Qing provincial elections, 1909
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The 1909 Chinese provincial elections were held to elect the members of the Provincial Assemblies (or
Consultative Bureau Consultative Bureau () was a provincial advisory institution established in 1909 in each province during the Constitutional Movement in the late Qing Dynasty. According to the ''Regulation of the Consultative Bureau'', the meetings of the Bure ...
) of
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The election was held between April and June 1909 in the 22 provinces of China as part of the New Policies as a move toward constitutional monarchy. The Provincial Assemblies were convened on 14 October 1909 and were responsible for electing half of the members of the imperial Advisory Council convened subsequently in 1910. These provincial assemblies survived even after the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that founded the
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
and replaced the
Qing Empire The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
. They were ordered to dissolve by the President Yuan Shikai. About 1.7 million men, or 0.42 percent of a population of 410 million, were registered as eligible voters. It was marked as one of the most important episodes of Chinese democracy as "it asthe first day in Chinese history that people can elect their representative," as promoted by newspaper ''Shi Pao'', although a county council election in Tientsin had been held earlier in 1907. The
Constitutionalists Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law". Political organizations are constitutional ...
gained grounds in the election and became more active in the constitutional movement pushing for the establishment of constitutional monarchy.


Background

The
Qing Empire The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
in the early 20th century was undergoing a series of New Policies, including the proposal for a constitutional monarchy. In 1907, the Imperial Government promulgated the Constitutional Preparation Program that aimed to establish a National Assembly and 21 Provincial Assemblies on a provisional basis. In July 1908, the 115-clause "Regulations for Provincial Assembly Elections" was promulgated to lay out the property and education requirements for the candidates.


Electoral system

The minimum age of candidate in the elections were 30 years old and the minimum age of voter was 25. Middle-school education background and property worthy of 5,000 yuan were required for the electorate, while seventh rank for the civil office or fifth rank of military office, '' shengyuan'' level of Imperial Civil Examination degree and three year experience in public affairs or school administration were also required for candidate or electorate. Illiterate and women were excluded from standing or voting. The elections adopted the double voting system which was borrowed from
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, in which the preliminary voting was to choose the electors who cast the second ballot to elect the fixed number of assembly members.


Voter and membership statistics


Election results

The turnout of the election was only around 10 to 20 percent. Candidates in Northeastern China faced nearly no competition and was described as "handpicked" by the officials. 90 percent of the gentry who had a traditional civil examination degree, in which the examination system was abolished in 1905, were elected. The average age of the elected members was 40. The
Constitutionalists Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law". Political organizations are constitutional ...
campaigned for the election and they were divided into different small factions by background and political beliefs. Among those elected who later became famous were
Chang Chien Zhang Qian (; died c. 114) was a Chinese official and diplomat who served as an imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the late 2nd century BC during the Han dynasty. He was one of the first official diplomats to bring back valuable inf ...
in
Kiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...
, Tan Yen-kai in Hunan and Tang Hua-lung in
Hupeh 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 ...
who were all elected speakers for their respective assemblies and leaders of the constitutional movement. Due to the double round system of voting which led to instances of bribery, corruption incidents were observed. The elected member of the provincial assemblies elected the 98 members, consisting of half of the seats, in the imperial Advisory Council. As the Constitutionalists gained grounds in the assemblies, they began to form different political groups and further pushed for the implementation of constitutional monarchy.


See also

* Democracy in China * Provinces of China *
1909 Chinese parliamentary election The 1909 Chinese parliamentary election was an indirect election to the first imperial Advisory Council, a preparatory body of the parliament created under the constitutional reform bought by the late Qing dynasty. It was seen as the first popula ...
*
1912 Chinese National Assembly election The 1912 Chinese National Assembly elections, held in December 1912 to January 1913, were the first elections for the newly founded National Assembly of the Republic of China, which was a bicameral parliament with a Senate and a House of Represent ...


References

{{Chinese elections (1909–12) Provincial elections 1909 elections in Asia
1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...
April 1909 events June 1909 events