Analysis Of The Parliamentary System Of The Early Republic

In the early years of the Republic of China, the parliamentary system was introduced into China's politics as the most important constituent of the constitutionalism. This period witnessed the fiercest changes in the political system and the social structure, therefore, was seen as the "the golden time" to observe the Chinese parliamentary politics and to study the parliamentary thoughts. This article, starting firom the constitutional principles, and based on the operation of the parliamentary politics, combs the interactions between the parliamentary politics and the specific economy, politics, and society of the Republic of China, seeking to explore the historical experience and theoretical enlightenments involved.It can be divided into four parts, or six chapters.Part I is Chapter One —the conditions of the formation of the parliamentary system at the beginning of the Republic of China. Before its real establishment, constitutionalism in China had already gone through a short accumulating period that provided the forming conditions for this system, that is, the conditions of politics, ideology, and organization.Part II is Chapter Two — the first try of the parliamentary system at the provincial level. After Wuchang Uprising, in order to consolidate the victory, the military governments in some provinces formulated their constitutional documents, namely provincial provisional constitutions, which established the bourgeois parliamentary republican regime in the form of fundamental law.Part III includes the next four chapters. During the first two years of the Republic of China, there altogether emerged four central organizations of public opinions. Chronologically they were: the Representative Federation of Various Provincial Commanding Governments (from November 5th, 1911 to January 27th, 1912), the Temporary Nanjing Senate (firom January 28th to April 5th, 1912), the Temporary Beijing Senate (from April 29th, 1912 to April 8th, 1913), the Official Congress (from April 8th, 1913 to January 5th, 1914).Part IV is the Conclusion. This section analyzes the failure of the introduction of the parliamentary system at the beginning of the Republic of China, and tries to make an objective appraisal to this history. The parliamentary theory and practice in this period is a relay station on our road to the final realization of the democratic constitutionalism.