professional Associations in Shanghai, 1912–1937 (Cambridge Modern China Series)

Xiaoqun Xu makes a compelling and original contribution to the study of China's modernization with this study of the rise of professional associations in Republican China, in their birthplace of Shanghai, and of their political and socio-cultural milieus. Xu addresses a central issue in China studies, the relationship between state and society, and proposes an alternative to the Western-derived concept of civil society. This book illuminates the multidimensional complexity of modernization and nationalism in twentieth-century China, and provides a concrete case for comparative studies of professionalization and class formation across cultures.

"In this book, the author examines an important, but overlooked, group in modern urban Chinese society, the middle class...the book is well written and well edited." The Historian