ABSTRACT
While the previous chapters addressed the relationship between the state and artisans from the perspective of the concerned state institutions and specific branches, we now turn our attention to the modes of organization of representatives of the crafts and their interaction (or avoidance of interaction) with state authorities at the local level. Chinese associations of merchants and artisans that are commonly referred to as ‘Chinese guilds’ originate from the late sixteenth century. Initially, they were alliances of travelling merchants who, due to the intensified interregional trade and geographic mobility, had settled down in the regions of their sales markets. Guilds exclusively for craftspeople existed, but in many cases the division between both can barely be made.
