Editing Democracy in China (section)

=== Republic of China ===
{{Main|Politics of the Republic of China}}
{{Three Principles of the People}}
After the [[Xinhai Revolution|1911 Revolution]] provincial assemblies provided legitimacy to the rebels by declaring their independence from the Qing Empire. The national assembly issued an ultimatum to the Qing court and delegates from the provincial assemblies were sent to Nanjing to legitimize the provisional government of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]. In late 1912, [[1912 Republic of China National Assembly elections|national elections]] were held with an enlarged electorate, albeit still small proportionally to the national population. Sun's [[Kuomintang|Nationalist Party]] dominated both houses of the [[National Assembly of the Republic of China|National Assembly]]. [[Song Jiaoren]], the incoming Nationalist prime minister, was assassinated in March 1913 before the assembly could meet. The military leader Yuan Shikai forced the National Assembly to elect him president for a five-year term then purged it of Nationalists. After Yuan's death in 1916, a succession of governments failed to unify the country or gain international support. President [[Xu Shichang]] organized elections for a third assembly in 1921, but with only 11 provinces voting it never had a quorum and never convened. That was the last attempt to hold national elections until 1947. All assemblies were dissolved after the Nationalists' [[Northern Expedition]].{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

During the [[Beiyang government|Beiyang period]] (1912–1928), China's disunity resulted in varied political experiments in different regions.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=66}} Some regions experimented with aspects of democracy, including different mechanisms for election of city and provincial council elections.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=66}} Hunan province, for example, established a constitution, universal suffrage, and some levels of council elected by popular vote.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=68}} These experiments with partial democracy were not long-lasting.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=68}}

Participants in the [[May Fourth Movement]] of 1919 advocated that the development of democracy (nicknamed, "Mr. Democracy") along with science ("Mr. Science") could save China.<ref name=":152">{{Cite book |last=Zhong |first=Yang |url=https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/vx021h696 |title=China as Number One? The Emerging Values of a Rising Power |date=2024 |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |isbn=978-0-472-07635-2 |editor-last=Zhong |editor-first=Yang |series=China Understandings Today series |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |chapter=Attitudes Toward Religion, Science, and Technology in China |format=EPUB |editor-last2=Inglehart |editor-first2=Ronald }}</ref>{{Rp|page=356}}

During the 1920s, a common position among Chinese intellectuals from a broad range of cultural and ideological positions was that the people were not ready for democracy.<ref name=":Laikwan">{{Cite book |last=Laikwan |first=Pang |title=One and All: The Logic of Chinese Sovereignty |date=2024 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=9781503638815 |location=Stanford, CA}}</ref>{{Rp|page=122}} Conservative intellectuals viewed the masses as too dangerous to participate in the political process.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=122}} They believed that China's modernization should rely on educated elites and that it would be a lengthy period before the masses were ready to participate in democracy.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=122}} Many progressive intellectuals also lacked confidence in the masses.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=122}} For example, many May Fourth Movement [[Iconoclasts (politics)|iconoclasts]] blamed the masses for their passivity in the face of the country's difficult circumstances.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=122}}

Sun's 1924 program called for nation-building in three stages: military government, {{ill|Outline of the Founding of the National Government|lt=political tutelage|zh|國民政府建國大綱}}, and constitutional government.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=87}} Sun's view was that military government should be exercised during China's revolutionary period, then as a province stabilized political tutelage could begin and the people educated on self-governance, and finally once all counties in a province were ready to exercise self-governance, constitutional government could begin.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=87}}

The formation of the Nationalist [[one-party state]] in 1927 implemented sought to implement the "political tutelage" stage of Sun Yat-sen's three-stage program, with elections only after the people were properly educated. Over time, portions of the KMT and various public intellectuals urged Chiang Kai-shek to move to the third phase (constitutional government), but Chiang's view was that China remained in a revolutionary period and continued to need the KMT's political tutelage.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=87}}

In 1932, Chiang created the [[Blue Shirts Society]], the core of which were KMT military officers who had been exposed to the politics of [[fascism]] through Chiang's Nazi advisors.<ref name=":17" />{{Rp|page=64}} Blue Shirts rhetoric emphasized contempt for [[liberal democracy]].<ref name=":17" />

In an effort to improve the KMT's disintegrating support during the late phase of the [[Chinese Civil War]], in 1947 Chiang sought to allow some democracy and officially declared the third phase of the KMT's program.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|pages=87–88}} The KMT initially allowed direct election of the National Assembly and for non-KMT parties to compete in the election.<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=88}}

After the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Nationalist government promulgated the [[Constitution of the Republic of China]]. The [[1947 Republic of China National Assembly election|1947 National Assembly]] and [[1948 Republic of China legislative election|1948 legislative elections]] were boycotted by the CCP which held most of northern China. As a result, the Nationalists and their junior coalition partners, the [[Chinese Youth Party]] and [[China Democratic Socialist Party]], won the election.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}