Political Culture And The Study Of Parliamentary Politics In The Early Years Of Republic Of China

Parliamentary politics in the early years of Republic of China existed only for over ten years in Chinese history, but as a great try in the process of democratization in China, its historical position can not be ignored. Its birth in traditional China is inseparable with the cultural changes in China at that time. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, traditional Chinese political culture was undergoing unprecedented change in the context of West Learning. With looking at the world from the intellectuals from the landlord class, the trend of the change of the political culture has been doomed. With the effort of Westernization, Reformers, Constitutionalists, and the Revolutionary, the democratic political system was finally established in China. However, not lasting long, Parliamentary politics in the early years of Republic of China exited the stage of history after the short and tortuous development. The reasons for its failure are many, but one of the very important is the inadequate development of democratic political culture. Deep-rooted traditional political culture’s influence still exists in China, and its power is far more than the immature democratic political culture’s. It is difficult for traditional political culture to develop in the long term without the nourishment of the democratic political culture. The drawbacks of traditional political culture permeated all aspects of Parliamentary politics in the early years of Republic of China, which planted the hidden dangers for its failure.