An earlier Republic of China

Is there republicanism, or something equivalent (a monarch-less unified political entity) in chinese tradition? I mean as a political model for all or part of China itself, not only social groups or in peripherical matters.

If not, the best would be to create some sort of it, in order to avoid the "european republicanism" being simply copied/pasted.
 
Surely one could envision a warlord who could have developed something like a Republic concept and then gained power in one of their many warlord eras. (es, I said it that way partly in case someone wanted to say "Stop calling me Shirley.":D) After all, China had a bureaucracy based on merit, so it wouldn't be a huge step to have someone decide that a small percentage of the people could elect representatives based on what they felt was merit. (It need not be all the people right away - look how few feld the vote in Western republics at first.)
 
Is there republicanism, or something equivalent (a monarch-less unified political entity) in chinese tradition? I mean as a political model for all or part of China itself, not only social groups or in peripherical matters.

If not, the best would be to create some sort of it, in order to avoid the "european republicanism" being simply copied/pasted.

I don't think so. The closest you can get is an abdication system from the early history called shanrang, maybe a remanent of a previous tribal democracy/meritocracy. But it looks like either going down the path of lifelong doge and HRE or abdication by the sword (or barrel), Roman style instead of modern republicanism as it sought a wise and righteous leader and replace when a better one appears or the old one is too old judging from known events.
 
How about this?

Even before the declaration of war by the Qing court in 1900, governors of the provinces in Southeast China had discussed the ways to preserve peace in their territories, primarily against the invasion by foreign powers. Amongst them were Liu Kunyi (Viceroy of Liangjiang), Zhang Zhidong (Viceroy of Huguang) and Li Hongzhang (Viceroy of Liangguang). They had also concluded that in case Peking fell and the status of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager were unknown, Li Hongzhang would be the President of China to settle the situation.

If the House of Aisin Gyoro was slaughtered by the Alliance, the Southern governors might be forced to try out Republicanism as a back up plan.
 
How about this?



If the House of Aisin Gyoro was slaughtered by the Alliance, the Southern governors might be forced to try out Republicanism as a back up plan.

It's a little bit late (before 1900), and consider Li's frail health then and Yuan's prominence, the end result might be a successful Empire of China instead of a lasting republic.
 
It's a little bit late (before 1900), and consider Li's frail health then and Yuan's prominence, the end result might be a successful Empire of China instead of a lasting republic.

Who will be the emperor then? Manchus are discredited, and Yuan haven't had his Beiyang Six Divisions yet.
 
Top