Abstract
Many reviewers argued with Liang Shu-ming while others put forth their own theories, pro or against him, in the process of outlining his position. Among this nonromantic tenzon, wide spectrums were presented from quite different perspectives. In this section I will exemplified four such positions by way of a case study.
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Notes
- 1.
For instance, Fei Xiao-tong, Zhang Dong-sun, Gu Chun-fan, Zhang Fu-quan, Hu-shi, Xiao Gong-quan (Kung-Chuan Hsiao), Zhang Jun-mai and Qian Duan-sheng. I have checked the relevant journals published at that time, and there were many articles and critiques on this issue. Take an example from the Observation (Guan Cha 《观察》) where there were nine assays in vol. 3 (1947) within one year; in the Oriental (Dongfang Zazhi 《东方杂志》), there were seven papers directly on this topic and many related papers from no. 4, vol. 37 to no. 6, vol. 41 (1941–1945).
- 2.
The argumentation presented by Gu Hong-ming (辜鸿铭) at the earlier years of this century is a very unique and paradoxical example on this topic. In the sense of the so-called conservative alternative trend, as described by some sinologists, in modern China, a spiritual link can be found on constitutionalism between Gu and Liang. For details see his “Constitutionalism and China” (1921), “A Great Sinologist” (1915) and The Spirit of the Chinese (1915). All his main works have been published as Selected Works of Gu Hong-ming (two vols.) in 1996. For an analysis about his view on constitutionalism in comparison with Liang Shu-ming, cf., in general, Xu Zhang-run, “Constitution and (restaurant) Bill”, in 3 Dushu (1998), at 102–07.
- 3.
Cf. Edmund S. K. Fung, Luo Longji, Hu Shi and the Human Rights Issue in China, 1929–1931, in San-ching Chen (ed.), Papers Commemorating the Ninetieth Birthday of Prof. Kuo Ting-yee, at 364.
- 4.
Cf., in general, Thomas A. Metzger, “Did Sun Yat-sen Understand the Idea of Democracy?” in 10:1 The American Asian Review (1992), at 1–41.
- 5.
Edmund S. K. Fung, op. cit., at 365.
- 6.
All discussions by Hu Shi and Zhang fu-quan above are cited from Kung-Chuan Hsiao, “The Prerequisites for the Constitutional Government” (1937), reprinted in his Constitutional Government and Democracy, at 22–26.
- 7.
Ibid., at 24, 26.
- 8.
Kung-Chuan Hsiao, “My Humble Words on Constitutional Government” (1943), op. cit., at 31.
- 9.
Kung-Chuan Hsiao, “The Psychological Preparation for Constitutional Government” (1944), op. cit., at 42.
- 10.
Kung-Chuan Hsiao, “The Polity of the Central Government after the Fulfillment of Constitutional Government” (1944), op. cit., at 35.
- 11.
Kung-Chuan Hsiao, “The Prerequisites for Constitutional Government” (1937), op. cit., at 26.
- 12.
Kung-Chuan Hsiao, “Two Questions and Their Answers about Constitutional Government” (1944), op. cit., at 50.
- 13.
Kung-Chuan Hsiao, “The Prerequisites for the Constitutional Government” (1937), op. cit., at 26.
- 14.
Kung-Chuan Hsiao, “Two Questions and Their Answers about the Constitutional Government” (1944), op. cit., at 51.
- 15.
Kung-Chuan Hsiao, “The Prerequisites for the Constitutional Government” (1937), op. cit., at 24–26.
- 16.
Qian was an elegant old man with a thin face when I saw him in his later years. After about twenty years silence since he was classified as a “rightist” and removed out from the office, in 1957, of President of the Beijing Institute of Politics and Law, out of which CUPL grew, he seemed to be just an amiable retired pensioner in his later years though he had many titles such as an emeritus professor of CUPL in 1990 and the deputy director of the law committee of the NPC. The harm the Communist regime inflicted on generations of Chinese intellectuals can be deduced from Qian Duan-sheng’s public confession entitled “My Crimes” in the People’s Daily, August 6, 1957:
I am an ambitious politician who has assumed the mantle of a “scholar”. For a long time I have tried to gratify my political desires under the respectable guise of “professor,” and with this end in view I have tried to exploit my position in the Institute in order to enhance my political status … It is much more serious than I first thought, when I began to indulge in these activities. I am really a criminal to the Party and the people.
For some facts about him, see Chalmers A. Johnson, An Intellectual Weed in the Socialist Garden: the Case of Ch’ien Tuan-sheng, the confession is translated by Johnson and quoted above from this paper; John K. Fairbank, Chinabound: A Fifty-year Memoir, at Part 7; also Qian Duan-sheng, An Account in My Own Words.
- 17.
See fn. 152, Chap. 13 of the book.
- 18.
Qian Duan-sheng, “Remarks on the Constitutional Campaign and the Amendment to the … Drafting Constitution” (1934), reprinted in Selected Works of Qian Duan-sheng, at 460–461.
- 19.
Ibid.
- 20.
Qian Duan-sheng, “Comments on the Drafting Constitution of ROC” (1934), op. cit., at 478.
- 21.
Qian Duan-sheng, “Remarks on the Constitutional Campaign and the Amendment to the Drafting Constitution” (1934), op. cit., at 468.
- 22.
Ibid.
- 23.
Ibid., at 462.
- 24.
Qian Duan-sheng, “The Politics Should be Institutionalized” (1935), op. cit., at 500.
- 25.
i.e., Nationalism, Democracy and the People’s Livelihood which put forward by Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
- 26.
Qian Duan-sheng, “Comments on the Drafting Constitution of ROC” (1934), op. cit., at 486; “Remarks on the Constitutional Campaign and the Amendment to the Drafting Constitution” (1934), op. cit., at 463.
- 27.
Kung-Chuan Hsiao, “A Low-keyed Talk on the Selection” (1946), op. cit., at 108.
- 28.
Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, at 248.
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Xu, Z. (2017). The Reaction to and Reconsideration of Liang Shu-Ming. In: The Confucian Misgivings--Liang Shu-ming’s Narrative About Law. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4530-1_9
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