Zhang Jun-mai's Constitutionalism

Zhang claimed that he wandered between academy and politics all his life. He followed Liang Qichao and devoted himself to propagating constitutionalism in his early years. After Chinese Revolution of 1911, he became a new star of politics and academy .He elucidated reason politics because of the confused fighting between the warlords and armed might politics spred unchecked in the 1920s. He summarized that we resorted to force solve problems , but the westerns to rationing , comparing with the difference between eastern and western politics. All of people resorted to force to change a dynasty in China. Rational basis was the individual mind and the freedom of will. He advocated the socialized possessions,the restricted individual freedom,and wanted to make concessions the individual liberalism and socialism because of the influence of Weimar Constitution .The 1930s was the important period that Zhang changed his mind. On the one hand backward country needed a complete reform, needed the enlightenment. On the other hand he must face the national crisis. Between the enlightenment and the national salvation, he chose the latter. He corrected a series of his original views. He loosened to seek the individual freedom and tried to seek the balance between the freedom and power in politics. In fact, he tried to weaken the powers of the congress and enlarge the powers of the administration. He carried out the planned economy, brought about the self-supporting and self-sufficient national economy and sought the social fairness on the basis of national standard in economy. He gave up that all of the parties should be in power in turn and advocated to work together. He advocated to form a government the whole nation was consistent and call for united efforts to save the nation.In the fields of Kuomintang during the Anti-Japanese War, Zhang, as a representative of the center party groupings, took part in two influenced constitutional movement. After success of the Anti-Japanese War, he devoted himself to the peace,the democracy and the establishment of nation enthusiastly and reached the acme of his potilical activities and influence. For the time being, he turned his attention to study the problems of the freedom and the human rights in theory. His ideal of the human rights had matured and gotten into shape. The political program of Democratic League of which he was a member , was democracy in politics , socialism in economy and combination of planned economy and free economy.In a word, zhang set up his ideal system and was one of the most important idealists modern history of China. He had a sincere idea, but it didn't become a realization. It puzzled the predecessors and also inspired the later generations.