Yang Du: Initiator of the Petition Campaign for Qing Congress

As a significant role in the constitutional movement in late Qing Dynasty, Yang Du gradually formed the contitutional ideology of "government under the supervision of public opinion, public opinion propagated by the congress, and congress promoted by the constitution", and was regarded as the first Chinese to advocate a constitutional government.Since his plead for a constitutional government, petition for "speeding up the construction of congress"became the most influential political movement and the later campaigns were mostly based on Yang's constitutional ideology.Although the campaign initiated by Yang failed its purpose to speed up the construction of congress in the firs place, it did have great significance.Since then, petition became an effective political movement and largely enhanced the political foundation of constitutional government.The Qing Government was compelled to shorten the period for constitutional preparation.Though it supressed the representatives of the petitioners, its legitimacy was gradually worn out ever since.