The history of mankind is a history of continuous development from the kingdom of necessity to the kingdom of freedom.
Throughout world history, most countries have had feudal systems. With the progress of human civilization, this system has also been replaced by a new social system.
In China, on February 12, 1912, Empress Qing Longyu, in place of Puyi, the last emperor of China, signed the abdication edict, and the Qing Dynasty perished. The demise of the Qing Dynasty also represented the collapse of the feudal monarchy that had lasted in China for 2132 years.
China is the country with the longest practice of feudal monarchy in the history of the world. But today, like some Western countries, the royal family has not been retained. This has caused some doubts among Westerners. The reason for this is that this is only an inevitable choice for historical progress.
The late Qing dynasty government that was not worthy of the throne
Today, most of the countries in the world that still retain royal families have constitutional monarchies. When these royal families experience changes in the social system, they often choose to conform to the general trend of history, and most of them regard themselves as serving the people and are deeply loved by the people.
Taking the British royal family as an example, during World War II, the British monarchs and nobles chose to side with the people without hesitation. The Queen of England followed her father in World War II, leading the people against invaders under the bombardment of aircraft, as if she were a symbol of the nation-state. And the timely and peaceful transfer of power to the people.
The British Royal Family now also plays an active role in diplomacy, public relations, culture, economics and other fields. As the saying goes, the eyes of the people are shining, and no one can forget the efforts and efforts made by the royal family. Naturally, it is also supported by the people.
During the Qing Dynasty in China, due to the political decision-making of the Qing Dynasty, when the European Renaissance began to develop industry and science, the Qing Dynasty reformed the eight strands of the army to block the development of science, and the sea ban blocked the introduction of foreign science and technology, so that the country embarked on the road of self-sufficiency.
Backwardness means being beaten, and in the late Qing Dynasty, it was constantly oppressed by other countries. Later, although there were also activities such as the foreign affairs movement to seek self-improvement, China at that time had long become a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, the feudal forces were decadent and stubborn, the resistance was great, and failure was an inevitable result.
When Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty came to power, the imperial family was even more of a fish and meat people to satisfy their desires.
After the "918 Incident" in 1931, the last emperor Puyi was used by Japan, and even more chose to stand on the side of the national enemy and established a puppet regime "Puppet Manchukuo" in the northeast, giving Japan a bright and just colonial reason, and Japan implemented fourteen years of colonial rule in northeast China, which made the compatriots in northeast China suffer and suffer. Such a royal family can never be loved and recognized by the people.
As the saying goes, if virtue is not worthy, there will be disasters. The qing dynasty royal family did not continue in the end, which was closely related to its own decay and incompetence that was deeply rooted in its bones.
Two attempts at constitutional monarchy failed during the Qing Dynasty
The change of social system often takes a lot of time to change and develop. Taking Britain, the first country in the world to implement a constitutional monarchy, as an example, Britain's early colonial plunder accumulated a part of the original capital, coupled with the opening of new shipping routes, the rapid development of the industrial and commercial economy along the Atlantic coast of Europe, and the rapid development and growth of British capitalism.
Since absolute monarchy affected the development of the emerging capitalist class, in 1642 parliamentarians demanded the limitation of the crown's power in Parliament. Civil war eventually broke out, and King Charles I was executed in 1649. Under a series of coups and revolutionary operations, in 1989, with the passage of the Bill of Rights, after more than forty years of struggle, the feudal autocracy was overthrown, and the constitutional monarchy was initially established.
If we go back in british history, the struggle between Parliament and the crown has long gone on for a long time. In 1215, the establishment of the Magna Carta in England gradually established the basic principles of "limited kingship" and "king under law".
At the end of the 13th century, England basically established a parliamentary system. The parliamentary system provided the soil for the development of later constitutional monarchies. It can be seen that the reform of the British system has gone through hundreds of years.
And to set our sights on the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty at that time was the most authoritarian dynasty in the history of feudal monarchy and absolutism in China for more than two thousand years, and the imperial family has always been a style of "arbitrariness and pro-judgment", and everything must follow the wishes of the people in charge of the imperial family. There is an opposition between constitutionalism and autocracy itself, and it is very difficult to get the Qing government to delegate power.
Later, under the resistance of the constitutionalists and other forces, the Qing government announced in August 1908 that the preparatory constitution would be limited to 9 years. However, the Constitutionalists felt that the time was too long, and repeatedly demanded the speedy opening of the Parliament in 1910.
Although the Qing government did not immediately respond to the request of the constitutionalists, it had shortened the preparatory constitutional period from 9 years to 5 years, and scheduled to convene the National Assembly in 1913 and the cabinet in 1911.
The Constitutionalists did not compromise on the Qing government's move, and still insisted on the speedy opening of the Parliament. In October 1910, qing officials and soldiers and constitutional representatives had a stalemate, setting off a bloody storm. In May 1911, the Qing government hastily established a cabinet.
The cabinet consisted of imperial family member Prince Qing Yili as prime minister, while of the 13 cabinet members, only 4 Were Han chinese bureaucrats. The Constitutionalists were very unhappy about this. The proportion of Han bureaucrats was too low, and the Manchu forces representing imperial power were still strong.
In essence, the preparatory constitution not only failed to restrain the imperial power, but on the contrary, it enabled the imperial family to regain power from the Hands of Han bureaucrats. The Constitutionalists completely lost confidence in the Qing government and joined the xinhai Revolution in October of the same year, the Qing dictatorship was overthrown, and China established a republican system. The Qing government's first attempt at constitutional monarchy failed.
After the Xinhai Revolution, on November 3, 1911, the Qing court again promulgated the Nineteen Articles of the Constitution's Major Articles of Faith, but in this constitutional document, the imperial power was only a small part of the concession, and the rights of the subjects were not mentioned. Therefore, it was not supported by the constitutionalists, and the Qing government's second attempt at constitutional monarchy also ended in failure.
The idea of "monarchy above all else" has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the royal family at that time, and the royal family has always been reluctant to delegate power. And in the change of dynasties in China since ancient times, the rulers of the new dynasty will often kill the rulers of the previous dynasty in order to avoid the consequences, which is also one of the reasons why the Qing royal family does not dare to delegate power.
Two attempts at constitutional monarchy failed, and the Qing royal family lost the historical opportunity to continue.
The Qing royal family could not become the absolute supreme of the Chinese nation
About 2029 BC, after the establishment of the Xia Dynasty, in the long years of more than 4,000 years, the Chinese nation experienced a total of more than 20 dynasties. But there is no dynasty that can flourish for thousands of years. Whenever the old rule made the people unhappy, it was the day when the new dynasty rose.
In the last years of the Qin Dynasty, when the rule was brutal, and When Chen Sheng revolted in Dazexiang, the phrase "The prince will have a kind of hu" shouted out the chinese nation's inner desire not to fear power and pursue freedom.
In the hearts of generations of the Chinese nation, there has never been a surname that is a natural king; there is no royal family that is absolutely supreme. If the rulers cannot govern for the people, they should naturally withdraw from the stage of history.
The qing dynasty royal family was founded by the Jurchens, and its population base could not represent the entire Chinese nation.
Since the founding of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Qing court has been resisted by the Central Plains Han clique, and in their hearts, the Manchu Qing government itself is "unjustified in name", and riots of "anti-Qing and restoration" often break out in various places.
Therefore, in the case of corruption and incompetence in the late Qing Dynasty, the majority of the population would not support them to continue to retain the royal family.
The countries in the West that still retain the royal family have a different attitude towards the royal family from the origin. The belief of the Western people comes from religion, first there is theocracy, then there is political power, pay attention to the "divine right of the king", for a long time in history, the highest power has been controlled by the pope.
With supreme divine power, the power of the royal family appeared limited and decentralized, and local administration was taken care of by dukes, nobles, etc. The royal family cannot hold much power, so it is only a spiritual symbol, and naturally it is easier to live in harmony with the ruling government.
In the model of separation of powers, the royal family is more harmless to people and animals. Just keep a noble posture and do your job.
In the minds of the people of constitutional monarchies, it symbolizes the glory of their history and is a symbol of their national honor. The demise of the royal family represents the demise of the nation, and people are reluctant to accept the subjugation of the country unless it is a last resort.
The royal family in the late Qing Dynasty brought only the shame of the Chinese nation that could not be looked back, and people were even more reluctant to worship the symbol of shame as supreme.
The loss of privileges by the Qing royal family was an inevitable step in history
The culture of the Chinese nation has been deeply influenced by Confucianism for thousands of years. The datong thought of the sage Confucius, "the world is just", emphasized that "the world is the world of the people under the world, and the people who manage the world are the wise men elected by the world."
This view reflects the Chinese nation's yearning for a better life since ancient times, as well as the expectations of those in power, and has inspired generations of revolutionary volunteers to fight for and fight for it.
In modern times, the Qing government was corrupt and incompetent, making China almost a complete colonial power. Our people have worked hard in desperate circumstances, and the dedication and sacrifice of generations of people have been able to keep the mountains and rivers still.
The great leader once said, "The history of mankind is a history of continuous development from the kingdom of necessity to the kingdom of freedom." The so-called kingdom of necessity refers to the state in which activities and actions are dominated and enslaved by blind forces when people have not yet understood and mastered the necessity of history.
The kingdom of freedom, on the other hand, refers to the state in which people recognize and grasp the inevitability and laws of social history, make themselves masters of society, and liberate themselves from the domination and enslavement of the blind forces of nature and the social sphere.
The imperial rule of the late Qing Dynasty was undoubtedly an inevitable kingdom that made the people lose sight of the light of day. Therefore, the loss of the privilege of the late Qing dynasty imperial family to exploit the people in the name of the Son of Heaven is the inevitable progress of history!
We live in contemporary socialist China, and the great leaders of all generations are leading us from the kingdom of necessity to the kingdom of freedom, to the society of democracy, freedom and common prosperity that the Chinese nation has dreamed of for thousands of years. How fortunate we are to live in this peaceful and prosperous world!