Our project investigates local forms of governance in semi-colonial China (1860-1911). The aim is to evaluate key success factors and sustainability of informal and institutionalised forms of co-operation between governmental and non-governmental Chinese and Western protagonists with regard to the provision of public goods. Employing microhistorical case studies, we will analyse the status of these cooperation networks within the political power structure of the Qing state. In addition, there will be a focus on the establishment of “modern” organs of self-government and forms of “civil society” in the newly emerging Chinese nation-state.