The late Qing constitutional reform

The late Qing constitution, the Imperial Constitutional Outline, promulgated in 1908, was modeled after the Japanese Meiji constitution and was the first modern constitution in Chinese history. In spite of its severe limitations, especially in the area of human rights, the Qing constitution showed progress towards modernity. The constitutional documents and the ideological discourse of the time reflected the traditional Chinese way of governance by “rule of man” and reflected the Chinese legal culture of “pragmatism,” “statism,” “instrumentalism,” and “favoritism.”