The Progressive Party () was a political party in the Republic of China from 1913 to 1916.

Origins

Chinese constitutionalism was a movement that originated after the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). A young group of intellectuals in China led by Kang Youwei argued that China's defeat was due to its lack of modern institutions and legal framework which the

Self-Strengthening Movement The Self-Strengthening Movement, also known as the Westernization or Western Affairs Movement (–1895), was a period of radical institutional reforms initiated in China during the late Qing dynasty following the military disasters of the Opium ...

had failed to deliver. They saw the recent rise of new powers such as Germany, Italy, and Japan coincide with their adoption of constitutions. By having a constitution as the basis for social and political organization, they surmise that all of China's ills could be repaired. Like the

Chinese Nationalists The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

, these constitutionalists underwent many name changes after they first coalesced following the end of the

Hundred Days' Reform The Hundred Days' Reform or Wuxu Reform () was a failed 103-day national, cultural, political, and educational reform movement that occurred from 11 June to 22 September 1898 during the late Qing dynasty. It was undertaken by the young Guangxu E ...

in 1898. The

Chinese Empire Reform Association The Chinese Empire Reform Association (), or Baohuang Hui () in short, was an organization active mostly outside of Qing China that intended to support the Guangxu Emperor in his return to power in the Chinese Empire, which had been taken in a ...

(known as "Baohuanghui" (保皇會) or "Protect the Emperor Society" in Chinese) was formed in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seyche ...

, Canada on 20 July 1899 by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, the

ers who were exiled after the palace coup by

Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlle ...

. The emperor they referred to was the Guangxu Emperor. In August 1900, they sponsored

Tang Caichang Tang Caichang (; 1867 – 22 August 1900) was a late Qing dynasty revolutionary and political activist. He and fellow reformer Tan Sitong were from Liuyang. Tang was chosen by Kang Youwei to lead an uprising in Hankou, however he and thirty other ...

's uprising in Hankou which failed disastrously and forced them to rethink their strategy. Also known as the Reform Association, they had to compete with their fellow outlaws, the Tongmenghui (同盟會) or Revolutionary Alliance led by

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925) Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serv ...

for influence and money in the Overseas Chinese community. The Baohuanghui's platform was constitutional monarchy and peaceful reform while the Tongmenghui wanted republic and revolution. In this respect, the Baohuanghui was more popular due to the traditional cultural mindset that abhorred disorder. Liang's support for peaceful reform was not consistent, he vacillated between violence and reform often. In 1908, both the emperor and Cixi had died. The group renamed itself in Chinese as the "Empire Constitutionalist Association" (帝國憲政會) (the English name was not changed), often referred to as the Constitutionalist Party (憲政黨), and was allowed to operate in China. They helped the Qing court set up provincial assemblies and a National Assembly in 1910. They were, however, deeply disappointed that the assemblies existed to give advice only. In addition, the Qing court's draft constitution was a near word for word copy of Japan's Meiji Constitution with the exception that the emperor was given significantly more power. The new cabinet system consisted of members from the

Aisin Gioro The House of Aisin-Gioro was a Manchu clan that ruled the Later Jin dynasty (1616–1636), the Qing dynasty (1636–1912), and Manchukuo (1932–1945) in the history of China. Under the Ming dynasty, members of the Aisin Gioro clan served as chi ...

clan, making it more nepotistic than before. After a brief period as the "Empire Unity Party" (帝国统一党), on 4 June 1911 they became known as the Friends of the Constitution (憲友會). The Constitutionalist party was the first legally registered political party in China. During the

Wuchang Uprising The Wuchang Uprising was an armed rebellion against the ruling Qing dynasty that took place in Wuchang (now Wuchang District of Wuhan), Hubei, China on 10 October 1911, beginning the Xinhai Revolution that successfully overthrew China's last i ...

, the first politician to side with the mutineers was Tang Hualong, a Constitutionalist and leader of the

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

provincial assembly, who took over the civilian administrative side of the revolution. Fed up with years of frustration, many Constitutionalists joined the

1911 Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...

, one noticeable exception was Kang Youwei who remained loyal to Emperor

Puyi Aisin-Gioro Puyi (; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之), was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate on 1 ...

. In 1912, Liang returned to China and the party renamed itself as the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa * Botswana Democratic Party * Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *De ...

(民主黨). It came in fourth in the National Assembly elections behind the

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

, Republican, and Unity Parties.

Foundation to dissolution

The Democrats merged with the Republican Party and the Unity Party to form the Progressive Party (進步黨) on 29 May 1913; together they had 223 seats in the Assembly. The Republicans were largely financed by Provisional President Yuan Shikai, who was not an actual party member. They were an ultranationalist and militarist party.{{cn, date=March 2020 Unity was led by

Zhang Binglin Zhang Binglin (January 12, 1869 – June 14, 1936), also known by his art name Zhang Taiyan, was a Chinese philologist, textual critic, philosopher, and revolutionary. His philological works include ''Wen Shi'' (文始 "The Origin of Writing"), t ...

and represented the interests of the civil service and gentry. All three parties had advocated a strong, centralized national government, with some wanting to abolish provincial and local divisions altogether. Vice President Li Yuanhong was made party chairman but real leadership was in the hands of Liang Qichao. The party's platform was nationalism with strong central government, liberty through the rule of law, and peaceful foreign policy. As the second largest party, it portrayed the rival Nationalists as supporters of

mob rule Mob rule or ochlocracy ( el, ὀχλοκρατία, translit=okhlokratía; la, ochlocratia) is the rule of government by a mob or mass of people and the intimidation of legitimate authorities. Insofar as it represents a pejorative for majo ...

. The Progressives supported Yuan against the failed Second Revolution but objected to the outlawing of the Nationalist Party since only some of its members took part. The expulsion of the Nationalists led to the Assembly losing its quorum so Yuan disbanded it altogether which was also fiercely opposed by the Progressives. When Yuan tried to crown himself emperor, Liang convinced Yunnan's military governor,

Cai E Cai E (; 18 December 1882 – 8 November 1916) was a Chinese revolutionary leader and general. He was born Cai Genyin () in Shaoyang, Hunan, and his courtesy name was Songpo (). Cai eventually became an influential warlord in Yunnan (Yunnan ...

, to lead the

National Protection War The National Protection War (), also known as the Anti-Monarchy War, was a civil war that took place in China between 1915 and 1916. Only three years earlier, the last Chinese dynasty, the Qing dynasty, had been overthrown and the Republic o ...

against Yuan. Liang reconciled the war with the party's antirevolutionary stance by arguing that the war was not a revolution but an effort to put down Yuan's rebellion against the constitutional republic. Progressive Party branches across the country agitated for the overthrow of Yuan and the party's membership expanded greatly. Yuan's government became paralyzed and he abandoned his scheme. The party's leadership, however, was split into pro- and anti-Yuan factions, thus causing its collapse.

Research Clique

After Yuan's death, Li Yuanhong became President and the National Assembly convened again. The party split into two factions: the Constitution Research Clique led by Liang and the Constitution Discussions Clique led by Tang Hualong. Liang supported Premier

Duan Qirui Duan Qirui (; ) (March 6, 1865 – November 2, 1936) was a Chinese warlord and politician, a commander of the Beiyang Army and the acting Chief Executive of the Republic of China (in Beijing) from 1924 to 1926. He was also the Premier of the R ...

's plan to push China into World War I on the Allied side against the wishes of President Li in hopes of regaining lost territories. When the Assembly was dissolved again during the Manchu Restoration (of which Kang Youwei took part) some ex-Progressives joined Sun Yat-sen's

Constitutional Protection Movement The Constitutional Protection Movement () was a series of movements led by Sun Yat-sen to resist the Beiyang government between 1917 and 1922, in which Sun established another government in Guangzhou as a result. It was known as the Third Revolut ...

. Liang and his followers refused to join because they felt a rival government was harmful to China's national integrity and that the movement was itself unconstitutional because it was a military government. After reuniting with Tang's faction, Liang ran what was left of his party as the Research Clique (研究系) in the 1918 elections for a new assembly but placed a distant third behind Duan's

Anfu Club The Anfu Club () was a political organisation. It controlled the National Assembly of the Republic of China after the elections of 1918. The organisation was forced to disband after the defeat of its patrons, the Anhui Clique, during the Zhili–Anh ...

(皖系) and

Liang Shiyi Liang Shiyi (; May 5, 1869 – April 9, 1933) was a Chinese minister who served as premier of China during the Beiyang government from 1921 to 1922. Biography Liang Shiyi was born in Sanshui, Guangdong in 1869. In the Qing dynasty, he wa ...

Communications Clique The Communications Clique () was a powerful interest group of politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats, businessmen, engineers, and labour unionists in China's Beiyang government (1912-1928). It is also known as the Cantonese Clique because many of it ...

(交通系). Tang was assassinated in Victoria, British Columbia on 1 September by a rogue member of the

Chinese Revolutionary Party The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Taiw ...

(中華革命黨). Shortly after the Paris Peace Conference, Liang retired from politics but the Research Clique was still influential in

Beiyang government The Beiyang government (), officially the Republic of China (), sometimes spelled Peiyang Government, refers to the government of the Republic of China which sat in its capital Peking (Beijing) between 1912 and 1928. It was internationally ...

politics until the

Beijing coup The Beijing Coup () refers to the October 1924 '' coup d'état'' by Feng Yuxiang against Chinese President Cao Kun, leader of the Zhili warlord faction. Feng called it the Capital Revolution (). The coup occurred at a crucial moment in the Second ...

in 1924. Mao Zedong called them "non-revolutionary democrats".

Post-Liang

Minus Liang, several members in 1927 created the Democratic Constitutionalist Party (民主憲政黨) but they were based in the United States so they had very little influence in Chinese politics. Within China,

Carsun Chang Carsun Chang (Shanghainese for (; 1886–1969), also known as Chang Chun-mai (), was a prominent Chinese philosopher, public intellectual and political figure. Carsun Chang was a social democratic politician. Biography A pioneering theorist of ...

started the 1931 National Renaissance Society (再生社) which was succeeded by the 1932 China National Socialist Party (中國國家社會黨) which mixed Liang's reformism with Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People. They were upset that

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

's rule was a personalistic dictatorship and that the Nationalists had ignored their democratic principles. Opposing both the Nationalists and the Communist Party of China, they aimed to be the third force in Chinese politics so they created an umbrella group of small democratic parties called the

China Democratic League The China Democratic League (CDL) is one of the eight legally recognized minor political parties in the People's Republic of China under the Chinese Communist Party's United Front. The CDL was originally founded in 1941 as an umbrella coalition ...

(中國民主同盟). The CDL pushed for the long delayed constitution and reconciliation between the Communists and Nationalists especially after the

New Fourth Army Incident The New Fourth Army Incident (), also known as the South Anhui Incident (), occurred in China in January 1941 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which the Chinese Civil War was in theory suspended, uniting the Communists and Nationalist ...

. When the CDL became increasingly pro-Communist, the National Socialists withdrew and merged with the Democratic Constitutionalists on 15 August 1946 to form the

China Democratic Socialist Party The China Democratic Socialist Party (CDSP; ) was a Chinese political party founded in Shanghai on 14 August 1946. It was formed through the merger of the former Chinese National Socialist Party (; their preferred shorthand name was "Socialists" ...

(中國民主社會黨). They fled to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War and along with the Nationalists and the

Chinese Youth Party The Young China Party (YCP), also known as the Chinese Youth Party (CYP), is a minor political party in Taiwan (Republic of China). It was one of the three legal political parties in Taiwan during the martial law period from 1949 to 1987, the ...

(中國青年黨), were the only legal parties for decades. In Taiwan, they offered the same soft criticisms they have been giving since their earliest incarnations. The Democratic Socialists lost all their seats in the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly after free and fair elections began in the 1980s. Within the People's Republic of China, the

continues to exist as part of the United Front.

Impact

Since their initial founding in 1899, the constitutionalists were constantly ineffective in their effort to reform authoritarian governments. Their soft reformist approach was criticized for giving dictatorships the appearance of a legitimate multi-party democracy. Because of their anti-confrontational nature, they were more of a complaining party than an opposition party. The only time they were effective was when they abandoned reform in favor of revolution in the

. 1913 establishments in China 1916 disestablishments in China Chinese nationalist political parties Defunct political parties in China Conservative parties in China Political parties disestablished in 1916 Political parties established in 1913 Political parties in the Republic of China