Yikuang And The New Policy Reform Of Late Qing Dynasty

Among the New Policy Reform of late Qing Dynasty for its self-salvation, oneand the only most important part was called "Preparation of Constitutionalism". Theplan was proposed and promoted by one of the most important and powerful figure atthat time, Yi Kuang, who paced up the development of the New Policy Reform andsteered its direction with his outstanding political authority and power. Yi asserted thatconstitutionalism should be accelerated, and left no effort in supporting the plan.However, constitutionalism was a tool to save the falling dynasty and no more to Yi’sconsideration, and Utilitarianism was always guiding him throughout the wholeperiod. When supporting the Preparation of Constitutionalism, Yi was also exploitingpersonal gains and hence been impeached by the Advisory Council. The followingthesis is trying to explain the relationship between Yi and the New Policy Reform oflate Qing Dynasty, by study Yi’s performance and reaction in the forgoing series ofevents.The thesis consists of3main parts: the Preface, the Main Text of4Chapters, andThe conclusion. Each portion is presented briefly as follows:The Preface is for introduction, including the reason and background for me tochoose this topic, and then a review of the so-far completed researches about YiKuang. And then figure out the focus and extent for this topic by presenting aliterature review.The First Chapter of the Main Text provides an overall introduction on the NewPolicy Reform and the initiate of the Preparation of Constitutionalism. After the Chaos in year1900, some governors among the Qing government began to realizemajor defects of the traditional and innate system, and seek innovation to rebuild arich and powerful country. Yi was assigned as supervisor of national affairs after theinitiate of the New Policy Reform. Forced by the pressure of the public,Constitutionalism came to consideration of the Qing government, and was put intoimplement afterwards following the proposal of Yi and his colleaguesThe Second Chapter of the Main Text was about the Bureaucracy Reformationunder the concept of the Preparation of Constitutionalism. During the Reformation,major forces of the country faced off each other to get more benefit from theReformation. And the Bureaucracy Reformation proposal in year1906got passed as aresult of compromises. However to get the leadership in the Capitalism, Yi wasentrapped in a politic fight against governors such as Cen Chunxuan and Qu Hongji.The Political Chaos of1907incurred by this fight caused great damage to the plan ofConstitutionalism. Among the years ruled by Emperor Xuan Tong, the Reformationcontinued to operate. Xuan Tong constituted a cabinet led by Yi of mostly royalfamilies, which was strongly objected by various forces and was finally beendismissed.The Third Chapter of the Main Text was about Yi’s contribution in theestablishment of the Constitutional Compilation Bureau, the Bureau for Compilationof Law, and the issue of the New Criminal Law of Qing Dynasty. The ConstitutionalCompilation Bureau became a powerful governmental department in the Preparationof Constitutionalism under Yi’s command, and back up the Bureau for Compilation ofLaw against conservative governors to protect the project of revising laws.The Fourth Chapter of the Main Text describes the impeach proposed by theAdvisory Council against several core governors of the government, intrigued by theconflict of power between state and local government powers. The impeach proposallasted for months and was frequently revised. The core governors led by Yi threatedthe court by requesting resigning form the government. The impeach proposal wasleft unsettled due to the great power of Yi and his colleagues. However, the resultalmost destroyed the trust in the government by councilors and the people.. For Conclusion, a detailed research about Yi’s personality is given to uncover hisinner motive to support Constitutionalism. Yi considered Constitutionalism as a tool,following the principle of Organum and Utilitarianism. The Conclusion section alsoprovides an overview about Yi’s contribution in the New Policy Reform, especially inthe Preparation of Constitutionalism. We must bear an objective and rational attitudein the study of Yi Kuang.