Title: The “72 Guilds” in Guangzhou in the Late Qing Dynasty
Abstract: The “72 guilds” in Guangzhou mentioned in the literatures in the late Qing Dynasty, was often concerned with the combinations of merchants or handicraft guilds. It played an important role in the construction of the Guangzhou General Merchants Association. After the founding of the Association, the “72 guilds” were still active in social and political events, acting as a merchants combination whose status was equal to that of the Guangzhou General Merchants Association and often challenged its authority. In 1910, the “72 guilds” even succeeded in dismissing Zuo Zongfan from his post of the associational director and vicarious chief director of the Guangzhou General Merchants Association. It also played an essential part in the “peaceful revival” of Guangdong Province right after the Wuchang Uprising. It might hardly happen in other cities that the “72 guilds,” viewed as “traditional” combination of guilds, remained and acted independently as a representative institution of all merchants in the city, even after the “new” Merchants Association had already been established. Therefore, the “72 guilds” in Guangzhou is a noticeable case in the researches on the merchants groups in Modern China.
Publication Year: 2004
Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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