Abstract
Although Kang Yu-wei’s 康有為 (1858-1927) reform scheme in the wuxu 戊戌 (1898) period changed from advocating the opening of a parliament to postponing such an opening, it could have led to a modern country under a constitutional monarchy. When advocating the opening of the parliament, Kang Yu-wei proposed the idea of holding a congress and establishing the separation of public and private in a constitution. His view of the parliament was closely related to his view of civil rights. Because of the inherent nature of civil rights, the parliament was not only a tool for compromise, but a system for pursuing intrinsic modern values. While the opening of the parliament was suspended, Kang Yu-wei tried to set up a Bureau of Institutions and its variants to promote reform. Although the Bureau of Institutions was not elected, it was still a deliberative body designed according to the principle of separation of powers, one which could formulate a constitution. However, Kang Yu-wei overemphasized the importance of parliament or parliamentary organs, and did not pay attention to the checks and balances between executive and legislative powers in European and American countries at that time. The civil rights he advocated focused on the overall power of the people, which was different from individual freedom and rights. He had already come to realize the fundamental position of constitutionalism in the reform of the law. In his view, the constitution was aimed at balancing the power of the monarch and the people, which was different from the deliberate restriction of the power of the monarch or the president found in the constitutions of some contemporary European and American states. Kang Yu-wei’s program of reform and the political systems and concepts of the modern West have both similarities and differences, demonstrating multiple modernities. To study Kang Yu-wei’s reform scheme during the wuxu period, it is necessary to overcome the unified narrative of Chinese and Western equivalence, and also to abandon the dualistic analysis method of Chinese and Western opposition.
Keywords
Hundred Days’ Reform, parliament, civil rights, Bureau of Institutions, constitution, multiple modernities
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