1904 Qing General Election

General elections were held in the Qing Empire on 19 April 1904 to elect 850 members of the House of Representatives. These were the first direct elections and the second election overall held in the nation. It has seen the victory of the Tongmenghui in a landslide against conservative independents.

Background
In the 1899 general election, Sun Yat Sen, a western-educated politician, led his reformist and at the same time nationalist party, the Tongmenghui, into the first of a long series of victories. When Sen assumed office, additional reforms were approved through parliamentary means which granted a rapid industrialization of China and the adoption of capitalism, with a rising GDP, and transforming in the first country per GDP growth. Chinese also now had the possibility to gain a western-style education in various statal universities with professors coming from all the world, teaching fields such as sciences, mathematics, politics, history, physics, but also human sciences and economics. In just three years into the premiership of Sun Yat Sen, cities re-modeled to western-style apartments and homes, scrapping traditional tents in many regions such as Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet, with urban architecture in full swing.

At the same time, the Qing Empire opened up relations with the world, and restored diplomatic channels with France and the German Empire. Relations with the United Kingdom would be restored only in 1931, as a result of the three opium wars, a substance which has been banned by authorities in 1926, when the Qing Empire military was strong enough to confront an armed invasion. The military has also seen dedicated attention and modernization efforts. New military uniforms, insignias, weapons and western-style armed forces organization were implemented. Disloyal and rebellious commanders were purged, and local insurgencies were reduced by 97%.