A hundred year's celebration of the constitutional practice in the late qing dynasty (a discussion on the political compromise of the Constitutional Practice in the Late Qing Dynasty)
| Autor | Jiang-Guohua |
| Cargo | Profesor de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Wuhan |
Jiang-Guohua: (Wuhan, Hubei, China), PHD. Es profesor de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Wuhan, y Visiting scholar en la California State University, Fullerton (Mayo 2007-Mayo 2008). Email: jiangguohua701@yahoo.com
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At the beginning of 20th Century, The Qing Dynasty had reached initial consensus on the Institutional Reforms after experiencing the external provocation and the internal riot at the turn of Xianfeng1 and Tongzhi.2Even though the empress dowager Cixi,3 who had bloody suppressed the Hundred Days' Reform of 1898 two years earlier and regarded as that there was no prospect for China without reform, then issued the Imperial Edict to Institutional Reforms 4during she escaped with her life from capital Peking to Xian in 1901, proclaimed that Institutional Reform would be carried out. Then, the Qing Court determined to implement Constitutional Practice in 1905, and dispatched Official missions including Zaize 5 abroad to investigate foreign political systems in 1905. 6 On September 1, 1906, the empress dowager Cixi announced the Imperial Edict to imitative constitutionalism. From then on, Chinese society finally entered the period of the Constitutional Practice formally, a transitional period from feudal autocratic politics to modern democratic politics marked the Revolution of 1911 broke out.7
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As we all know, the time span presents the Constitutional Practice as a part of the Institutional Reforms of the late Qing Dynasty. However, there was no performance for Constitutional Practice at the beginning of the Institutional Reforms. Actually, The Qing Court set about the Constitutional Practice and made preparation for it as a key element of subsequent Institutional Reforms, which was the result of compromise.
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The political opinion of The Qing Court had began to change after the Hundred Days' Reform of 1898, especially after the Allied Expedition attacked Peking in 1901,8the Empress Dowager Cixi suffered greatly and felt ashamed of having such a national disaster. And some liberal influential officials also thought about the system source of the weak country and poor people to a greater or lesser degree, and gradually gave up the stubborn stand that the rules of ancestors could not be changed. The stubborn conservatives also withdrew from political arena of the late Qing Dynasty by degrees, and the Westernization School9got the upper hand once more. They cooperated with the stratum that was in the core of power to form Institutional Reform party which became the key strength to push the Institutional Reforms.10
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From historical origin perspective, although the Westernization School became the important forces of Institutional Reforms group, the latter took a resistant attitude towards constitution in the early stage speaking of its political stand,11and this was the reasonable explanation for that the Qing Court did not put Constitutional Practice on the agenda in the Imperial Edict to Institutional Reforms and subsequent related measures. The fact of the Hundred Day Reform12of 1898 could fully prove the resistant mind of the power group represented by Cixi, and there was little possibility that the mind would change sharply in short two years. Furthermore, the Westernization School usually took conservative attitude towards political reform. At the initial stage, although the Westernization School was the only leading force to push the development of Chinese modernization, it lacked supportive approach to the establishment of Parliament and the practice of constitutional monarchy when modernization went from the instrument level up to political system reform.
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Thus, the reform program of the Institutional Reforms could hardly harmonize with constitutionalism. Referring to the object, the Institutional Reforms aimed to uphold feudal system and consolidate the dominion of the Qing Court. However, the objective of constitutionalism was to abolish autocratic system and practice democratic reform, then to realize Chinese politics into historical course of modernization and democratization. Therefore, the Institutional Reforms pursued by the power group represented was just one kind of restoration to feudal autocratic system. Just as the Imperial Edict to Institutional Reform which was issued by Cixi in 1901 stated that the three cardinal guides and the five constant virtues13as specified in the feudal ethical code could not be changed, and the constitutional reform advocated by Kang Youwei14meant rebellion rather than reform. 15 According to this, the Regulations for Implementation of the Imperial Edict to Institutional Reform subsequently formulated by the Central Administrative Bureau stipulated that the first aim of the program of the Institutional Reform was to restore the old rules of the Qing Dynasty, and the second aim was to consult and follow the western rules, and it was further explained that "the excessive reform led to the rebellion of Kang YouWei, and the excessive conservatism brought about the rebellion of Boxer, 16 therefore, both of them should be discarded".17Judging from this, at the beginning of Institutional Reform, The Qing Court did not have any plan for Constitutional Practice, even took it for granted as a taboo subject. They feared to have any connection with constitutionalism and drew a clear line of demarcation between the Institutional Reforms and Constitutionalism.
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After the Hundred Days' Reform of 1898, on the one hand the conservatives represented by Cixi got a temporary political advantage; On the other hand, though the Constitutional Monarchy Movement led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao 18 ended with failure, its idea of constitutional reform was propagated broadly and had absolutely considerably impressed by the Empress Dowager Cixi, the high-ranking officials of Qing Court, and scholar-gentry. And especially, the constitutionalists represented by Liang Qichao had never given up their political ideal and unceasingly disseminated their constitutional reform advocacy and spread constitutionalism, and their movements made the constitutional reform thoughts maintain strong political influence.
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Liang Qichao, as the chief of the constitutionalists, offered a rather systematic elaboration of what constitutional monarchy was why to implement constitutional monarchy; and how to realize constitutional monarchy. Liang persisted that the constitution, which should become the sole legitimate source of the laws in all countries, also should be observed by the sovereign, the mandarins and the people. He named the constitutional government as a limited government, which meant that the monarchical powers should be defined, and should be the mandarins and the people. Liang believed that the democratic rights, constitutional monarchy and democratic constitutionalism were determined by the historical situation of a country. Compared with autocratic monarchy and democratic constitutionalism, Liang insisted that constitutional monarchy is the most ideal regime for China. He said that the world at that time was undergoing the defeat of autocracy by constitutionalism. By rights, there inevitably would be a struggle between the new and the old, and the old would lose while the new would win. Therefore, constitutionalism was the common choice of all countries including China, and it would not be stopped. If those in powers were truly patriotic, they should implement democratic rights and practice constitutional monarchy.19
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Through the propagations of constitutionalists, around about 1903, the Chinese constitutional thoughts expanded into the interior of China, the students were studying abroad and overseas Chinese, and then converged into a strong political force which was called Constitutionalism Group. 20 Around about the Russo-Japanese War (1904), the constitutionalists changed theoretical engagement into practical action, and constitutionalism in China developed from mere philosophy to a national constitutional movement rapidly. Thus, a political trend came into existence where almost all the people, no matter a government official with high position or an ordinary student, were talking about constitutionalism.
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