A Study Of Liang Shu-ming's Constitutional Thought

In the age of 1840,under the force of aggression,wars and civilization collapse,China fell into an unprecedented crisis.In order to get rid of the backward situation,Chinese people carried out a series of national self-saving movements in the belief of making the country stronger,achieving national rejuvenation,and being ranked among the global powers.It was under this social background that Liang Shu-ming intended to establish a new social structure and finally realized that the constitutionalism was the key to save China through the profound analysis of China's social structure problems.This dissertation analyzed the inner mechanism of the Chinese social structure from the view of social structure theory of Liang Shu-ming,mainly includes: First,a sight into East-West culture ideology,which contains the contents of Chinese and western culture and differences between them;Second,the Chinese social structure theory,which is the core of Liang Shu-ming's theory,mainly analyzes “Chinese society is one taking ethics as its standard and occupation diverge along different ways”;Third,the theory of rural construction,which is the theoretical basis of Liang Shu-ming's constitutionalism movement,contains the solutions to the problems for China and the blueprint of the future Chinese society.Although the thought of Liang Shu-ming's social structure also has some shortcomings,its outstanding contribution to Chinese history could not be denied.Liang Shu-ming's concept of constitutionalism contains the analysis of the social structure of China.This article analyzed Liang Shu-ming's constitutional concepts from the perspective of social structure,including: First,Liang Shu-ming's view of "de" and state;Second,the view of "freedom,democracy and equality";Third,in order to achieve constitutionalism,the Chinese people chose two ways:rule by people and by party,while these two ways were proved to be useless in China;Fourth,the way to realize Chinese constitutionalism:Based on national inherent spirit,adjust Chinese social structures,develop new habits and new customs,integrate Confucian thoughts and Western democratic spirits,realize the creative transformation of culture,so as to achieve constitutionalism.Although the practice of his constitutional government finally failed,it still left a strong mark in the history of Chinese Constitutionalism.“Preserving cultural property from elder generations and carrying it forward,establishing peace for all future generations” was the stand for his life.