Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 18, 2026

Preparative Constitutionalism

Preparative Constitutionalism or Preparatory Constitutionalism, also known as Preparation of Constitutionalism, refers to attempts by the imperial government of the Qing dynasty of China at implementing top-down constitutional reforms.

Last revised
Jul 18, 2026
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≈ 1 min
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Preparative Constitutionalism
Officially startedSeptember 1, 19061
Ended in19112
ResultFailed
Preparative Constitutionalism
Traditional Chinese預備立憲
Simplified Chinese预备立宪
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinyù bèi lì xiàn
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingjyu6 bei6 lap6 hin3

Preparative Constitutionalism3 or Preparatory Constitutionalism4 (traditional Chinese: 預備立憲; simplified Chinese: 预备立宪), also known as Preparation of Constitutionalism,5 refers to attempts by the imperial government of the Qing dynasty of China at implementing top-down constitutional reforms.6

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".7

On September 1, 1906,8 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.9 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 1912.10

See also

See also

References

References