1 - From the Third Cooperation to the Third Republic

Summary

Over the past century, there have been two landmark events in Chinese constitutionalism: the promulgation of the Outline of the Imperial Constitution in 1908 and the Xinhai Revolution in 1911. In between there was also the hastily enacted and short-lived Nineteen Articles, which envisioned a constitutional monarchy. Unfortunately, the Imperial Court repeatedly obstructed the constitutional reforms and squandered its own opportunities of self-renovation by forfeiting the faith of the public. The arrogant and myopic Qing dynasty dug its own grave and deserved its fate, but the success of the revolution meant the end of constitutional reform. Although the First and Second Republics came one after another, China has decidedly drifted away from the path of constitutionalism over the past century. The Third Republic will hopefully bring China back to its constitutional path through the third cooperation between the two rival revolutionary parties.