Xiaoqun Xu makes a compelling and original contribution to the study of China's modernization with this book on the rise of professional associations in Republican China in their birthplace of Shanghai, and of their political and socio-cultural milieu. This 2001 book is rich in detail about the key professional and political figures and organizations in Shanghai, filling an important gap in its social history. The professional associations were, as the author writes, 'unambiguously urban and modern in their origins and functions ...representing a new breed of educated Chinese' and they pioneered a new type of relationship with the state. Xu addresses a central issue in China studies, the relationship between state and society, and proposes an alternative to the Western-derived concept of civil society. This book illuminates the complexity of modernization and nationalism in twentieth-century China, and provides a concrete case for comparative studies of professionalization and class formation across cultures.

徐小群 1982年毕业于上海师范学院历史系本科。1985年取得华东师范大学历史系硕士学位。同年秋赴美国留学。1993年获得哥伦比亚大学中国近现代史专业哲学博士学位。现任教于美国弗吉尼亚州克利斯多夫•纽波特大学。

除了在国际著名学术刊物上发表了十几篇论文外，他的专著《中国自由职业者与民国政府》（本书的英文版）由英国剑桥大学出版于2000年。他的第二本英文专著（关于1901－1937年期间中国的司法改革）即将由美国斯坦福大学出版社出版。