Constitutionalism's Persistence Or Petamorphosis

The thought of constitutional monarchy is an important part of Yang Du's political thought.Yang was also a political activist who participated in several political changes from the late Qing Dynasty to the early years of the Republic of China,and had rich political experience.Yang's constitutional monarchy was systematically formed in his political career,influenced by the current situation and changed with the change of the current situation.Yang's own political practice and the background of the times have had a significant impact on the formation and development of his monarchical constitutional thought.Among them,the two most important historical events are the "preparatory constitution" in the late Qing Dynasty and the "Hongxian monarchy".In terms of time and content,Yang's thought of constitutional monarchy can be divided into two stages.The first stage of the thought focused on the "Gold-Ironism",which published in 1907,and the representative idea of the second stage is the "Theory of constitutional monarchy to save nation",which published in 1915.In the "Gold-Ironism",Yang mainly demonstrates why he chooses constitutionalism,why he wants to carry out constitutional monarchy and how to do three constitutional issues to demonstrate his constitutional monarchy thought.In another book,"Theory of constitutional monarchy to save nation",Yang resumed the monarchy,argued for constitutional reasons,the shortcomings of the Democratic Republic and the basic principles of constitutional monarchy,and revised his ideas.Yang's two stages of constitutional monarchy have obvious changes,but there has been no petamorphosis.Among them,the essence of constitutionalism is consistent.As for constitutionalism,the essence and spirit are consisten.With regard to the monarch,there has been a change,but not a qualitative change.Yang's thought of two stages is a consistent and complete system,which constitutes his persistence to the ideal of Constitutionalism.Yang wanted to put his constitutional ideal in the reform path of constitutional monarchy,and firmly believed that constitutional monarchy was the best way to establish constitutionalism in China at that time.There are deep reasons for this problem,the most important is the influence of evolutionary thought and the "emperor culture".The theory of evolution constitutes the philosophical basis of the constitutionalism of Yang's monarchy,which makes him choose the path of political reform of reformism and become a kind ofbackground of its political thought.The "emperor culture" which is from Chinese traditional culture,makes young Yang Du an ideal to help great monarchs achieve great achievements.The "emperor culture" is also once regarded as the settlements of Yang's life,and makes a monarchy complex in Yang's heart which is difficult to eliminate.On the basis of the original text,and place the thought of Yang's constitutional monarchy in the historical context of modern Chinese constitutionalism,we will find that the thought of Yang's constitutional monarchy has already had the basic elements of the modern constitutional spirit,and has recognizedhe the importance of the rule of law as the basic frame in the development of Chinese society.However,Yang's "constitutional-rich and strong" logic leads to the strong utilitarian color of his thought.This utilitarian attitude leads to the neglect of the rational value of constitutionalism itself,which has a negative impact on the development of constitutionalism in China.In addition,Yang emphasis on the necessity of constitutional argument,and ignores the lack of its feasibility study,this is also a problem we should pay attention to today's rule of law construction.Yang's practice and persistence to the constitutional ideal demonstrated the feelings and spirits of modern Chinese intellectuals.Although it failed because of its lack of feasibility,this spirit is commendable.Their exploration and efforts are part of the constitutionalism process of modern China.