Research On Hunan Constitutional Party At The End Of Qing Dynasty

It was the last eleven years of Qing Dynasty at the beginning of the twentieth century(1900～1911).And this was a special period when domestic trouble and foreign invasion existed together with crisis and chance of survival.And it was also a period when China rapidly converted from traditional society to modern society.Where was China going was a new problem relative to the nation's fate and future.Facing this serious fact,three important political power came into being at that time,they designed different political programs:the government of Qing wanted to push forward reform of its new policy;Constitutional Party publicized its constitutional monarchy;Revolutionary Party held democratic revolution.It was the falling and rising of these three political powers one after another that decided the new trend of then Chinese politics.Constitutional Party played a very important role in the process of Revolution of 1911,as well as the evolution of Chinese modern history and Chinese modernization.As a result of these three political powers,Constitutional Party changed from supporting the government into supporting the Revolutionary Party,finally they overthrew the Government of Qing.So academic research always focused on Revolution of 1911,and just regarded the new political activities of Qing Government and Constitutional Party as revolutionary background.Research on Constitutional Party and their activities have been valued and stressed since the 1980s,so the research work has been gradually reasonable and empirical,and it also has achieved remarkable success.But compared with research on other fields of modern history,the research into Constitutional Party seemed weak,there were a lot of problems to be further discussed and studied.And the research of history itself is very complex,we must do further and more empirical research to explain and prove the value and importance of Constitutional Party in late Qing Dynasty.As to this,it's very necessary to do further empirical research on Constitutional Party in late Qing Dynasty from more sides and levels.Based on these ideas,this research is to make a microcosmic and individual research on Hunan Constitutional Party.Because Hunan Constitutional Party has great influence on the whole.We have some well-known constitutional characters such as Yang Du,TanYankai,LuoJie, ChengWenwei,Yi Zongkui,LongZhangand so on.;Hunan Constitutional Group was the first to appeal to the government for parliament,and sent representatives to Beijing to petition;Hunan Constitutional Group led many activities of regaining sovereignty;Hunan Constitutional Group took active in governmental and political affairs;Hunan Constitutional Group supported Revolutionary Group,making Hunan the first province react to Wuchang Uprising.So this study on Hunan Constitutional Group has its typical meaning,aiming at providing empirical results for the study on Constitutional Group and the history in late Qing Dynasty.Based on recent one hundred years' academic research and relative research achievements,the author's study has a higher starting,but it also makes the study a little difficult.The author thinks past research on Hunan Constitutional Group was not that complete,there is a lot to go further.This study adopt some relative materials as arguments and the latest research achievements to support the statements by using class analysis,qualitative analysis,quantitative analysis,macroscopic research and microscopic research,as well as comparative research.This study consists of seven chapters.Chapter One is the introduction.In Chapter Two,the history background of Hunan Constitutional Party is introduced,the difference between the preparation of constitution and the constitutional activities is stressed,so as to prove Hunan Constitutional Party was a strong constitutional power from the bottom to top,whose purpose was different from that of the motivation of Qing Dynasty,and this was why they separated and went different ways. Chapter Three discussed what Hunan Constitutional Party was,how and when it came into being,and who made up it.In Chapter Four is about the main activities of Hunan Constitutional Party and its organization,and the author lay stress on Hunan Constitutional Party's setting up modern mining,sponsoring Hunan education and local self- government,leading petition of Hunan Parliament and protecting roads.Chapter Five talks about the problems of Hunan Ziyi Bureau.Hunan Ziyi Bureau was an important organization and activity center with a lot of available data,so the author discuss this problem as an independent chapter,besides this, the research on this was not enough in the past.This chapter contains the introduction of Hunan Ziyi Bureau,detailed analysis of the election of Hunan Ziyi Bureau,members of Hunan Parliament,proposal's being put forward and applied and the relationship between Hunan Constitutional Party and Revolutionary Party.Chapter Six is about the relationship between Hunan Constitutional Party and Revolutionary Party.In terms of the then national situation,the relationship didn't accord with the track of being antagonistic,then being united,then being separated,then being reunited,then being broken.Until the end of Qing Dynasty,the relationship tended to be united and be harmonious,though the two groups fought fiercely against each other from the independence of Hunan to Jiao,Cheng's being killed,their relationship didn't break but fought shoulder to shoulder.In order of the time,the harmony of the two parties before Hunan's independence,their teamwork and building the new government together are emphasized in this chapter.Chapter Seven is a summary.In this chapter,the author demonstrates the characteristics and the general assessment and the differences between Hunan Constitutional Party and overseas Constitutional Parties,and other Constitutional Parties.This chapter needs a lot of theoretic support,so it's more difficult.In all,study of history lies in learning from the historic lessons summing up the experience.To review Hunan Constitutional Party's failure and success is the historic research problem that we can't ignore after one hundred years' constitutional governing.But owing to the author's limitation of time and knowledge,this Study is far from comprehensiveness,and it is open to all kinds of suggestions and criticisms.