The Research On Hu Shi’s Constitutional Thoughts

Mr.Hu Shi was an influential man in the modern history of China, getting large reputation because of the advocation for literary revolution in his early years, and finally experienced a life of " famous for world always with slander". Hu Shi was not the exception among the talents in modern times who had extraordinary gifts. As the focus of the modern thought circle, there are lots of people who follow or speak highly of him, and also exists persons who criticize or oppose him, whether praise or slander, there is an undeniable fact that no one could ignore his existence and influence.In May 1932, Mr. Hu Shi, Ding Wenjiang, Jiang Tingfu and other friends founded the "Independent Review", and he served as the chief editor. In the next five years, the "Independent Review" not only witnessed the development of Hu Shi’s thought during that period, but became a new position of liberalism in 1930 s. In this period, the constitutional thought of Hu Shi began to change from theoretical level to practical regime. This article has no intention to carry out a systematic research on the constitutional thought, nor the comprehensive analysis of Hu Shi’s thought, this is not the task which can be completely finished for this article. If it could use this "brick" to elicit the "jade" of the academia predecessors, attracting people’s attention to the constitutional thought of Hu Shi, then it reaches its purpose.This paper is minly divided into four parts: the first part expounds the social context of the “Independent Review”, namely a era for literatis to discuss politics. At that time, the land of China was filled with political darkness, people lived in pain, the internal hardship bad not been eliminated, the external misery came. However, this is a time for intellectuals to seek prescriptions to save the nation rather a era of chaos. The intellectual elites represented by Hu Shi inherited the spirit of “with the responsibility of the rise and fall of the world” held by the traditional scholar bureaucrats, and walked out from sanctum in succession, to arouse the national spirit by speach under the heart of a sincere scholars. This part also analyzes the major difficulties encountered by the literatis to discuss politics under the context of new types of dictatorship, and introduces the general situation of the development of Hu Shi and the “Independent Review”.The second part mainly introduces the core ideas of the constitutional thought of Hu Shi. Under the domestic political environment and difficulties, Hu Shi took the responsibility of the chief editor of the "Independent Review” in the attitude of cautiousness. Regarding democracy as the foundation of constitutionalism, Hu Shi became the leader in the dispute of “democracy and dictatorship”, and he insisted on democracy to oppose autocracy, and adhered to the "good governmentalism". He considered the constitutionalism as a kind of regulation,thinking that politics must be in accordance with the law, the government should responsible to the masses, and used it to analyse and criticize the “constitutional draft” of the national government. In that period, although the constitutional thought insisted by Hu Shi was not systematic,it could point out the current problems.The third part mainly introduces the ways to achieve the constitutional thought of Hu Shi. Mr.Hu Shi had his own views to realize the constitutionalisml. He believed that the constitutionalism was a kind of habit in the political life, and should be regarded as a process in its implementation, rather than the target. The premise to achieve the constitutionalism was the constitutional text that could be practiced, and every word in the constitutional text should be put into practice. Mr. Hu Shi stressed that the constitutionalism could be trained as long as started from the foot, under the feasible constitutional text, through the training of constitutional lives accepted by governments and masses and the constitutional concepts formed by people at the same time,the real constitutionalism could be established at last.The fourth part in brief analyses the value goal of Hu Shi’s constitutional thought. Through the carding of political essays of Mr.Hu Shi in the "Independent Review" and the combination of his experience to explore the constitutionalism, this paper tries to summarize some useful thinking.Based on the above, this article attends to carry out some combination and thinking to the constitutional thought of Hu Shi through the interpretation of the partial articles in the "Independent Review", hoping provide some benefit to the research on Hu Shi and his modern constitutional thought, to arouse people’s interest to study the constitutional thought of this period, and let more people dig the treasure of thought in this period.