Abstract
The revolution in Wuchang had inflamed many provinces. A need to discuss matters of vital importance and common interest created an increasing demand for a temporary organization to be set up in a centrally located place such as Shanghai. On November 11, 1911, Ch’eng Teh-chuan and Tong Shou-ch’ien, military governors of Kiangsu and Chekiang respectively, made a joint suggestion to that effect to Ch’en Chi-mei, the military governor of Shanghai. According to their proposal, the military governors of the provincial governments and the provincial assemblies would send one representative each to Shanghai for a conference. Prompt action was taken the following day by the representatives of Kiangsu and Chekiang through a circular telegram to the various provincial authorities. On November 15, the Representative Conference of the Military Governors held its first meeting; and, five days later, it reached a decision to recognize Wuchang as the seat of the Central Military Government of the Republic, headed by the military governor of Hupei province.
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References
The Organic Law of the Provisional Government was signed by twenty-two representatives from the following ten provinces: Hupei, Shantung, Fukien, Hunan, Anhwei, Kwangsi, Chekiang, Kiangsu, Chihli, and Honan.
For details concerning the establishment of the Departments and their functions, see the Central Executive Departments and Their Functions of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, Government Gazette of the Provisional Government, January 30, 1912.
For its text, see Kuo Shao-chen, A Complete History of the Chinese Revolution, Pt. III, pp. 185–190; also the Minutes of the Legislative Assembly (Nanking), January 31, 1912.
For the English translation of the Provisional Constitution, see Appendix C.
A Yuan in the Chinese government may consist of a number of ministries or departments.
See Chen Ju-hsuan, The Constitutional History of China, pp. 35–36.
It was supplemented by the General Regulations of the Various Ministries promulgated on July 18, 1912. As to the detailed organizations of the different Ministries, see The Collection of Laws and Decrees (Peking: Government Printing Office, 1912), No. 1, Sect. 5.
For other reasons underlying the shifting from the presidential system to cabinet system, see Ku Chung-hsiu, A History of the Establishment of the Chinese Republic, Pt. III, Ch. 1.
For Dr. Sun’s comment, see The Collected Works of Sun Yat-sen, Vol. IV, “A History of the Chinese Revolution,” p. 12.
Yang Yu-chiung, Legislative History of Modern China, pp. 60–61.
Art. 14.
Arts. 19, 34, 35 and 40 of the Provisional Constitution of 1912.
Art. 14 of the Organic Law of Parliament.
For details, see the Constitution of the Central Studies Association, (Government Gazette, November 30, 1912); and Electoral Rules of the Central Studies Association (Government Gazette, March 19, 1913).
For details, see Ch’ien Tuan-sheng, et al., History of Political Institutions Under the Republic, Vol. I, pp. 58–61.
For details, see Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, promulgated on September 27, 1913
See Yang Yu-chiung, op. cit., pp. 111–114.
For details, see Wu Tsung-chih, Constitutional History of the Republic of China, Pt. I, Ch. III, Secs. 18, 20.
Art. 19 of the “Temple of Heaven Draft.”
Arts. 48–52 of the Provisional Constitution of 1912.
Cf. Arts. 84–89 of the “Temple of Heaven Draft” of 1913, Arts. 44–48 of the Constitutional Compact of 1914, Arts. 72–77 of the Draft Constitution of 1919, Arts. 97–102 of the Constitution of 1923, and Arts. 85–95 of the Draft Constitution of 1925.
For details of the judicial system of the early Republican period, see the Statute of the Courts as revised in 1917.
It did not come into effect until July 1, 1935.
For details, see the Law on the Organization of the Administrative Court (Government Gazette, April 1, 1914), the Law Governing Administrative Appeals, and the Law on the Execution of Administrative Adjudication (ibid., July 21, 1914).
Among the many reasons justifying the existence of the extraterritorial jurisdiction, which has now been abolished, were the different conceptions and standards between the Chinese and Western civil and criminal codes. Cf. the statements made in the Report of the Commission on Extraterritoriality in China (Washington D.C. : Government Printing Office, 1926).
The following regulations were promulgated on January 8, 1913 : (a.)Regulations governing the Uniform Organization of the Provinces, (b) Regulations governing the Uniform Organization of the Local Government under Shun-tien Fu, (c) Regulations governing the Uniform Organization of the Prefectures, (d) Regulations governing the Uniform Organization of the Districts, and (e) Regulations governing the Uniform Organization of the Special Areas Directly under the National Government.
In the early days of the Republic, there were, besides the military governors, army inspectors and defense commissioners. For details, see the Regulations governing the Organization of the Office of the Military Governor, Temporary Regulations governing Army Inspectors (Government Gazette, December 21, 1913), and Regulations governing Defense Commissioners (ibid., September 7, 1913).
For the chart, see The Collection of Laws and Decrees, 1912, No. 1, Ch. 2, Sec. 7.
See Chs. 2 and 4 of the Temporary Organic Law of the Provincial Assembly of 1913.
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© 1964 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
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Tung, W.L. (1964). Democracy in Experiment: Political Institutions During the Early Republican Period. In: The Political Institutions of Modern China. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-1011-0_2
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