Research On Huang Zunxian's Thought Of Constitutionalism

Constitutionalism is the product of the development and evolution of the Western capitalist class. Its basic meaning is to restrict the state power through the constitution and law, and to protect the civil rights and freedom. The Western constitutionalism entered into China after the Opium War, when China was gradually reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. At that time, searching for the road to save the country, a group of insightful men came to find the value and significant of the Western constitutionalism in saving the nation in peril and realizing the dreams of enriching the country and strengthening the military power. Thus, they started learning from the western constitutionalism and applied it to China's reformation. On the way of exploring modern constitutionalism, Huang Zunxian was a very important figure.Huang Zunxian is a patriotic poet, diplomat and reformer in modern China. His idea of constitutionalism formed during his 14 years' diplomatic career. In the face of the devastated country with domestic trouble and foreign invasion, Huang Zunxian resolutely went to the West to seek the recipe of saving the nation with a sincerely patriotic heart. As a diplomat, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Japan, America, Britain and Singapore. In Japan, Huang Zunxian witnessed the results of political reform after learning the Western constitutionalism, and by the influence of the incoming Western thought of civil rights and the theory of checks and balances, he began to have the ideas of imitating Japan and the West to reform the constitutionalism. In the United States, Huang Zunxian realized the importance of the principles of the separation of powers and the perfect legal system. In Britain, Huang Zunxian was deeply affected by the British parliamentary system of constitutional monarchy and the federal system. After returning to China, Huang Zunxian put forward his unique constitution thought according to the Western constitutionalism and national conditions.Huang Zunxian's constitutional thought regarded constitutional regime as the top-level design, the enlightenment of the public and the advocation of the civil rights as the realizing premise, the regional autonomy as the basis and the rule of law as the safeguard, in order to ultimately be in the realm of democracy and rule of law and to reach the goals of the monarch and people's joint government in a wealthy and strong country. Huang Zunxian is not only an explorer but also a positive practitioners. In the Reform Movement of 1898, Huang applied his constitutional thought to it, actively participating in and founding the Newspaper of Current Affairs and the Current Affairs School to propagate civil rights enlighten the people. In the Hunan Reform, he made good use of the theory of regional autonomy and the thought of rule of law through setting up the Southern Institute as an organization with the nature of the local parliament. Besides, he also personally established the Bureau of Civil Defence as a mechanism guaranteeing the regional autonomy. Huang Zunxian's practice not only impact the Reform Movement of 1898, but also deepen his constitutional thought, leaving an indelible mark in the history of the development of China's constitutionalism.