明清時代，中國大陸的商業組織一般稱之為「行會」，惟獨台灣稱之為 「商郊」或「行郊」，此「郊」很可能源之於漢唐時代的「榷」，在語意的內涵和 脈絡上，有其深遠的聯繫。在這一方面，本文將循一九二○年代日本學者的考証 作一釐清。此外，依據中外歷史學家對台灣的「商郊」和大陸的「行會」所作的 研究和所累積的資料，本文將運用發展社會學或歷史社會學的理論，來探討明清 時代的「商郊」組織和活動，藉此瞭解當時的「國家」特性和政商關係。按前現 代╱現代╱後現代的理論架構，或按新國家論的觀點，本文認為前現代台灣「商 郊」是一種「公私混合的制度」，有助於中國長期的政經穩定和發展，也深遠的 影響著台灣後來的政經發展，是造成其經濟發展成功的一個重要基礎。另外，從 理性抉擇的觀點，本文亦試圖顯示，在政府和商郊之間，以及個別行業的商郊內 部，亦有許多複雜的合作和衝突關係。這種複雜的競合關係，也依然存在於現代 的國家和工商團體之間和各工商團體的內部。

　　　　　The traditional merchant guild was called "jiau"（郊） in Taiwan during Ch'ing Dynasty. In terms of etymology, the word "jiau" may have a deep root in "ji'au" （榷）in Han Dynasty and ji'au（較）in T'ung Dynasty, which all referred to governmental control business through guilds. Due to the prosperous trade with the long coasts of Chinese Mainland, the three major merchant guilds in Tainan dealing with ocean trade became the top leaders in connection with the wide webs of merchant guilds in dealing with various kinds of business. As major sponsors of local temples, merchant guilds actively joined local religious activities. Religious rituals and activities, in turn, strengthen the internal solidarity of guild. Moreover, religious worships defined the social status for official-scholars and guild merchants. According to the long-term tradition, official-scholars were qualified to worship the Confucius and guild merchants could worship immortals in local temples only. The empire state authorized a lot of governing power to merchant guilds, including taxation, education, semi-judicial functions in dealing with commercial conflicts, and even military defense and local security. Eventually, merchant guilds became important institutes to maintain political and economic stability in traditional Chinese society. As the empire state transferred into the modern sovereignty state, the merchant guild turned into modern business associations. Modern business associations have less authorized power and more specialized functions in comparison with traditional merchant guilds.