Sun Yat-sen's Constitutional Thought And Practice Research

Mr. Sun Yat-Sen was not only a great forerunner of the Chinese revolution but also a designer and constructor of the modem China. His thought of constitutionalism was a specific political embodiment of the construction of a modern country.Sun Yat-Sen's thought of constitutionalism was born in the exigent moment of saving the nation from subjugation. The Universalism of traditional Chinese culture was facing a serious crisis when the western heterogeneous civilization deluged into China. Under such a condition, Chinese nationalism in the modem society came into being and became the mainstream ideology by a tendency which cannot be contained. What the nationalism required of politics was to establish a modern nationalist nation. Mr. Sun's constitutional thought was developed in such situation: only after the absolute monarchy of Qing Dynasty was overthrown, can a modern constitutional monarchy in China be established. Both the reformists represented by Kang You-wei and Liang Qi-chao and the revolutionaries represented by Sun Yat-Sen and Zhang Tai-yan wanted to found a modem constitutional country in China. However, the reformists wanted to make China a constitutional monarchy modeled after Britain, Germany and Japan while the revolutionaries wanted to make China a democratic republic after the United States. Their dissidence lied in the approaches of realizing their goals: the reformists adopted a method of innovation advanced gradually in peace while the revolutionaries preferred a way of radical revolution.The failure of the Hundred Days of Reform (1989) and the New Deals Movement at the end of the Qing Dynasty had proved that: in modern China, it is impossible to construct a constitutional nation through reformation from the upper to lower hierarchy in the society. Knowing that, Sun Yat-Sen had to seek a way of revolution to accomplish constitutionalism in China. Sun's thought of constitutionalism was also advanced and perfected with the birth of his Three Principles of the People, which is also the theoretical foundation of this thought.To actually realize democracy, we must establish a true democratic republic first. Therefore, a constitutional system that could manifest the democratic republic must be designed. Under the guidance of democracy, Sun Yat-Sen developed this systematic and...