A Research On The Case Of The Consulting Department’s Impeachment Of Central Minister In Qing Dynasty

The end period of Qing dynasty faced the trapped inner and outer situation, which forced social elites to explore new roads to a modern country. In1901, Qing dynasty restarted the reform, which is an important attempt for the transformation of China in political, economic and cultural evolution. The government issued an edict about preliminary constitutionalism in1908, and then opened the Consulting Department in1910, which shows that the Qing government began to gradually allow to shared some political power with the constitutionalists. But the case of impeaching central minister shows that the cooperation between the Qing government and the constitutionalists began to gradually rupture, which indicats the inevitable failure of the Consulting Department. Although the Consulting Department did not save the Qing dynasty, this is the China’s first national elected political organization, first large-scale democratic political practice and the first attempt to supervise the government by political representative, whose significance can not be underestimated. It is necessarry to explore the practice of the Consulting Department, which highlights the importance of the national capacity in the institutional transformation. This article analyzes the case of impeaching central minister, explores the importance of the national capacities and provides a new perspective for the Chinese political reform.