Abstract: During   the  contention  over   the  Imperial  Constitution in  the  early  twentieth century,there  emerged  in  the  Qing  ruling group three political factions:those advocating rapid radical implementation  those calling for gradual peaceful implementation and those in total opposition.The author believes that  these  differences  reflected   the   distribution  of   power  within  the  ruling  group.They  all   shared  the  goals  of  consolidating  imperial power,sweeping away domestic rebellions,preventing  foreign一incursion  and  holding  back  democratic  revolution  Therefore,ideas  about  the  Imperial  Constitution  should  be  regarded   as   instinctive  emergency  responses  to  the  political  crisis,or  as  attempts to find  new  methods  of  rule，not  as   expedient  measures  to  deceive  the  people.