Decide on constitutionalism
1906, 1 In September, Empress Dowager Cixi wrote to prepare for imitation of constitutionalism. In autumn, Dai Hongci published Diary of Nine Countries. 1907, the Political Review Office was changed to the Constitutional Compilation Office, and Yi Kuang was also the Minister of the Constitutional Compilation Office. Shen Jiaben and Yang Du are among the librarians. Yi Kuang supports the legislative work. In the same year, the Preparatory Office of the Senior Advisory Committee was established, and Pulen and Sun Jianai were appointed as the chairmen of the Senior Advisory Committee.
1907, Zhang Jian, Tang Shouqian and others set up a preparatory constitutional association in Shanghai, and then constitutional associations were established in various places.
1908 In August, three appendices were promulgated, namely, Outline of Imperial Constitution and List of Preparation Year by Year, Rights and Duties of Subjects, Essentials of Family Law and Essentials of Election Law, which stipulated that elections for local consultative meetings and central advisory meetings would be held in the next year, and it was planned to take nine years to prepare the Constitution. The whole constitutional outline has a strong color of monarchy, but it basically embodies the principle of separation of powers, and stipulates that subjects enjoy the rights of speech, works, publication, assembly, association, property ownership, voting rights and elected members. At the same time, the Qing court also relaxed the restrictions on newspapers and political parties. 165438+ 10/5, Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu passed away.
After Puyi succeeded to the throne, his father, Regent Zai Feng, followed the will of his brother Emperor Guangxu and accelerated the constitutional process. 1909 (Xuantongyuan Year), elected by the Provincial Advisory Council. 19 10 (the first day of Xuantong's second year in September), the High Council held its first opening ceremony.
19 1 1 in may, Zai Feng, the regent, appointed Yi Kuang, the prince of the Qing dynasty (the royal family), as the prime minister of the cabinet and organized a new cabinet. There are 13 heads of the new cabinet, including 8 Manchu, 4 Han and 8 Mongolian, including 8 Manchu.
Central administrative reform
1906, the day after the Qing government announced "imitation of constitutionalism", it issued an imperial edict to reform the official system, and sent Zaize, Xu Shi, Na Tong, Rong Qing, Tie Liang, Dai Hongci and Yuan Shikai to formulate a central official system plan.
1September, 906, the imperial court issued a letter to establish a new central official system, changing six departments into eleven; At the beginning, the cabinet and military department were retained, Dali Temple was changed into Dali Academy, and a senior consultant and auditing institute were established.
Local administrative reform
1902, Zhao erxun, governor of Shanxi province, suggested reforming local administrative reforms such as Baojia system, including establishing police and expanding the functions of local organizations.
1905, the imperial court promulgated the administrative system below the county level.
1907, the foreign official system was promulgated, and the financial power and military power of the governor were reduced; The Ministry of Civil Affairs leads the national road patrol.
Local autonomy measures
1906, Yuan Shikai established a local "autonomous court" and Tianjin County Council in Tianjin.
1908, the Qing court also began to prepare for the establishment of autonomous research institutes at all levels, including towns, townships, prefectures and counties, and drafted the articles of association of provincial advisory boards, which are scheduled to be completed in 19 14. The functions of provincial consultative conferences have been upgraded from advising the governor, participating in legislation, adjudicating disputes of lower-level autonomous associations, accepting civil petitions to having the right to question the governor's administration and demand corrections; If the Governor does not object, he must implement the motion of the Advisory Committee, and Members have the right to freedom of speech. The election of the advisory board is mainly attended by gentry, and voters elect electors and then members. The right to vote and stand for election is limited by property, education, seniority and age, which is conducive to the gathering of gentry's strength and not democratic enough. However, in 19 10, the provincial consultative bureaus, together with a dozen governors, put pressure on the central government to force Beijing to make a constitution as soon as possible and convene a parliament in order to speed up the process. The Consultative Bureau also pleaded and struggled with the central government on the issue of the railway nationalization policy for the people, so as to protect the railway.
Finance and economy
Fiscal consolidation
1906, the Ministry issued the "Six Clear Policies for Clearing Money", which is responsible for unifying the revenues and expenditures of the central and local government agencies, coordinating the borrowing and repayment of foreign debts, assessing the banks in various provinces, and stipulating the penalties for overdue payment in various provinces.
tax reform
Minister of Education Zaize is also the minister in charge of supervising salt affairs, in charge of the implementation of the rights of the administrative staff of the State Salt Administration, and discussing the tax exemption and tax increase clauses in the Sino-British business agreement 1902. In terms of the composition of modern financial budget, 1907 Zhao, an imperial consultant of Fuzhou Road, asked the central government to formulate the national budget. Finally, the Qing court compiled the first national budget on 19 10.
monetary reform
19 10 promulgated Article 24 of the National Monetary Rules to draw the weight and fineness of silver coins and copper coins. However, because the total value of old coins in circulation at that time reached more than1500 million, the financial cost of recycling was beyond the government's affordability. Finally, the Qing court needs to pay in April 19 1 15.
Railway development
During the period of 1900- 1905, the overall development of the railway was 3200 Li. Except for the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway with a total length of 20 1km, which was built by China, all other railways were built by foreign countries with some shares.
Culture and education
Reform the imperial examination
190 1 On June 3rd, Zhang Zhidong wrote a letter demanding the imperial examination reform. On July 26th of the same year, Zhang and Liu Kunyi, Governor of Liangjiang, will change the arts and abolish martial arts. He also advocated the establishment of western learning in order to gradually ban the three imperial examinations within ten years. So on August 29th of the same year, according to Zhang Zhidong's suggestion, the Qing court issued a decree from 1902 to reform liberal arts and abolish martial arts. In liberal arts, the first test is five articles on Chinese political history, the second test is five strategies for political art in various countries, and the third test is two articles in four books and one article in five classics. Eight-part essays are not allowed, and legal competition is not allowed. In March of the following year 13, Yuan Shikai and Zhang Zhidong once again called for reducing the number of imperial examinations so as not to hinder the development of the school. 1904 13 In March, the imperial court promulgated the reduction of three imperial examinations within ten years in response to the suggestions of Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai. Finally, on1September 2, 905, the result of the Russo-Japanese War prompted Yuan Shikai, the governor of Zhili, Zhao Erxun, the governor of Huguang, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Duan Fang, the governor of Hunan, to abolish the imperial examination system that had been in operation for more than a thousand years.
Start a school
Instead, it is the western school system. In five-year kindergarten and eight-year primary education, students are required to study classics, literature, arithmetic, geography and gymnastics, and choose handicrafts and pictures. In the five-year middle school education, classics, literature, arithmetic, geography, gymnastics, foreign languages, physics, chemistry, pictures, legal system and financial management are compulsory; Three-year university education is divided into political science and art. Political subjects include theory, classics, mathematics, geography, foreign languages, physics, law and financial management, and artistic subjects include ethics, Chinese and foreign history, mathematics, physics, chemistry, zoology, geology, minerals, pictures and gymnastics. Finally, in university education, students can major in politics, literature, business, agriculture, physics, technology, medicine and classical literature.
International student program
1903 10 The Qing government promulgated the "Regulations on Awards for Graduates Studying Abroad", stipulating that all Japanese students studying in China who have graduated from Japanese ordinary middle schools for five years and obtained excellent diplomas will be given eight public schools; Those who have graduated from institutions of higher learning directly under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and industrial schools with equivalent academic qualifications for three years and obtained excellent diplomas will be given a juren origin; Those who have an elective subject or a general diploma after graduation in a certain subject or several subjects of the college will be given a Jinshi background; Those who have graduated from a national university or an official school with equivalent academic qualifications for three years and obtained a bachelor's degree will be given an Hanlin background; Those who graduated with a doctorate in five years will be promoted to Hanlin in addition to their origins. At first, during the Westernization Movement, most international students planned to study in countries such as Britain, America and France. However, due to the financial constraints of the post-boxer indemnity government, most international students planned to study in Japan during the reform in the late Qing Dynasty. By 1907, the total number of students studying in Japan reached 15000.
military affairs
Officer training
The Qing court abolished the martial arts examination on 190 1; 1903, the central training office was established to coordinate the national army training, and the provinces were forbidden to train themselves, and the officer training system was established: from junior military schools in each province for three years to four national military middle schools for two years, then to the army for half a year, and finally to the army colleges and universities; The teaching in the school is mainly Japanese.
cannon
190 1 year, China was banned from importing foreign weapons by foreign powers after a large-scale rebellion. The Qing court set up three arsenals in Hanyang, Shanghai and Guangzhou. By 19 10, its production has been able to supply mountain guns, ammunition, rifles and machine guns needed by the whole country.
army
1905, the six towns of Beiyang were changed into new army. The self-strengthening army trained in Jiangsu was led by Yuan Shikai, governor of Zhili, and Yuan's Beiyang West Town was under the unified management of the War Department. The Central Committee has an Office of Military Adviser, which is managed by Royal Yu Lang and Zai Tao. Young people between the ages of 20 and 25 must serve in the regular army for three years and reserve for two years; The Qing court originally planned to establish about 500,000 regular troops (one town12,500 people) in 36 towns within ten years, under the command of the General Staff of the War Department. Later it was changed to 19 12, but it was not until 19 1 1 that it was compiled into 14 town with 20 brigades and about 190,000 people. Under the new conscription system in which green camp replaced the old hereditary system, the treatment of the army has also been improved.
navy
1902, Beiyang navy helped Sa Zhenbing put forward four methods to revive the navy: one is to send naval petty officers to study in Japan; Second, set up a naval academy in Jiangyin; Third, set up naval guards in Yantai and Fuzhou; And in 1908, the war department put forward Yao Xiguang's suggestion on how to raise the navy. That is to say, the existing 28 ships of Nanyang, Beiyang and Huguang Fleet are combined into ocean patrol fleet and river patrol fleet, and other military ports, machine factories and annual budgets are compiled, with a total expenditure of * * * 502,000 yuan to meet the urgent needs of sea air-raid shelters after the Sino-Japanese War. The so-called "year by year" means that it is hoped that it will take more than 10 years to purchase 18 to 30 warships, build docks and military ports, and train talents, with a total expenditure of 77 million to10.9 billion, so as to restore the grand occasion of beiyang fleet in that year. So in 1908, Yang Shizhen, governor of Zhili and minister of Beiyang, ordered Yan Fu to draft a plan to revitalize the navy, which was divided into five key points, including: buying light boats; Reorganize the naval academy and train talents; Focus on rebuilding a military port, defending Europe and America, and monitoring Pengtai; Strengthen the planning and systematization of naval training, deployment and overall planning; In order to solve the problem of funds, the Qing court adopted the way of "raising funds by stages" and "sharing funds among provinces", and even set up the "Organizing Naval Affairs Office" in 1909, with Prince Su Shannian, Minister of War Tie Liang, Prefect Sa Zhenbing and Qing Prince Yi Kuang as the heads. 19 10, organized the naval affairs office to evolve into the admiralty.