ABSTRACT
In the late modern times, Chinese society transformed itself considerably because of the merchant’s second integration and the rise of the bourgeoisie. Without a doubt, such transformations took place mainly in individual merchant groups in big coastal cities. It was merely a start of the loosened traditional social structure. In 1927, the Nationalist government in Nanjing took full control over the chambers of commerce, the most important civic organization. In this period, clannish and native-place organizations both developed quickly. This chapter centres on the Temple of King Wang of the Mountain Wu in Hangzhou to examine merchants’ embarkation on kinship and native-place organizations to expand their living spaces. This chapter also makes a comparison between the modernization paths in Japan and China to probe into the reasons why China was caught in modern society.
