The Constitutional Controversies In Late Ch'ing Dynasty

This dissertation focuses on the constitutional controversy in late Ch'ing dynasty and the political transformation from then on by researching the controversies on Chong Shing Yit Pao and The Union Times.From Qin dynasty to Ch'ing dynasty, the system of government was being autocracy which had been established by Qin Shi-huang. Until late Ch'ing era, Chinese came into contact with constitutionalism by the influence of the democratization movement in west countries. Then, there was a political transformation in China, the system of government transformed from autocracy (Qin zheng) into constitutionalism.There were a lot of heated argument during the transformation. People disputed if constitutionalism was good for China in the last years of the 19th century, and then disputed which form of constitutionalism was suitable for China in the early years of the 20th century. The controversies on Chong Shing Yit Pao and The Union Times belonged to the second.Because both of the newspapers were published in Singapore, and the readers were the overseas Chinese in southeast Asia, the first chapter introduces the conditions of the society of the overseas Chinese in southeast Asia. This chapter also researched the political game among Ch'ing government, Sun Yat-sen's faction (Sun Dang) and Kang You-wei's faction (Kang Dang). We found that before Sun Dang and Kang Dang rose, Ch'ing government had gained the loyalty of the overseas Chinese by changing the politics and protecting the overseas Chinese. When Sun Dang and Kang Dang went to southeast Asia, the support which they could enjoy from the overseas Chinese was not so much.The second chapter introduces thd establishment of Chong Shing Yit Pao and The Union Times, and the beginning of the dispute between the two newspapers. The third chapter studies the authors and the columns of the two newspapers. The "war" between the two newspapers provoked by Chong Shing Yit Pao, because Sun Dang was anxious to spread its ideology. From the authors and columns of the two newspapers, we know that the "war" between Chong Shing Yit Pao and The Union Times was a overall "war".Chapter four and chapter five introduce the arguments on Chong Shing Yit Pao and The Union Times, including the dispute between Sun Dang and Kang Dang, the dispute between Sun Dang and Ch'ing government and the dispute between Kang Dang and Ch'ing government. Chapter six studies the readers of the two newspapers.The controversies between Sun Dang and Kang Dang in Chong Shing Yit Pao and The Union...