A New China (Guangdong AAR) - Part 5: The Constitution of the new Republic (1893)

The Kwangtung Revolution (廣東革命) is over, and the nation is now at peace. The British have been expelled off of all of Kwangtung, and they are unable to do as they wish. Now the time to craft a constitution has come.

The Revolutionary Army marches in Canton after the glorious victory over the British. No one is unhappy about the end of the British puppetry over Kwangtung. A new, glorious, free Republic shall replace the oppressive Presidency.

A Constitution must be drafted, however. The Provisional Government was still a harsh dictatorship to make sure the Revolution wasn't sabotaged by inner agents, and it was planned to create the new Constitution after the Revolution.

Sun Yat-Sen, the effective leader of Kwangtung after Davis was expelled, was extremely popular. He - and his supporters - had a massive amount of influence in the new Republic. Equated to people like George Washington and Alexander Nevsky among his supporters, a lot of people see him as the way to the future of not just Kwangtung, but to China as a whole.

On the first of July, 1893, Sun Yat-Sen, Cai Yuanpei, Zhang Binglin, and other Chinese republican leaders from Kwangtung, Fucheng, and the Qing Empire met in the Constitutional Assembly (憲法大會) in an ancient building in Canton.

The first, and most minor, issue of the Constitutional Assembly, was the Flag. The Provisional flag was simply the name of the government and "Freedom and death!" on red. Unsurprisingly, a better flag had to be crafted to gain legitimacy around the world.

Then an ally of Yat-Sen and Assembly member Lu Hao-tung submitted his flag design - the White Sun In A Blue Sky.

The Assembly immediately loved it.

The Assembly made a minor modification by having the White Sun in a Blue Sky as a canton in an all-red flag - after that, it became the official flag of the new nation.

After that, issues on the rights of the people, how the country was to operate, and the ways to make the new Republic a free state continued. Debates occurred, and a lot of disagreements were made between Assembly members.

Finally, on October 1st, 1893, the Constitution of the Republic (共和國憲法) was created and finalized.

The country was to use Yat-Sen's five branches of government - a unicameral, population-based legislature (Legislative Yuan) with completely secret ballots for legislative elections, a strong President (Executive Yuan), a court to determine how to interpret the Constitution and for other significant cases (Executive Yuan), an agency that monitors the other branches of government to prevent overreach (Control Yuan), and a branch validating the agency of civil servants (Examination Yuan). The name of the new Republic, to gain support for claims over all of China, was the Republic of South China (華南共和國). Furthermore, every trade union was allowed, bankruptcy was allowed for the people, meetings were allowed, the press was completely free, everyone had rights, child labor was restricted, and everyone could leave when needed.

Sun Yat-Sen was elected unanimously as the first President of the Republic of South China (華南共和國總統). However, elections were to not occur until "all of China was fully unified", controversially. Despite this, his popularity is high enough to the point where it hardly matters.

The Revolutionary Army was renamed the Chinese Republican Army (中華共和軍). The infantry were replaced with guards (higher caliber infantry).

The Revolutionary Navy was renamed the Chinese Republican Navy (中國共和海軍). Most of the navy was scrapped in the Revolution for funds, though it's hoped that it's reformed and made better in the coming years.

The current Southern Chinese Republic was divided into sixteen Provinces (省份) in three Regions (地區) and one Autonomous Region (自治區). The Regions were West Canton (西廣州), East Canton (東廣州), and Hainan (海南), and the one Autonomous Region was Fuchang (福建).

After the costly Revolution, it is claimed that a new, deadly form of war has started, wars that would encompass the globe and end the relative European peace of the Concert of Europe. And that is not wrong.

(Also, yes, that is Republican Germany.)

In the First of January, 1894, the Constitution came into full effect. The Republic of South China was declared, Sun Yat-Sen was sworn in as President in Canton, and the first Legislative Yuan was sworn in as well.

Long live the Republic of South China! May all of China be freed from the autocratic, authoritarian, oppressive Qing!