全面抗战爆发后，日益加深的民族危机迫使国民党开放了社会力量参与政治的大门。1938年，国民政府于中央成立了国民参政会，成为中央级民意机关，并要求各省、市成立临时参议会，以起集思广益、促进省政兴革之效。在此背景下，湖南省临时参议会于1938年9月成立。抗战后期，随着成立各省、市、县正式参议会的呼声逐渐高涨，国民政府于抗战胜利后着手正式参议会的筹备工作。1946年5月，湖南省参议会成立，取代此前之省临时参议会，成为湖南省最高级民意机关。自1949年8月，湖南和平解放，湖南省参议会以自己投票停止运作的方式结束了自己的使命。

从长时段的眼光关注湖南省临时参议会与湖南省参议会前后继承与演化的动态过程，可知其制度设计与具体运作之间有明显的鸿沟。孙中山先生三阶段建国理论中自下而上实行自治的重要步骤，因抗战军兴，由国民政府转变为自上而下设置民意机关。由中央及省、市，再及县当中。且抗战时期因环境限制，湖南省临时参议会仅作为过渡性机关，为政府建言献策以促进省政兴革。抗战胜利后，为宪政的实施，各地正式参议会陆续成立，湖南省参议会在职权上有了进一步扩充，包括议决权、审议权以及接受民众请愿权等，使其成为与党、政相提并论的三大政治运作体系。但舆论对其评价，较临时参议会时期反更令人失望。

制度运作的关键仍在人事架构问题。考察人事变化及其背后深意是对制度运作最好的注解。最要者，参议员经历过遴选和选举的不同方式产生。因抗战时期统一意志之需要，湖南省临时参议会参议员皆为遴选产生。抗战胜利后，湖南省参议会参议员由各县市参议会参议员选举产生，并于1946年5月15日湖南省参议会成立当天选举正副议长，由赵恒惕担任议长，唐伯球担任副议长。意外的是，1947年，国民党欲拉拢青年党、民社党组建联合政府，在基层民意机关要求必须有两党代表加入，故在1947年11月，又遴选了15名参议员（青年党8名，民社党7名）加入湖南省参议会，使得一届参议会中既有选举又有遴选参议员的怪象产生。

人事架构的深入分析尚需从参议员的结构入手。年龄、教育背景、经历（职业）、性别、变动情况等要素为其关键。无论临时参议会抑或省参议会，参议员多来自于各行业之精英，这点在国统区范围而言皆较普遍。且女性参议员比例愈发减少，尤其是由遴选改为选举后，女性在选举过程中较男性候选人更显劣势，此诚与彼时的社会风气相关。相异的是，不同时期参议员的平均年龄权重、职业背景与变动原因差异较大，这受制于环境背景的影响及参议员思想观念转变影响较大。大体而言，抗战时期，受战火影响，政府对参议会定位求常求稳，参议会之使命亦在联结政府与人民。参议员中多老成持重者为其时代特性。然抗战胜利后，湖南省处于相对和平氛围，复兴与建设为其主轴。求新求变之年轻参议员涌入其中并积极竞选反成常态。

考察参议会与政府的关系，是衡量参议会实际效力的两个重要维度之一，也是其与西方代议制差别的根本所在。与西方三权分立制下的议会不同，参议会与政府之间的关系始终是不平等的，且参议会常居弱势一方。临时参议会更为明显，政府直接将临时参议会纳入政府机构当中，仅视其为咨询机关。战后湖南省参议会成立，地位有明显提高，政府表面上对其礼遇有加，却也正因为此，多数省参议员在政府中皆有兼职并领取干薪，又频繁接受政府馈赠与宴请，使其对政府财政预算不能进行强有力的监督。对于政府的贪污案件，自己非但不能提前预防制止，反不断卷入其中。由此参议会虽缓和了与政府之间的关系，无疑却也疏离了与民众的关系，这对其民意机关的属性而言，确属莫大的讽刺。幸运的是，在湖南省面临向何处去的生死攸关问题时，省参议会选择了正确道路，支持程潜的和平解放道路，脱离了白崇禧代表的国民政府。

深入分析参议会与人民的关系，是衡量参议会实际效力的另一重要维度，也是最终依据。其中田粮类议题为与人民生死攸关之核心问题。因为彼时湖南省三千万人民中百分之八十左右为农民，故与其利益相关最甚者自为土地方面问题。对这一问题的分析尤可凸显参议会的民意代表性如何。大体而言，在参议员与民众利益相一致时，参议会确实会极力为民众（同时也是为自己）积极争取权益，保障合法性利益。这在减赋问题上贯穿始终。当参议会发现有利可图时，却会不顾及民众利益，而私信自用，牟取私利，反而损害民众利益。这于湘省粮食库券一案上较为突出。最致命的是当参议员与民众利益相矛盾时，参议员非但不代表民意，反而抵制有利于民众的政策推行，这在湖南省推行二五减租与三七五限租政策的过程中表露无疑。由此愈发暴露省参议员地主阶级属性，始终难以超越自身之阶级利益。

After the outbreak of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the deepening national crisis forced the Kuomintang to open the door for social forces to participate in politics. In 1938, the nationalist government established the National Council for Political Participation in the central Government, which became the central public opinion organ, and required provinces and cities to set up temporary councils to pool ideas and promote the effect of provincial politics. Against this background, the Provisional Council of Hunan Province was established in September 1938. In the late period of the Anti-Japanese War, as the call for the establishment of formal councils of provinces, cities and counties gradually increased, the nationalist government began to prepare for the formal councils after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. In May 1946, the Hunan Provincial Council was established, replacing the previous provincial Provisional Council and becoming the highest public opinion organ in Hunan Province. After the peaceful liberation of Hunan Province in

August 1949, the Hunan Provincial Council ended its mission by voting to cease its operation.

From the long-term perspective of the dynamic process of succession and evolution before and after the Provisional Council of Hunan Province and the Council of Hunan Province, we can see that there is an obvious gap between their system design and concrete operation. In Dr. Sun Yat-sen's three-stage nation-building theory, an important step of implementing self-government from the bottom up was changed from the national government to the top-down public opinion organs due to the rise of the Anti-Japanese War. From the central government to the provinces, cities, and counties. In addition, due to environmental restrictions during the Anti-Japanese War, the Provisional Council of Hunan Province was only a transitional organ, providing advice and suggestions for the government to promote the development of provincial politics. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, in order to implement the constitutionalism, the formal councils were established one after another, and the functions and powers of the Hunan Provincial Council were further expanded, including the right to decide, the right to review and the right to accept petitions from the people, making it the three major political operating systems on the same level as the Party and the government.

However, the evaluation of public opinion on it was more disappointing than that of the provisional Council. The key to the operation of the system is still the personnel structure. The best commentary on the operation of the system is to examine the personnel change and the meaning behind it. From a diachronic perspective, senators have been selected and elected in different ways. Due to the need of unity of will during the Anti-Japanese War period, the senators of the Provisional Council of Hunan Province were selected. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the senators of the Hunan Provincial Council were elected by the senators of each county or city. On May 15, 1946, the day of the establishment of the Hunan Provincial Council, the President and vice presidents were elected, with Zhao Hengti as the president and Tang Boqiu as the vice president. Unexpectedly, in 1947, the KMT wanted to win over the Youth Party and the Democratic Social Party to form a coalition government, and the grassroots public opinion organs required that representatives of the two parties should join the Hunan Provincial Senate. Therefore, in November 1947, 15 senators (8 from the Youth Party and 7 from the Democratic Social Party) were selected to join the Hunan Provincial Senate, making the strange image of both election and selection of senators in a single session of the Senate come into being.

The in-depth analysis of personnel structure still needs to start from the structure of senators. Factors such as age, education, experience (occupation), gender, and changes are the key factors. In both the provisional and the provincial councils, the senators mainly come from the elite of various professions, which is more common in the area of national control. Moreover, the proportion of female senators was decreasing, especially after the change from selection to election, women were more disadvantaged than male candidates in the election process, which was related to the social atmosphere at that time. What is different is that the average age weight, career background and reasons for the change of senators in different periods are quite different, which is influenced by the environmental background and the change of senators' ideas. Generally speaking, during the Anti-Japanese War, affected by the war, the government sought stability in the position of the Senate, whose mission was to connect the government and the people. The number of seniority among senators is the characteristic of The Times. However, after the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Hunan Province was in a relatively peaceful atmosphere, with rejuvenation and construction as its main axis. Young senators seeking new changes poured into the province and actively campaigned for it.

Examining the relationship between the Senate and the government is one of the two important dimensions to measure the actual effectiveness of the Senate, and also the fundamental difference between the Senate and the Western representative system. Different from the parliament under the western system of separation of powers, the relationship between the Senate and the government is always unequal, and the Senate is always on the weak side. The Provisional Council is even more obvious. The government directly integrates the Provisional Council into the government institutions and regards it only as an advisory body. After the war, the Hunan Provincial Council was established and its status was significantly improved. On the surface, the government treated it with courtesy. However, because of this, most provincial senators had part-time jobs in the government and received dry salary, and frequently accepted gifts and banquets from the government, which made it impossible for them to exercise strong supervision over the government budget. As for the government corruption cases, they could not prevent them in advance, but were constantly involved in them. As a result, although the Council has eased the relationship with the government, it has undoubtedly alienated the relationship with the people. This is a great irony for its nature as a public opinion body. Fortunately, when Hunan Province was faced with the life-and-death question of where to go, the provincial Council chose the right path, supporting Cheng Qian's path of peaceful liberation and breaking away from the nationalist government represented by Bai Chongxi.

An in-depth analysis of the relationship between the council and the people is another important dimension to measure the actual effectiveness of the council, and it is also the final basis. Among them, farmland and food issues are the core issues that matter to the people's life and death. At that time, about 80 percent of the 30 million people in Hunan Province

were farmers, so their interests were most closely related to land issues. The analysis of this problem can especially highlight how representative the public opinion is in the council. In general, when the interests of senators and the public coincide, the Senate does strive to actively fight for the rights and interests of the public (and also for itself) and protect the interests of legitimacy. This is true throughout the issue of tax reduction. When the Senate finds that it is profitable, it will disregard the interests of the people and use it for its own benefit, which will harm the interests of the people. This is more prominent in the case of grain Treasury bonds in Hunan Province. The most fatal thing is that when senators contradict the interests of the public, instead of representing public opinion, senators resist the implementation of policies beneficial to the public, which is clearly shown in the process of implementing the 25 percent rent reduction and 37 percent rent restriction policies in Hunan Province. This further exposes the landlord class nature of provincial senators, who are always difficult to surpass their own class interests.