近代中国商会选举制度之再考察——以清末民初的上海商会为例

Re-examination of the Election System of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in the Early Modern Era:A Case Study of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce in the Late Qing and Early Republican Era

近代中国商会的选举制度不同于传统工商组织带有随意性的“推选”方式,是一种全新的“选举”规定,体现出近代民主色彩。上海商会选举的实践证实,这种制度性规定在其常态选举中基本上能够得以贯彻执行;以往强调工商界上层人物挟其雄厚经济实力垄断商会领导权的说法与史实并不相符;在清末民初上海总商会选举中亦未曾出现过严重的舞弊和贿赂行为,但是,到了1920年代以后,由于各方面因素影响,开始形成派别纷争乃至选举风潮,尤其是受到不同派别背后政治军事力量的制约,至此,上海总商会的选举呈现出从常态向变态的演变趋向。

Unlike the random “election by recommendation” of traditional trade and commercial organizations,the election system of the Chamber of Commerce in early modern China involved completely new election regulations with a modern democratic coloring.The practice of elections in the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce demonstrates that institutional regulations were basically enforced in normal elections.The earlier conclusion that the upper class of industrialists and merchants used their overwhelming economic power to monopolize the leadership of the Chamber does not actually tally with the facts.In the late Qing and early Republican period,there was no serious embezzlement or bribery in elections for the Shanghai Chamber.However,from the 1920s on,the influence of a variety of factors led to factional disputes and election disturbances.In particular,the election system deviated from a normal to an abnormal orientation under the constraints of the political and military power behind different factions.