ABSTRACT
By the early twentieth century, the concept of “society” had emerged to occupy a privileged place in the discourse among Chinese political and intellectual elites. To them, the issue was of critical significance in the construction of a new polity. Instead of exploring the constructed meaning of “society” in its specific historical context, however, it has become quite common in recent years to explore the historical trajectory of late Qing and early republican China through the metanarrative of “civil society/public sphere.” This chapter argues that the constant reference to the emergence of “society” in early republican writings was less the result of the appearance of new civic organizations than a rearticulation of their role. Historians have long been engaged in a debate on the extent of the autonomy of late Qing Chinese “society” vis-a-vis the “state”.
