The restrictions on the right to vote in the Imperial Constitution originally required that voters and candidates both need to own 5,000 yuan in real estate or have a high school education or above, and live in the constituency for more than ten years. In terms of age, voters need to be 25 years old and candidates need to be 30 years old.
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This met with great opposition, and it was not until the outbreak of the first republican revolution that shook the Dashun Dynasty that the "Imperial Constitution" revised the clockwork related to suffrage.
It is changed to require only one of the following three items to be met: annual direct tax of more than 2 yuan, owning more than 500 yuan of real estate, primary school graduation or equivalent academic qualifications, length of residence reduced from ten years to two years, and the age requirements for voters and candidates are corresponding.
Dropped to 21 and 25.
Due to the decline in voting rights conditions, the number of people able to participate in elections has greatly expanded.
From only 3.4 million people eligible to vote in the first version of the Constitution, the number has jumped to nearly 86 million, an increase of more than 25 times in two years. It has increased from 0.39% of the national population to 10.5%.
It is true that by today's standards, 10% of the electorate is still insufficient, especially since women were not given the right to vote in this election, which has to be said to be a major flaw.
But judging from the historical process, it is undoubtedly a huge progress.
In addition, it should be noted that the conditions for congressional elections include educational background in addition to property requirements. If you meet the education conditions, you can have the right to vote even if you do not meet the property requirements. The education qualification is set as elementary school graduation, which can almost be regarded as the minimum threshold.
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In the end, the results of the congressional election for the second version of the Constitution were astonishing.
Here are just two of the most shocking statistics: First, the average age of the 859 members of the new Constitutional Congress is 36.45 years old, and there are only 6 people over 60 years old, while the average age of the old Constitutional Congress was 43 years old.
Directly related to this is the educational background of the members. Among the 499 members with reliable backgrounds, there are only 94 members with old school education background, less than one fifth, while 163 people have both old and new education backgrounds.
There are 242 people in New Education, which is the largest number of people.
Examining their professional backgrounds, among the members of the Congress under the new constitution, there are only 12 real bourgeois people. In addition, there are only 22 lawyers and journalists who control the power of public opinion. In addition to old and new government officials, the largest number of people in the Congress are educators.
, a total of 100 people, of whom more than 50% are principals of primary and secondary schools.
These new and new forces invested in the Dashun regime and added new vitality to the court.
The Dashun court, which was already gradually entering its twilight years, also launched a series of fruitful reforms after that.
However, the people originally had nothing to say about oppression. Instead, during the implementation of reforms, when all kinds of oppression were weakened, people gradually became more sensitive to the oppression they suffered.
Part of the oppression and privileges were abolished by the reform, but those that remained became more glaring and intolerable than before.
The reforms originally implemented by the imperial court were to maintain the royal power, but the result was that it aroused public dissatisfaction.
The first republican revolution broke out under the background of the smooth reform of Dashun, which is undoubtedly very emotional.
The leaders of the first republican revolution were Hong Xiuquan, a primary school principal in Guangxi, and Yang Xiuqing, a member of the Hunan coal workers' joint picket team. They kicked off the first real civil war in Dashun.
The rapid progress of the Republican Army exceeded everyone's expectations. After only one year of short and fierce civil war, the Republican Army occupied Jinling and Kaifeng, and the royal regime completely collapsed.
The tradition created by the republicans has become the new basis for political rule and even social relations. Obedience has given way to persuasion, tradition has given way to innovation, fanaticism has given way to rational republicanism, and hereditary inheritance has given way to election and mobilization. They are the first
Pioneer of the Second Republic.
Although they were defeated by royalists at home and abroad, they provided hope for establishing a new social and political order. Their temporary defeat could not conceal their long-term victory.
After the failure of the First Republic, the restoration of the Li family and the disintegration of the common people's republic also meant that the power of the royalists representing tradition was still strong. It even indicated that even in the Second Republic era, the influence of the royal family was still like a ghost, threatening at any time.
The survival of the republic.
It is worth noting that in the study of the new cultural history of Europe and India, it was found that revolutionaries often brought the professional training of lawyers to parliament, thus affecting the rhetoric of the revolution. For example, the word "citizen" originally meant lawyer.
The product of ancient Roman rhetorical training, it ended up being spread around the world along with the speeches of revolutionaries.
In this regard, it was educators like Hong Xiuquan who led the Dashun Revolution.
Modern Chinese, created by the First and Second Republics, probably contains many rhetorical methods that were originally reserved for educators.
For example, terms such as mentor and teacher are often used in the political field, and this may be where they originated.
The change in the electoral law caused major changes in political culture, and a large number of primary and secondary school educators became participants in the political arena of the Shun Dynasty at that time.
This can be said to be a special situation in the political situation in the middle and late period of Dashun. In ordinary countries, the leading politicians are often university professors, lawyers, journalists, entrepreneurs and scientists, and even leaders of labor organizations and mass movement leaders.
Their status is also higher than that of principals and teachers of primary and secondary schools.
It was only because of the electoral law of the second version of the new constitution and the particularity of Dashun's national conditions at that time that the leaders of the political situation for a period of time were particular.
It is a miracle that this accidental factor actually affected the development of the entire republican revolution and the development of rationalism in China.
The small but strong leaders moved forward actively. The founder Li Laiheng never imagined that he would carefully design a series of political structures for future generations, which would eventually lead history to such a peculiar structure.
Li Laiheng collapsed in the palace of Kaifeng Palace, suddenly feeling the end of the road. His energy was declining day by day, but the struggle among his subordinates became more and more intense.
Luo Yanqing and Liu Youci both passed away one after another and walked in front of Li Laiheng, leaving only a helpless old man in this world.
The person he can speak to is the eldest princess Li Huirou, but recently Li Huirou has become more and more involved in the political situation, making Li Laiheng unwilling to speak to her anymore.
Fang Yiren returned to his hometown in Tongcheng many years ago to live in seclusion and retire, and the Fang Party's power in the court gradually disappeared.
Li Laiheng really wanted to issue an edict to ask Fang Yiren to return to the capital so that the two of them could have a good chat.
But Fang Yiren's old body may not be able to support such a long journey.
What about Li Laiheng himself? There is no way to go to Tongcheng to meet this old friend.
His time is getting less and less, and it seems that death is clearly visible, but Li Laiheng always feels that the legacy he left behind is not rich enough.