The County Councils In Zhejiang Province At Early Republic Of China

Parliamentarism is an primary form to fulfill modern democratic policies. During the Constitutional Reforms in the late Qing Dynasty, Consultancy Bureaus were built in many provinces. After the revolution of 1911, Zhejiang province's interim legislature was held on 10th December,1911. Since January,1912, counties in Zhejiang province began to establish county councils and consultative councils, playing the role in autonomy matters. On 2nd February,1912, Zhejiang province's interim legislature passed "Proposal on the revision of autonomy statute of counties in Zhejiang". The proposal entitled counties, as well as local entities inferior to county, to local autonomy, and allowed county councils and consultative council to take charge of autonomy matters.This paper investigated the county councils in Zhejiang province at early Republic of China. By collecting and analyzing the bills passed by the county councils and parliament of Zhejiang province, the statement and remarks on the autonomy and parliament in the chorographies, and the reports on the local newspaper and magazines, this papaer attempted to reconstruct the history of the county councils in Zhejiang province at early Republic of China. Taking the background of the time and local social environment into consideration, the historical process of the rise, the operation and the fall of the county councils were discussed. The experiences and lessons on the operation of the Parliamentarism in Zhejiang province, especially in the grass-roots society, were analyzed.The results suggest that, the county councils, as well as the local autonomy and grass-roots democracy represented by it, were always in dilemma ever since it were established. It wandered between pursing ideality and compromising to the reality. The history of the county councils in early Republic of China was very short, which experienced two ups and downs. The success and failure leave over much meaning, which might help us to foresee the coming problems and deal with the future difficulties of the parliamentary politics.