The First Glimpse At Western Politics: Investigating Constitutionalism By Five Late-Qing Foreign Ministers

At the beginning of the twentieth century, following the general trend of capitalist development of the Qing royal government decided to implement"the New Policies"in order to resolve its ruling crisis."The New policies"were somewhat effective, but could not be fully carried out due to the backward political institutions of the late Qing. In response to such a situation, a constitutional reformation became an urgent task of the Qing royal government. The constitutional reformation at the late Qing dynasty, marked a crucial transition from despotic monarchy to modern democratic politics in the longtime closed China. The constitutional reformation concerned reordering of the powers and the privileges, so the Qing rulers were very cautious to it. In order to know the advantages and the disadvantages of constitutionalism more clearly, the Qing rulers sent five important ministers, i.e. Zai ze, Dai Hongci, Duan Fang, Li Shengduo and Shang Qiheng to Western countries to investigate constitutionalism. The ministers investigated extensively in foreign countries in terms of constitutionalism, military, education, economy , social life and so on based on which they put forward a lot of instructive suggestions regarding the constitutional reformation which would take place in China soon. This investigation group is the first group sent by the Chinese government for the purpose of investigating and introducing foreign politics. This was a significant change in the mind of the Qing rulers , who previously thought their governing was the best in the world. The investigation turned out to be fruitful, and they made a bunch of breakthroughs in their suggestions about education, economy, police, prison, communication,etc. They petitioned the Qing rulers many times to dispel their concerns and ensure"the New Policies"to be put into place. Though"the New Policies"failed in the end, the positive efforts of the five ministers deserved compliment in that they took the initiative to spread constitutionalism from the position of the ruling class.