Abstract
This paper clarifies the process of transformation and dissolution of associations for people from the same local area that took place in Shanghai from 1945 to 1956. It uses unpublished records from the Shanghai Municipal Archive. In the period immediately following the liberation in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party adopted a moderate policy toward the associations. But after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, they were subjected to such harsh treatment that they were unable to survive. Policies such as the 'triple elimination movement' (eliminating corruption, waste, and bureaucracy from society) involved harsh measures against the associations, such as tax systems which in many cases made them bankrupt. My assessment is that from the time of the Korean War, the regime changed its policy toward the associations and decided to bring about their dissolution. Ultimately this enabled the Party to develop roots at the base of Chinese society. In short, the regime had started to perceive the associations as obstacles to the spread of its power into the deepest reached of Chinese society.
