| This thesis examines the constitutional crisis in China in 1917-1918. In July 1917, the military general Duan Qirui refused to reconvene parliament and rewrote electoral laws. This caused an outrage, and in response Sun Yatsen and the parliamentarians went South to establish a rival government. In the next year or so, China was involved in a bitter civil war.; In many ways, this constitutional crisis was the consequence of the constitutional problems which confronted the Chinese Republic since its inception. There was, for instance, the issue of how power should be shared under the new system. How much power should the President have vis-a-vis the Premier? There was also the question regarding the relationship between the center and the regions. How much power should Beijing delegate to the localities under the newly established constitutional system? Finally, there was the issue of the proper role of the military in politics. Given the power of the military generals at this time, how should power be balanced between the civil and the military?; In part one of this thesis, I analyze how Chinese politicians debated these issues, and how the constitutional crisis of 1917 represented their failure to resolve these questions. I examine this struggle from the respective angles of the participants involved: Duan Qirui, Sun Yatsen, the parliamentary members, a regional warlord named Lu Rongting, and the public in general. Through this I hope to show their differences in perception of these constitutional questions, as well as the respective solutions they offered to resolve the problems.; In part two, I examine how Chinese politicians struggled to reach a compromise. I focus on a politician named Xu Shichang, who became president in October 1918. Against all odds he pulled the country out of the civil war, and brought about a peace conference in which the two sides discussed substantive constitutional issues. But just when a compromise looked imminent, Xu's conference broke up, and his effort came to nought. I end by explaining why this happened, and examine the implications this had on the constitutional future of China as it stood in 1919. |
