I. Introduction: Why Late Qing Constitutional Reform Failed

The Late Qing constitutional reform was a political reform promoted by the Qing government under both internal and external pressure. The reform inherited the Hundred Days’ Reform in that both had hoped to achieve a top-down political reform through adopting Western systems. For the Hundred Days’ Reform the main obstacle was the lack of consensus within the Qing government, which thereby led to the rise of conflicts between the conservatives led by the Empress Dowager and the reformists led by the Emperor. The main problem for the Late Qing constitutional reform attempt, however, was the tension between constitutional reform and constitutional revolution, or constitutional monarchy and constitutional republic. One popular explanation for the failure of the constitutional reform blames the feudal nature of the Qing government. However, the feudal government in Japan successfully transformed itself into a constitutional monarchy. Another explanation argues that the reform failed because the need of survival suppressed the need of enlightenment, which is critical for constitutional reform. This article reviews both explanations and finds them unpersuasive. Furthermore, it is argued that it is the design of constitutional institutions, especially the power structure in the constitutional reform that leads to the failure.

The article develops into four parts. Part I provides the social background of the constitutional reform and explains why the need of survival was not the major reason for the failure of the reform. Part II provides the major contents of the constitutional reform and explains why it is the power structure that caused the failure of reform. Part III compares the Late Qing reform with Japan’s Meiji Restoration and explains the failure of the Late Qing reform from a comparative perspective. And Part IV further explores the legacy of the Late Qing constitutional reform and concludes the article.