The Chinese Students In Japan And The Constitutional Movement In The End Of Qing Dynasty

In the end of Qing Dynasty, the upsurge of studying abroad in Japan appeared unprecedented in China. A large group of students went to Japan to acquire new knowledge and to receive new thoughts. Out of their patriotism and different views on the future of the country, their political tendencies diverged and they began to choose different ways to save the whole nation. Some devoted themselves to revolutions. They advocated overthrowing the regime of the Qing Government by violent revolutions and setting up a bourgeois democratic republic in China. Later, they became the main force of the Revolution of 1911 and contributed a lot to the development of Chinese revolutions. Meanwhile, some students did not accept revolutions. They hoped to change the country by peaceful reformation and advocated the constitutional monarchy. These students became the Constitutional Group among the students studying in Japan.Due to the influences of Kang-Liang Thoughts after the Reform Movement of 1898, the impact of Japan and their close relationship with the feudal politics and culture as well as their epistemology, parts of the students in Japan advocated constitutionalism. When the Constitutional Movement developed vigorously in the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Constitutional Group propagated their thoughts in every means, founded constitutional organizations and threw themselves actively into the preparatory constitutional work of the Qing Government. They even organized several massive parliamentary petitions. The perverse acts of the Qing Government resulted in the divergence of the Constitutional Group. Many students joined in revolutions. The Chinese Constitutional Group in Japan had a very important influence on the Constitutional Movement in the end of Qing Dynasty and had a certain impact on the political situation in late Qing Dynasty.Compared with the revolutionary advocate, the constitutional group's propositions were outdated. Nevertheless, the Constitutional Group had played a very important part in Chinese modernization. Thus, we must evaluate it in an objective and impartial way.