Preparative Constitutionalism

{{Short description|Qing policy of constitutional reform}}

{{Infobox

| title = Preparative Constitutionalism

| label1 = SC|data1={{linktext|预|备|立|宪}}

| label2 = TC|data2={{linktext|預|備|立|憲}}

| label3 = Officially started|data3=September 1, 1906{{cite web |url=https://www.dwnews.com/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD/59781719/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%A5%87%E4%BA%BA%E4%BB%96%E7%9A%84%E5%8E%86%E5%8F%B2%E5%B0%B1%E6%98%AF%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E7%9A%84%E8%BF%91%E4%BB%A3%E5%8F%B2|title=Yang Du: His history is the modern history of China|author=|date=2016-11-13|work=Duowei News}}

| label4 = Ended in|data4=1911{{cite book|author=Sharon Chien Lin|title=Libraries and Librarianship in China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVPalcvlLJ0C&pg=PA78|year=1998|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-28937-8|pages=78–}}

| label5 = Result|data5=Failed

}}

Preparative Constitutionalism{{cite book|author=Chenxia Shi|title=The Political Determinants of Corporate Governance in China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ft_GBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT120|date=15 March 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-33836-6|pages=120–}} or Preparatory Constitutionalism{{cite book|author=Chang Liu|title=Peasants and Revolution in Rural China: Rural Political Change in the North China Plain and the Yangzi Delta, 1850-1949|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1BtOyikmPTgC&pg=PA243|date=14 May 2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-10231-0|pages=243–}} ({{zh|s=预备立宪|t=預備立憲}}), also known as Preparation of Constitutionalism,{{cite book|author=Margaret M. Pearson|title=China's New Business Elite: The Political Consequences of Economic Reform|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7AwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA52|date=4 January 2000|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-21933-5|pages=52–}} refers to attempts by the imperial government of the Qing dynasty of China at implementing top-down constitutional reforms.{{cite book|author1=Gao Qi|author2=Jin Ziqiang|title=Monsoon of Transition: A Multidimensional Vision of History and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BpZOAAAAIAAJ|year=2005|publisher=Yunnan People's Publishing House|isbn=978-7-222-04376-3}}

The Qing government issued an imperial edict, deciding to imitate the implementation of constitutionalism, but believed that the conditions were not available, so it was necessary to prepare in advance, so it was called "Preparative Constitutionalism".{{cite web |url=https://www.dwnews.com/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD/59764339/%E6%88%90%E4%B9%9F%E6%96%B0%E6%94%BF%E8%B4%A5%E4%B9%9F%E6%96%B0%E6%94%BF%E6%B8%85%E7%8E%8B%E6%9C%9D%E7%9A%84%E6%9C%80%E5%90%8E%E5%8D%81%E5%B9%B4|title=The last ten years of the Qing Dynasty|author=|date=2016-08-27|work=Duowei News}}

On September 1, 1906,{{cite book|title=Modern History Research|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j2aHAAAAIAAJ|year=1998|publisher=China Social Sciences Press|pages=26–}} the Qing court formally declared the Preparative Constitutionalism, thus taking the first step in the history of Chinese constitutionalism and the first step in the reform of the Chinese state system.{{cite book|author=Liu Bo-kui|title=Chinese Culture and Chinese Community|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLxrAAAAIAAJ|year=2005|publisher=Jinan University Press|isbn=978-7-81079-501-2|pages=64–}} With the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution in October 1911, the process of Preparative Constitutionalism was interrupted and failed completely with the demise of the Qing dynasty in February 1912.{{cite web |url=https://gb.oversea.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx?filename=LSDA199104017&dbcode=CJFD&dbname=CJFD1991|title=Preparative Constitutionalism is the beginning of the modernization of China's political system|author=|date=1991-04-17|work=CNKI}}