Hello to the audience! Welcome to watch “The Truth of a Century”.
Every March, the “National People’s Congress” of Mainland China unfolds as scheduled. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) boasts that this is “people’s democratic process in every stage,” with representatives being sculpted into “spokespersons of the people’s will.” Ridiculously, Shen Jilan, who has been in office for 70 years since 1950, when asked, “Do you communicate with voters in your daily life?” she actually replied, “No, we are elected democratically, so it is not appropriate to communicate with you.”
Such “democracy” is just child’s play, making people desperate!
However, history tells us that China once experienced a true democratic election! Amidst the flames of the Chinese Civil War in 1948, hundreds of millions of Chinese people—from farmers to soldiers, from intellectuals to minorities in the border regions—held ballot papers, personally cast votes to elect National Assembly delegates, and then they were elected the president through their representatives.
Today, let’s explore the only real nationwide election in the history of mainland China.
To hold a presidential election, it was necessary to enter the “constitutional period”. So, what is the constitutional period?
At the beginning of the 20th century, China underwent numerous hardships, including foreign aggression and internal warlord conflicts, leaving the people in dire straits.
In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution led by Sun Yat-sen erupted, overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and establishing the Republic of China.
To achieve national unity and establish a modern democratic system, Sun Yat-sen’s Kuomintang party proposed the concept of three stages: military government, political tutelage, and constitutional government.
The military government period was from 1924 to 1928 when the Nationalist government launched the Northern Expedition, essentially unifying China.
The period of political tutelage served as a transitional phase. During this stage, the Kuomintang government conducted “education” based on Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People—nationalism, democracy, and livelihood—teaching political knowledge to the people to prepare them for participating in democratic politics and implementing the constitution.
The constitutional period was the ultimate goal to realize direct election of leaders by the people and establish a modern democratic system.
In 1936, the Republic of China government initially completed the draft of the constitution, but shortly after, the War of Resistance against Japan broke out, halting the constitutional work temporarily.
In 1945, after the victory of the War of Resistance, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party held the Chongqing negotiations and the Political Consultative Conference on peaceful nation-building issues but the negotiations failed. As the Communist Party was not sincere about negotiation, the Nationalist government could only unilaterally promote constitutional progress, announcing at the end of 1946 that a “Constitutional National Assembly” would be convened to draft the constitution.
On December 25, 1946, the “Constitution of the Republic of China” was passed. On the 31st, Chiang Kai-shek signed an executive order in Nanjing to promulgate the constitution.
The “Constitution of the Republic of China” was officially proclaimed on January 1, 1947, and was formally implemented on December 25 of the same year, marking China’s entry into the constitutional period.
Entering the constitutional era, the first step was to elect the first session of the National Assembly of the Republic of China and then elect the president and vice president through these representatives.
According to the constitution, a total of 3,045 National Assembly delegates were expected to be elected nationwide. Due to the vast territory of China, the voting times in each province were not entirely the same, taking place from January 21 to 23, 1948.
Being able to participate in China’s first-ever election, where the national assembly delegates were elected directly by the people, people were very excited and thrilled at that time.
According to a writer’s recollection, his “civics” teacher at the elementary school was very excited during class, telling the students, “Our Republic of China is going to hold a nationwide election,” and that “from now on, a president elected by the people will govern the country.”
Taking Yuyao in Zhejiang Province as an example. Yuyao was a county town with one national representative quota and two candidates.
One of the candidates was from Zhouxiang Town, where he served as the Yuyao county head after the victory of the War of Resistance, making him well-known locally. The other candidate was a woman from the Simen Town, a close friend of Chiang Kai-shek’s wife, Soong Mei-ling when she was studying abroad.
Therefore, the election in Yuyao was a contest between a local candidate and a “returnee.”
During the voting, most people in Zhouxiang Town voted for their fellow townsman, while those in Simen voted for their own townsman.
Since the male candidate had much more popularity than Soong Mei-ling’s friend, he eventually emerged as the winner.
The writer also mentioned reading from a newspaper that a candidate in Shanghai served simple noodles to attract voters. A vote for him meant a free bowl of noodles. In those days, when life was tough, a steaming bowl of noodles was a big temptation for many.
In addition to the National Assembly delegates, simultaneous legislative elections were held across the country.
During the period of political tutelage, the Legislative Yuan was a subsidiary institution of the Nationalist government. After entering the constitutional period, the Legislative Yuan became a genuine representation of public opinion. The Legislative Yuan still exists in Taiwan today, and from 2024 to 2028, it is the eleventh session of the Legislative Yuan.
A total of over 700 representatives needed to be elected to the Legislative Yuan. Calculating based on China’s then-population of 470 million, it meant an average of one representative per 600,000 people.
The election methods for legislators differed from that of National Assembly delegates. Legislators were allocated quotas based on regions, professions, and autonomous ethnic groups. Regional representatives comprised the vast majority. For instance, a province with a population of less than 3 million would elect five members, while for a population exceeding 3 million, an additional member was elected for every additional million people, leaving some quotas specifically reserved for female representatives.
During the Republican era, there were twelve directly-controlled municipalities, including Nanjing, Shanghai, Beiping (Beijing), Qingdao, Tianjin, Chongqing, Dalian, Harbin, Hankou, Guangzhou, Xi’an, and Shenyang, each having five seats.
Minority areas were not overlooked. Inner Mongolia and Tibet Autonomous Region had a total of six legislators’ seats.
Additionally, industrial groups, educational groups, labor groups, overseas Chinese groups were also elected representatives directly by qualified voters.
After calculation, it was estimated that a total of 773 legislators would be elected in this election. However, as the Communist Party of China refused to participate in the elections, not all representatives were elected in Xinjiang and Tibet, resulting in the final election of 759 legislators.
In May 1948, these legislators gathered in Nanjing and elected Sun Ke as the Legislative Yuan President.
The 1948 election was similar to modern Western elections. Citizens over the age of 20 were eligible to register to vote. The voting method was single-choice, anonymous, and secret.
In addition to a few professional group members and ethnic minorities from autonomous regions, polling stations were set up throughout the country for voting.
From surviving photos of that time, it can be seen that boy scouts were guarding the polling stations to maintain order.
Despite it being a period of the civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists, people were very interested in China’s first-ever election. Radio stations continuously broadcast voting news, special editions were issued by newspapers, making the election an event as bustling as the “most lively event after the victory over Japan.”
Unfortunately, the Nationalist government at the time did not count the total number of voters who participated nationwide. However, with an estimated 30% of citizens registered to vote, around 150 million people were expected to have participated, making it the largest democratic vote in the world at the time.
Although the turnout rate was relatively low, the election of National Assembly delegates and legislators in this election was the only direct popular election in mainland China to date.
The next highlight was the presidential and vice-presidential elections.
According to the constitution, candidates needed to receive over half of the votes to be elected as president and vice president.
There were two presidential candidates: Chiang Kai-shek and Hu Zheng. Chiang Kai-shek needs no introduction. Hu Zheng, a veteran of the Kuomintang, was a former member of the Sun Yat-sen’s Tongmenghui and had served as the President of the Judicial Yuan of the National Government.
Hu Zheng publicly opposed Sun Yat-sen’s alignment with the Soviet Union and the Communist Party earlier, and also had open conflicts with Chiang Kai-shek. However, after the outbreak of the war, the two reconciled, united to fight against Japan. Some delegates jointly nominated him to be a presidential candidate.
After the National Assembly delegates voted, a public tally showed that Chiang Kai-shek received 2,430 votes, while Hu Zheng received 269 votes.
This photo shows the situation during the vote count in the presidential election. Doesn’t the scene resemble the announcement of election results in modern Western democracies like the United States and the United Kingdom?
Interestingly, there were also 35 spoiled votes! Some abstained from voting, others marked the circles incorrectly or wrote Sun Yat-sen’s name, and someone even drew a “big circle around a small circle” on Chiang Kai-shek’s name.
If the presidential election was devoid of suspense, the vice-presidential election was much more exciting! There were a total of six candidates, including Li Zongren, Sun Ke, Cheng Qian, and Yu Youren among others, of whom four were members of the Nationalist Party, one from the China Democratic Socialist Party, and one independent candidate.
For a vice-president candidate to be elected, they needed to obtain more than half of the votes. If no candidate received more than half of the votes, the candidate with the least votes would be eliminated, leading to another round of voting.
Among these six candidates, Li Zongren and Sun Ke were the most well-known. Li Zongren, a Guixi warlord, had significant achievements during the anti-Japanese war. Sun Ke, the only son of Sun Yat-sen, served as the Vice-Chairman of the National Government and President of the Legislative Yuan.
Chiang Kai-shek supported Sun Ke’s election since he wanted a literati to be the vice-president to balance the image of the president and vice-president. Moreover, Li Zongren had clashed with Chiang Kai-shek multiple times before, leading to concerns that he could become a hindrance.
During the voting period, an incident occurred. After the second round of voting on April 24, Chiang Kai-shek asked Cheng Qian to withdraw, to which Cheng Qian agreed.
Upon learning this information, Li Zongren chose to withdraw as well, turning retreat into an advance. This essentially left only Sun Ke as the sole candidate, who, reluctantly, also announced his withdrawal.
Chiang Kai-shek later met with Bai Chongxi, asking him to convey a message to Li Zongren, stating that he would not favor any side and hoped that Li Zongren would continue to run. Following this, the National Assembly presidium invited Hu Shi to persuade Li Zongren to continue competing.
Subsequently, the third and fourth rounds of voting were held, and in the end, Li Zongren received 1,438 votes while Sun Ke garnered 1,295 votes. Although Li Zongren did not secure over half of the votes, he won the election due to obtaining an absolute majority of votes as stipulated by the election law.
On May 20, 1948, Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren held a grand inauguration ceremony in Nanjing, witnessed by over three thousand guests from various countries. Subsequently, the inaugurations of the President and Vice President of the Republic of China were fixed on this day.
However, the good times did not last. In 1949, the Nationalist Party retreated to Taiwan after defeat, and the Communist Party took power, marking the end of democratic elections in mainland China.
Henceforth, mainland China never saw another democratic election. The Communist Party took sole control, and the Constitution and democratic parties became mere ornaments.
The 1948 election became mainland China’s first and only democratic election.
Well, that’s all for today’s show. Thank you for watching. When do you think China will have democratic elections? Feel free to leave us a comment. If you enjoyed our program, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time.
—The production team of “The Truth of a Century”