In the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), the Qing court sent five ministers, including Zaize, to study constitutionalism abroad. The following year, a decree was issued to prepare for constitutionalism. Under the slogan of "all power is in the imperial court and all public opinions are under control", the curtain of the constitutional movement was opened, and it was put forward to reform the official system, rectify finance, equip weapons, formulate detailed laws and promote education. This will be the content of preparing for constitutionalism.
Constitutionalists, on the other hand, were in high spirits and set up groups in succession. Kang Youwei renamed the royalist society as National constitutional conference, Liang Qichao organized a political news agency in Japan, a preparatory constitutional association organized by Jiangsu and Zhejiang Constitutionalists, a constitutional seminar organized by Hunan, a preparatory constitutional conference organized by Hubei, and an autonomous association organized by Guangdong businessmen. Constitutionalists all over the country became active, petitioned the Qing government, put pressure on it, and demanded a national convention. However, when the Qing government announced the establishment of provincial consultation bureaus and Beijing consultation bureau as the basis of the National Assembly, it postponed the deadline for convening the National Assembly to nine years later and promulgated the Outline of the King James Constitution, stipulating that the emperor had supreme power and was not bound by the National Assembly, and the rights of his subjects were minimal.
In the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908), Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi died, and the pro-Gui clique in the Qing Dynasty tried to concentrate power and crowd out the powerful Han ministers, and sent Yuan Shikai back to China in the name of foot disease. They also trained guards and set up military advisory offices in an attempt to monopolize the military power of the whole country with the royal family, which was opposed by provincial governors. Within the ruling class, under the signboard of constitutionalism, they are selfish and strive for power and profit. The rift between the upper-class pro-expensive, Han ministers and constitutionalists in the Qing Dynasty is expanding day by day.
After Xuantongyuannian (1909), the provincial consultative bureaus and the Jingshi High Consultative Bureau were established one after another. They often met to discuss, criticize politics, impeach officials and put forward bills, which clashed with the central and local governments of the Qing Dynasty. The constitutionalists were not satisfied with the delay and monopolization of power in the Qing Dynasty, and launched three petitions, demanding the establishment of a national assembly and a responsible cabinet as soon as possible. The scale of petitioning is getting bigger and bigger, and the mood is getting more and more passionate. In some places, governors also participated in the constitutional movement from the perspective of resisting pro-expensive things and safeguarding their rights.
The Qing government had to agree to shorten the period of preparing for constitutionalism and change it to five years. In the third year of Xuantong, the military department and other institutions were abolished, and a new cabinet with Yi Xu as the prime minister was formed. Most of the cabinet members are Manchu relatives, and only four of the thirteen cabinet members are Han, so this cabinet is called "Royal Cabinet".
The constitutionalists' desire to share power with the Qing government was shattered, and the ministers of the Han Dynasty were also excluded, which contributed to the centrifugal separation of the upper class of the ruling class during the Revolution of 1911 and led to the rapid disintegration of the Qing Dynasty.