The story of Chinese professions and professional associations in Republican China cannot be adequately told without first examining the crucial role of the state. Historically, the Chinese state was always suspicious of voluntary associations, both elite and nonelite varieties, seeing them as representing private interests and subversive to both the state authority and the general harmony of the society. Yet voluntary associations were always part of the Chinese social landscape throughout the ages. They thrived when the political order broke down and maintained a tenuous, often surreptitious existence when the political order was stable. In the late imperial period, rural and urban elite associations gained increasing prominence and legitimacy. From the late nineteenth century onward many societal organizations began to take on a new character. The quickened pace of modernization in the Republican era brought forth more diverse social interests and public issues than ever before and gave rise to new forms of societal organizations and collective actions that sought to address the diverse interests and issues. Many of the issues were articulated and the interests defended in the public arena for the first time, which involved constant interaction between the state and society as well as among social groups.