This Thesis examines the relationship between the Guomindang regime in China and the Shanghai Green Gang from 1927-1937. This relationship was mutually beneficial for both the government and the criminal organization. However in cooperating with criminal elements the Guomindang turned away from their founding values. This thesis proves that the policing capabilities of the Guomindang in Shanghai were not sufficient to combat the Green Gang, so the regime had to deal with the gang in another way. It also proves that opium sales were a critical part of the Chinese economy and that the Guomindang needed the Green Gang to tap into the illicit opium market. The Green Gang also served as an effective and brutal means of labor control for the Guomindang. as the regime tried to root out communism. The cooperation between the Guomindang and the Green Gang shows how a criminal organization can be normalized and incorporated into a regime. This normalization of a criminal organization came at the cost of distorting the founding values of the Guomindang party.