Of Constitutions and Constitutionalism: Trying to Build a New Political Order in China, 1908–1949

Abstract

The concept of constitutional government was introduced in the 1890s in China by reform activists eager to change the imperial institutions in order to counter more forcefully the encroachments of Western and Japanese powers. The idea of a “Constitution” comprising a set of rules respected both by the ruling and the ruled, and instituting a parliament expected to reinforce the bonds between the sovereign and the people increasingly became a powerful mobilizing force among social elites and reformers within the state apparatus.