The Chinese Economic Society was one of the most distinguished academic economic organizations in the Republic of China era. Compared to other professional societies at that time, it had the longest history and the largest membership. Most of the council members were eminent economists and university professors, leading bankers and entrepreneurs or government financial officials. Being the leading scholarly society in the country, the Chinese Economic Society held annual academic conferences; published and translated a large amount of economics works and founded an important academic periodical, the Quarterly of Economics. At a result, the Chinese Economic Society had made a huge contribution to the economic development in modern China. However, there has been hardly any academic research on this prominent organization. Drawing on the Quarterly and other publications issued by the Society as the primary source, this paper analyses the hierarchy of the Society's leadership and seeks to arrive at an objective appraisal of the Society's historical role and its impact on economic development in modern China.