Progressive Party (China)

Also known as the Reform Association, they had to compete with their fellow outlaws, the Tongmenghui ("Revolutionary Alliance") led by Sun Yat-sen for influence and money in the Overseas Chinese community.

Fed up with years of frustration, many Constitutionalists joined the 1911 Revolution, one noticeable exception was Kang Youwei who remained loyal to Emperor Puyi.

[citation needed] Unity was led by Zhang Binglin and represented the interests of the civil service and gentry.

All three parties had advocated a strong, centralized national government, with some wanting to abolish provincial and local divisions altogether.

Vice President Li Yuanhong was made party chairman but real leadership was in the hands of Liang Qichao.

The party's platform was nationalism with strong central government, liberty through the rule of law, and peaceful foreign policy.

The expulsion of the Nationalists led to the Assembly losing its quorum so Yuan disbanded it altogether which was also fiercely opposed by the Progressives.

Liang supported Premier Duan Qirui's plan to push China into World War I on the Allied side against the wishes of President Li in hopes of regaining lost territories.

When the Assembly was dissolved again during the Manchu Restoration (of which Kang Youwei took part) some ex-Progressives joined Sun Yat-sen's Constitutional Protection Movement.

Minus Liang, several members in 1927 created the Democratic Constitutionalist Party (民主憲政黨) but they were based in the United States so they had very little influence in Chinese politics.

The Democratic Socialists lost all their seats in the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly after free and fair elections began in the 1980s.