Guild is the earliest association in China in the modern context as well as the association of the greatest social influence. In the legal perspective, the establishment of guild is a process of the establishment of the identity of merchant and a process of the systemization of commercial organization. According to this view, the guild in modern China is a collective association made up of merchants from all industries which plays a role of mediator between the government and merchants. Compared with the guild in western countries, Chinese guild is more official and relies more on the catalysis of legal institutions. The effect of such catalysis is quite remarkable, which modify, assimilate all kinds of commercial organizations and then becomes a beneficial group of independent identity. Guild has spread all over China and become a main representative agent of local commercial society since late-Qing. The government also uses the guild as an important media for commercial administration. Different from the guild in western countries, Chinese guild contains both civil and official elements. According to the close relationship between the guild and the government, guild is a semi-official agency. Its leader and some members are all of quasi-official status. As the most widespread and important association, guild plays an indispensable role between the government and merchants. It plays as a connector in the process of implementation of new policies in late-Qing. It is also an indispensable social force in the revolution period. The commercial association is the result of the development of modern commerce and social transition. Merchants could not survive without modern commerce. In other words, under the modern commerce, the economic foundation is not feudal economy but capital economy. Guild is composed of new merchants and some capitalists. The establishment of guild means the appearance of an independent social association. It strengthens the relationship between trades and makes them integrity. Different from the previous merchant organization, the guild is a uniform organization without any limitation such as native place or industry. For example, in 1907, the conference on commercial law initiated by Shanghai Commercial General Assembly got zealous respondence from local commercial associations. Representatives from over 80 commercial associations attended the conference and some of them even came from oversea associations in Singapore, Japan and Russia. In addition, more than 30 commercial associations responded through letters. The influence of guild is evident. Guild is an association that has a strong sense of independence since its establishment. Compared with other kinds of associations, guild is attached more importance by the Qing government. From the perspective of practice, guild is the predominant commercial organization of social influence and characteristics of civil society. This paper gives a brief outline of the establishment of Chinese guild including (1) the economic background for the establishment of guild; (2) the ideaistic preparations; (3) the preliminary establishment and (4) the fundamental process of guild legislation and the conclusion.
