Research On The Zizheng Yuan In The Constitutional Reform Of The Late Qing Dynasty

In complex international and domestic situation in 1907 under the call for people who have set up parliament in time,the Qing Government decided to set up the Zizheng Yuan as the "foundation of the House of Lords and the House of Commons ",which was the first attempt of parliamentary politics in modern China.However,due to the ambivalence of reform,the Qing Government did not intend to make the Zizheng Yuan play the role of "the foundation of the parliament ",so it restricted the Zizheng Yuan in the process of system design and actual operation.In terms of system design,Members are the main composition personnel of the Zizheng Yuan.The Members divided into two categories: the civilian councilors and the congressman made by imperial.The "the Election Law of Zizheng Yuan" clarifies the positions and roles of different strata and interest representatives in the organization of the Zizheng Yuan by stipulating the methods and backgrounds of their generation.According to the provisions of legal documents such as the "Zizheng Yuan Law",the operating rules of the Zizheng Yuan have taken the form of a parliament.However,these legal documents did not endow the Zizheng Yuan with complete legislative power,and there are still qualitative differences between the Zizheng Yuan and the real parliament..In terms of operation,the Zizheng Yuan held two annual meetings during its existence.The first annual meeting passed proposals that promoted the constitutionality,such as the proposal to establish the parliament immediately,the proposal to impeach the minister of Junji,and the proposal to revise the Criminal Law.Members were active during the annual meeting,but some radical actions under the urgency of national salvation made the Qing Court feel that their power was threatened,so they tried their best to hinder the implementation of the motion,which made some members of the constitutionalists disappointed and threw themselves into the revolution.The second annual meeting coincided with the outbreak of the 1911 Revolution.In order to win over the constitutionalists,the Qing Court’s attitude towards the Zizheng Yuan changed.During this period,Zizheng Yuan passed the "Nineteen important tenets of the Constitution",obtained the power to make the constitution,and became a realparliamentary institution.But it was too late,and finally the mission of the Zizheng Yuan came to an end with the demise of the Qing Court.Being both innovative and conservative,it is an inevitable feature of the Zizheng Yuan in the special historical background of the late Qing Dynasty.As the beginning of modern parliamentary politics in China,it provided conditions for the germination of early political parties in China,and at the same time expanded political participation,enabling some constitutionalists to discuss politics and promote the constitutionalism.However,as a failed reform measure,the system design and actual operation of the Zizheng Yuan inevitably had historical limitations,which not only came from the social political and economic reality in modern China,but also from the control of the Qing Court,the limitations of the parliamentarians themselves,and the Chinese people’s misunderstanding of parliamentary politics.