The Chinese Empire Reform Association, abbreviated as CERA, was known in Chinese as Baojiu Da-Qing Huangdi Hui, ), or, more often, Baohuanghui, . It was a worldwide Chinese political association founded by Kang Youwei (1858–1927) and others in Victoria, British Columbia on 20 July 1899. Its goal was to unite overseas Chinese to restore the Guangxu Emperor to his throne and transform China's autocratic empire into a constitutional monarchy.
Kang was a Cantonese scholar, teacher, and constitutional reformer who helped Guangxu enact extensive educational, political, social, military, economic, and administrative reforms during the tumultuous Hundred Days of Reform, June 11 to September 21, 1898.
The reform period only lasted 103 days because the reforms threatened the power and position of the conservative Qing court and Guangxu's aunt and former regent, Empress Dowager Cixi. Cixi took back the throne, put Guangxu under house arrest, and abolished the reform program. She executed six of the reform advisors, including Kang's brother, and called for Kang's arrest and execution.
Warned by the emperor of the impending crackdown, Kang fled into exile, and made it his mission to restore the emperor and his reform program. Kang turned to Chinese living in the Americas, Australia, Asia, Africa, and Europe to join this nationalist movement. The result was a worldwide organization that grew to at least 230 local chapters and 100,000 members. The Chinese Empire Reform Association appealed to overseas Chinese who hoped to see their homeland modernize and democratize. It remained a strong organization until the end of 1911, when the revolutionaries led by Sun Yatsen were able to topple the Qing dynasty and form a republic. In effect, the Chinese Empire Reform Association was the first mass Chinese political party.
North America—Canada, the United States, and Mexico—was where the Association fulfilled its greatest potential, with at least 160 chapters. These chapters managed the full gamut of associated endeavors that Kang believed were necessary to save China. They sponsored newspapers and schools to propagate reform ideology; military academies to train young Chinese to defend their country; women’s associations to promote gender equality; and businesses to raise funds for reform activities and expand Chinese commercial power in China and abroad. Between 1899 and 1907, Kang spent 29 months in North America, traveling widely both for his education and pleasure; organizing, fundraising, and making speeches to both Chinese and American audiences; and meeting North American leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, and Mexican President José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori.Worden and Larson (2025). A Chinese Reformer in Exile. Brill. pp. 48–94, 138–207, 391–537.
Name changes and reorganization, 1899–1912 Although the organization was always known in English as the Chinese Empire Reform Association, its Chinese name changed over time, along with its goals and governing documents.
Baohuanghui (Protect the Emperor Society), 1899–1906 During the founding meetings in July 1899, the name Baohuanghui 保皇會 was chosen because the Guangxu emperor “had risked his life to save the people.” For Baohuanghui members, the imprisoned emperor symbolized the endangered quest for reform and modernization of China. Kang wrote the founding document in September 1899, and while he informally called the organization Baohuanghui, in the first charter the organization name was Baojiu Da-Qing Huangdi Gongsi 保救大清皇帝公司 (Company to Protect the Great Qing Emperor). This name reflected the dual mission of political and economic reform and encouraged commercial investment by the overseas Chinese merchants who dominated the Baohuanghui leadership, but in practice, the term gongsi 公司 (company) was soon replaced with hui 會 (association or society).
Xianzhenghui (Constitutional Association), 1907-1912
On September 1, 1906, the Qing declared that China would begin the transition to a constitutional monarchy, after receiving positive reports from two imperial missions that studied constitutional systems in Japan, the United States and Europe. Kang decided the time was right for the Baohuanghui to change its name and its function from protecting the emperor (who appeared to be in no danger) to preparing its members to return to China to participate in a reformed government. In October 1906, he announced that on the lunar new year (February 13, 1907), the Baohuanghui would become the Guomin Xianzhenghui 國民憲政會 (Citizens’ Constitutional Association), or for short, Xianzhenghui 憲政會 (Constitutional Association). While the final name as adopted in 1907 hearkened back to the Baohuanghui connection, replacing Guomin 國民 (Citizen) with Diguo 帝國 (Imperial), the new charter stated that its goal was to expand the rights and duties of China’s citizens and to form a parliament. The organization was intended to teach members “how to structure a constitutional government, how to set up a political party, how citizens of a constitutional government and their country are interdependent, and how they rely on political parties.” In many ways, the Xianzhenghui charter resembled a national constitution.
Kang often used the term for "party" (dang 黨) rather than "association" (hui 會) and occasionally referred to the Xianzhenghui as Xianzhengdang (憲政黨 Constitutional Party).
Organizational structure The organizational structure of the Chinese Empire Reform Association was mandated in successive charters drafted by Kang Youwei, the first in 1899, and the second two discussed and amended at plenary meetings in New York City in 1905 and 1907.1899 charter: Kang Youwei, “Baojiu Da-Qing Huangdi Gongsi Xuli” 保救大清皇帝公司序例 [Preface and Regulations for the Company to Protect the Great Qing Emperor], in Kang Youwei Quanji, vol. 5, pp. 144–55; 1905 charter: “Baohuanghui Gongyi Gaiding Xinzhang" 保皇會公議改定新章, July 30, 1905, in Gao Weinong 高偉濃, Ershi Shiji chu Ershi Shiji chu Kang Youwei Baohuanghui zai Meiguo Huaqiao Shehui zhong de Huodong 二十世紀初康有為保皇會在美國華僑社會中的 活動 [Activities of Kang Youwei and the Baohuanghui among the Chinese in the United States in the First Part of the Twentieth Century] (Beijing: Xueyuan Chubanshe, 2009), pp. 75–142; 1907 charter: "Diguo Xianzheng-hui Daji Yiyuan Huiyi Xuli," 帝國憲政會大集議員會議序例 [Account of Imperial Constitutional Association plenary meeting], March 23, 1907, in Kang Youwei yu Baohuanghui 康有為與 保皇會 [Kang Youwei and the Baohuanghui], ed. Shanghai Shi Wenwu Baoguan Weiyuanhui 上海市文物保管委員會 (Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe, 1982), pp. 487–95. From top to bottom, the Association was governed by a president (Kang Youwei) who made all final decisions and vice president (Liang Qichao); one or more headquarters in Asia that collected and dispersed funds from chapters and Association businesses; local chapters; and members. The chapters were based in towns and cities. The United States was the country with the most chapters, which were grouped in divisions (Northwest, California, Montana, Central, East, South). Driving the expansion of the Association between 1899 and 1905 was an organizing push by Kang himself as well as a traveling cadre of former students who had attended his school in Guangzhou in the 1890s and local leaders who took the initiative to form new chapters and recruit members.
All officers, including the president, were to be elected by members or chapter delegates. However, Kang as president and Liang as vice-president held their offices continuously. Liang Qichao, like Kang, was an advisor to the Guangxu Emperor in 1898 and fled into exile and traveled widely on behalf of the Association, while living in Japan.
Hong Kong, Macau, and Yokohama all functioned at one time or another as Association headquarters, centralizing finances as much as possible. The building commemorating the organization's July 1899 founding is the "first Chinese Empire Reform Association" at 1715 Government Street, Victoria, BC, which has been restored by its current owner and is a repository of the Association's history.
Each local chapter was to publicly elect officers, who led weekly member meetings, collected membership fees, and forwarded a portion to the headquarters. Members went on speaking tours, raised shares for businesses and funds for schools, and organized local events (such as celebration of the Emperor's birthday) and political activism. Liang Qichao wrote the Los Angeles chapter's charter in 1903, which describes the purpose of the Association, the most important activities it was to carry out, how meetings should be handled, and the duties of the officers. Many of the local chapters had physical offices or even their own building, which might also serve as meeting places and schools. For example, the New York City chapter occupied different addresses on Mott Street in Chinatown, where in addition to a meeting room, it ran a school, a bank, and a branch of the Western Military Academy; it also operated a newspaper and sponsored a branch of the affiliated women's association. Two plenary meetings convened by Kang Youwei and attended by Baohuanghui leaders representing chapters around the world were held at 7-9 Mott Street in 1905 and 1907.
Association members had obligations to fulfill. In 1905, the charter stated, “Everyone who joins the society will be loyal and righteous to each other and join together as a group (hequn 合群) to rescue the country.” Beginning in 1905, members also had to pay membership fees ($5 in the United States), which were to be remitted to the organizational headquarters to "handle national affairs." The 1907 charter expanded the rights and duties of members and more closely resembled a national constitution. It included such rights as the right to elect Association officers and to be elected to office, the right to appeal if defamed by another member or chapter, and the right to be received as a guest when visiting other chapters. Membership fees to support the organization were equated to taxes paid by citizens of a country to support its administration of national affairs.
To build organizational identity, members received membership certificates when they joined and were encouraged to buy and wear the membership badge (pictured above), which Kang himself had designed. Posters with pictures of the emperor and top leaders as well as chapter officers and board members were sent to other chapters to hang in their offices. The Association flag most commonly featured three white stars on blue flanked by two red stripes against a white background. It might have been designed by Liang Qichao, according to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, which described its meaning: "The largest [center] star symbolizes education and the two smaller ones unity and equality. The two stripes stand for liberty and purity." The flag was carried by marching Western Military Academy cadets and its image appeared on the badges, membership certificates, letterhead, chapter posters, the parapet of the founding Association building in Victoria, B.C., and the menu for a 1904 dinner honoring Kang in Vancouver, BC (see image above).
The 1905 and 1907 Chinese Empire Reform Association charters also mandated several divisions, expanding the reach of the organization in local communities. Most significant were those dedicated to military affairs, education, business affairs, support of students abroad, services such as bathhouses to improve sanitation, and encouragement of Chinese immigration to underdeveloped lands where they might prosper.
Activities