This book has argued for an understanding of state–society interaction in Republican China as a symbiotic dynamics that grew out of the modernization process. The formulation in this book may not be a revelation; but, the notion of an evolving process in which both the state and society struggle to define themselves in relation to each other with overlapping and shifting boundaries captures the essence of that which transpired between the Chinese state and urban society in the Republican era.

As the history of Chinese professionals in Republican Shanghai shows, during that period, the state and society were mutually dependent and interpenetrated: Legitimacy and authority on either side were often contingent and contested; private, group, and public interests and cross-purposes overlapped and negotiated. For professional groups, a total autonomy from the state was inherently impossible, due to the government's power to license the professions and due to the professionals' role in modern state building – especially the lawyers' role in the judicial system. The professional functions of ziyou zhiye zhe and the process of professionalization entailed both government sanction and government regulation. The difference between the Beiyang period and the Nanjing Decade in government regulation and supervision of societal institutions may be considered in degree – effectiveness and capability – rather than in nature – intention and purpose.