Building a New China: Democracy and Rights in the Early Republican Period (1912–28)

Abstract

We saw in the previous chapter how the majority of those who wanted to introduce democracy and rights to China believed that this would strengthen the Chinese nation against the growing threat from abroad. Put simply, it was thought that a democratic political system which invested people with rights of political participation and basic civil freedoms had the potential to unite the people behind their rulers in the ongoing struggle against foreign imperialism. According to this way of thinking, democracy was more of a means to end rather than an end in itself.