Following dictatorial ideology in Chinese tradition for a long history,legislation had all along been exclusive jurisdiction of the throne.Just as an old Chinese saying goes,"only emperor has the power to elaborate rites and establish system".After the Constitutional Reform in late Qing Dynasty,participation of the public in legislative affairs started to take shape.We can find from the history the Constitution of Consultative Bureau during the period under the control by Guangxu Emperor and Xuantong Emperor and the Provisional Constitution in the early days of the Republic of China.The constitutional movement at provincial levels during the period of Northern Warlords,in form,was also regarded as this kind of legislative activity.Though lasted briefly,it had left influence in modern Chinese history of constitutionalism.Moreover,the beginning of constitutional movement at provincial levels had close relation with the introduction of theory of federalism into China.In the course of the spread of the constitutional movement,an extensive debate about federal system had been triggered off accordingly.The short lived constitutional movement at provincial levels demonstrated that the practice of federalism had divorced from the then Chinese conditions.
