| Xia Dynasty |
22-17th c. BC
1
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| 2070-1600 BC
2
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| 2207-1766 BC
3
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| Shang Dynasty |
17 c.-1122 BC
1
|
| 1600-1046 BC
2
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| 1765-1122 BC
3
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| Western Zhou |
1134 - 771 BC
1
|
| 1046 - 771 BC
2
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| 1121 - 771 BC
3
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| Eastern Zhou |
770-256 BC |
| 770-249 BC
3
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| Sping & Autumn |
722-481 BC |
| 770-476 BC
3
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| Warring States |
403-221 BC |
| 476-221 BC
3
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| Qin Statelet |
900s?-221 BC |
| Qin Dynasty |
221-206 BC |
| 248-207 BC
3
|
| Western Han |
206 BC-23 AD |
| Xin (New) |
9-23 AD |
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23-25 AD |
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25-220 |
| Three Kingdoms |
Wei 220-265 |
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Shu 221-263 |
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Wu 222-280 |
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265-316 |
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317-420 |
| 16 Nations |
304-420 |
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Di 301-347 |
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Hun 304-329 ss |
| Anterior Liang |
Chinese 317-376 |
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Jiehu 319-352 ss |
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Di 351-394 ss |
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Xianbei 337-370 |
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Xianbei 384-409 |
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Qiang 384-417 ss |
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Xianbei 385-431 |
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Di 386-403 |
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Xianbei 397-414 |
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Hun 397-439 |
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Xianbei 398-410 |
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Chinese 400-421 |
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Hun 407-431 ss |
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Chinese 409-436 |
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386-581 |
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386-534 |
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534-550 |
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535-557 |
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550-577 |
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557-581 |
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581-618 |
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618-690 |
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705-907 |
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902-937 Nanking |
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907-925 Sichuan |
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907-963 Hubei |
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907-978 Zhejiang |
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907-946 Fukien |
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907-971 Canton |
| Chu |
927-956 Hunan |
| Later Shu |
934-965 Sichuan |
| Southern Tang |
937-975 Nanking |
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951-979 Shanxi |
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907-1125 |
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960-1127 |
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1127-1279 |
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1032-1227 |
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1115-1234 |
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1279-1368 |
| Ming Dynasty |
1368-1644 |
| Manchu Qing |
1644-1912 |
| R.O.C. |
1912-1949 |
| R.O.C. Taiwan |
1949-present |
| P.R.C. |
1949-present |
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Escape from
Hengyang by
Qiong Yao
|
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TRAGEDY OF CHINESE
REVOLUTION - PART I
Xin Hai Revolution: External vs Internal Inducements
Manchu Army System & Northern Warlords
Founding Of The Republic Of China (ROC)
Yuan Shi-kai - First President of ROC
Song Jiaoren - Re-organization of Kuomingtang (KMT)
Song Jiaoren's Assassination Death & Second Revolution
Yuan Shi-kai Trampling On Republic
First World War & China - Japan's Twenty-one Demands
Yuan Shi-kai's Imperial Enthronement
The Republic Restoration Wars
Duan Qirui's Ascension To Power, & Compromises
Re-convening of Parliament & Revival Of Parties
Duan Qirui's Premier Post vs Li Yuanhong's Presidency
Zhang Xun's Restoration Of Imperial House
Southern Government & Protecting 'Interim Agreed-Upon Laws'
Civil Wars Among Northern Warlords
Russia, Britain & Japan - Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia & Manchuria
Russian Revolution: Nationalism vs Internationalism
Sun Yat-sen's Return To Canton After Expelling Gui-xi
"Allying Multiple Provinces For Self-Determination"
|
Cai Yuanpei, Hu Shi, Chen Duxiu & New Culture Movement
WWI, Workers' Awakening & Their Anti-Imperialism Role
Versailles Conference & May 4th Students' Movement
USSR/Comintern Seeking & Implanting Chinese Partners
Guangdong-Guangxi War & Li Zongren's Emergence
Chen Jiongming Rebellion Against Sun Yat-sen
USSR / Comintern Alliance With KMT & CCP
KMT First National Congress (Jan 1924)
Founding of Chinese Communist Party
CCP-Organized Workers' Movements
Peasants' Poverty Is China's Poverty
Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) & Peasant/Land Revolution
Borodin, Moscow & Chinese Revolution
Li Zongren Quelling Guangxi & Wars In Southwest China
Chiang Kai-shek & Whampoa Military Academy
5-30 Bloody Incident, HK-Guangdong Strike, & Boycotts
Wang Jingwei & KMT Left-Wing
Zhongshan Warship Incident
Northern Expeditions & Unification Of China
KMT Purging CCP: Tragedy of The 'Grand Revolution'
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| [ this page: revolution.htm ] |
[ next page: tragedy.htm ] |
Excerpts of Zou Rong's "Revolutionary Army"
[translation by apparently Frank Dikötter and the sort who had no clue about "Chinese racism/nationalism" of 1900s at which time revolutionary forerunners had undergone stages of cognizance as to "social Darwinism" but adopted for the Republic of China the "Five Color National Flag" [1912-1928], which was symbolic of the union of five ethnic groups of Han, Mongol, Manchu, Tibetan & Hui Muslim]
"
Sweep away millennia of despotism in all its forms, throw off millennia of slavishness, annihilate the five million and more of the furry and horned Manchu race, cleanse ourselves of 260 years of harsh and unremitting pain, so that the soil of the Chinese subcontinent is made immaculate, and the descendants of the Yellow Emperor will all become Washingtons. Then they will return from the dead to life again, they will emerge from the Eighteen Levels of Hell and rise to the Thirty Three mansions of Heaven, in all their magnificence and richness to arrive at their zenith, the unique and incomparable of goals - revolution. How sublime is revolution, how majestic!
I follow thereupon the line of the Great Wall, scale the Kunlun Mountains, travel the length of the Yangzi, follow to its source the Yellow River. I plant the standard of independence, ring the bell of freedom. My voice re-echos from heaven to earth, I crack my temples and split my throat in crying out to my fellow-countrymen: revolution is inevitable for China today. It is inevitable if the Manchu yoke is to be thrown off; it is inevitable if China is to be independent; it is inevitable is to take its place as a powerful nation on the globe; it is inevitable if China is to survive for long in the new world of the 20th century; it is inevitable if China is to be a great country in the world and play the leading role. Stand up for Revolution! Fellow-countrymen, are there any of you whether old or in middle years, in your prime of life or young, be it man or woman, who is talking of revolution or working actively for revolution? Fellow countrymen, assist each other and live for each other in revolution. I here cry at the top of my voice to spread the principles of revolution throughout the land.
Revolution is the universal principle of evolution. Revolution is the essence of the struggle for survival of destruction in a time of transition. Revolution submits to heaven and responds to men's needs. Revolution rejects what is corrupt and keeps the good. Revolution is the advance from barbarism to civilization. Revolution turns slaves into masters ...
"
Recently, I have noticed a trend among the academics to call into doubt Dr. Sun Yat-sen in regards to his thoughts on Parliamentary versus presidential politics. Liu Xiao-bo claimed that Dr. Sun Yat-sen was no better than warlord President Yuan Shi-kai because Dr. Sun Yat-sen was against Song Jiao-ren's Parliamentarism: Liu Xiao-bo said that on Dec 26th, 1911, Sun Yat-sen opposed Song Jiao-ren's Parliamentary structure, adamantly advocated presidential structure, and hence Sun was elected 'Interim President of ROC'. Liu Xiao-bo further stated naively that after the March 20th 1913 assassination of Song Jiaoren by Yuan Shikai, Sun decided to launch the 'Second Revolution' instead of resorting to the Parliament for impeachment of Yuan Shikai. Liu Xiaobo summarized that the success of Xin Hai Revolution in overthrowing Manchu rule should be ascribed to the so-called "autonomous movements" among various provinces against a centralized decadent Manchu government.
Liu Xiaobo's claim, incidentally, was related to their dilemma in finding a solution to today's totalitarianism and/or neo-authoritarianism in China. The solution, in their opinions, would be that of federationism or commonwealth and a revival of Parliamentarism.
Hsueh Chun-tu, in "Huang Xing & The Chinese Revolution", concluded that Manchu Dynasty's demise could be attributed to: 1) imperialist nations' invasion against China; ii) unrest of Chinese peasantry; iii) the rise of Chinese bourgeoisie; and iv) the transfer of power to Han-ethnic generals from Manchu banners in the aftermath of Taiping rebellion.
Beginning with Paul Linebarger's "Our Chinese Chances Through Europe's War" & "Sun Yat-sen & The Chinese Republic", Americans also analyzed China's revolution from external perspective.
American Mary C. Wright, in 1968, claimed that secret societies under Song Jiaoren, not Sun Yat-sen's "Allied Society", played the role of overthrowing Manchu rule.
Jiang Yongjing, in "The Land-Sea Ebb History of KMT", did not cover up Song Jiaoren's dispute with Sun Yat-sen in launching an independent "Tong Meng Hui" in the Yangtze River area, which was to fulfill Song Jiaoren's middle tactic of achieving revolution success in the Yangtze River area against Sun Yat-sen's emphasis on southern China. The three leading Xin Hai revolutionaries with 'wu' given name, in addition to Xiong Bingkun who led the charge at Chuwangtai Weapons Depot, were all subordinate to Song Jiaoren.
Song Jiao-ren's contributions notwithstanding, Jiang Yongjing attributed multiple-province members recruited and disciplined by "Tong Meng Hui" to the success of domino-effect provincial independence during 1911 Xin Hai Revolution. Historian Shen Yunlong called the attention to Manchu Qing's abolition of the imperial civil services exam as a fundamental cause in re-orienting innumerable talented revolutionaries towards services under Manchu Qing's re-organized New Army, and Shen Yunlong attributed Manchu Governor-general Zhang Zhidong's arts and military academies to the upbringing of a generation of revolutionaries who played pivotal role in 1911 soldier uprising at Wuchang, Hubei Province.
Criticisms of Sun Yat-sen have merits. Scholar Yuan Weishi blamed Sun Yat-sen's Second Revolution as a cause of KMT's decline in early history of China's politics and a bad example for China's modern history, and further praised Cai Er (Cai E) and Liang Qi-chao as the pillar forces responsible for capsizing Yuan Shi-kai's imperial enthronement.
Dr Sun Yat-sen's Feats & Faults
Xin Hao-nian's analysis of the Nationalist Revolutions of early 20th century, however, show us a true and exact Dr. Sun Yat-sen, namely, a truly patriotic, altruistic, generous and wise person. Dr. Sun Yat-sen proposed the 'Three People-ism' (i.e., Three People's Principles) as the theories guiding China's democratic revolutions, and he further devised 'Five Branches Of Government', which was to add the ancient Chinese censor or inspector system and examination system to the tripartite power structure of the West. It was Sun Yat-sen who first proposed the establishment of the Republic of China, R.O.C., in 1903 and advocated the concept of 'national revolution' as a distinction from "pingmin geming" (i.e., 'ordinary people/banditry revolution'). Dr. Sun Yat-sen's altruism was shown in his surrendering his post of 'interim presidency' to Yuan Shi-kai for sake of avoiding further bloodshedding, and it was not his first time to have surrendered the leadership. Dr Sun Yat-sen, for sake of unity, had personally visited Yuan Shi-kai in Peking and engaged over a dozen days of tête-à-tête discussions with Yuan Shikai. After seeing that Xin Hai Revolution was betrayed by the warlord government, he laid out the three stages for China to evolve to democracy. Dr. Sun Yat-sen laid out the three stages of 'Jun Zheng' (military government), 'Xun Zheng' (KMT supervised government), and 'Xian Zheng' (constitutional government) after reflecting on the incompleteness of Xin Hai Revolution, i.e., the 1911 Revolution that overthrew the Manchu rule. Xin Hao-nian, in "Which Is The New China?" (copyright 1999, Blue Sky Publishing House,
http://www.ifcss.org/xin_haonian/book_chapters/toc.html
), expounded the background, context and process of three stages of 'Jun Zheng', 'Xun Zheng', and 'Xian Zheng' as practiced by the Kuomintang (KMT) Government of Chiang Kai-shek.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, however, had his shortcomings. Like generations of people in the 20th century, Sun Yat-sen had naive and utopian fondness for the Russian October Revolution of 1911. He misunderstood Lenin's "goodwill" lip-service in nullifying the unequal treaties imposed on China by Czar Russia, and hence entered into an alliance with the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). From 1920 to 1923, USSR continuously sent representatives to China for talks with northern/southern warlords as well as with Dr. Sun Yat-sen and communism activists. Joffe, a representative of Lenin, came to Shanghai, and on Jan 26th, 1923, promised to Sun Yat-sen in a joint declaration that they would help China to reunite under Three People-ism without implanting communism in China. Mikhail Borodin's military supplies (120,000 rifles) and a package of 2 million Mexican dollars in annual aid made Sun Yat-sen declare a new policy of 'allying with USSR and allowing CCP members to join KMT individually'. (Xin Hao-nian mentioned that Dr. Sun might have mis-judged CCP's destabilizing capabilities because CCP possessed only 432 members by the end of 1923. Scholar Xu Zerong's claim of 120,000 Russian rifles might not be up to par in both number and quality:
In May 1926, Chiang Kai-shek mentioned that he could allocate some of the 10,000 Russian rifles to Guangxi Prov's 7th Corps[, but Li Zongren had to remind Chiang Kai-shek several times before receiving about 1000 Russian rifles and 4 heavy machineguns]. Russian weapons happened to be WWI-era outdated guns that were possibly caught from Germans.)
Sun Yat-sen's decision to ally with Russia and CCP was induced by the antagonisms from the imperialistic powers. Sun Yat-sen complained to reporters of "New York Times" in July, 1923 about this kind of imperialistic antagonisms towards the Chinese revolution. As pointed out by Xin Hao-Nian, Dr. Sun Yat-sen's decision to withhold surplus from the Canton Customs was opposed by various imperialistic powers. In December of 1923, Britain, US, France, Japan, Italy and Portugal etc sent their warships and gunboats to Canton to exert pressure on Sun Yat-sen for sake of protesting against customs tax withholding. It is no strange that the imperialist powers would oppose Sun Yat-sen since China's revolution was induced by the invasions of the foreign powers in the first place. From the outset of Xin Hai Revolution of 1911, imperialist powers had opposed China's democracy process, and this is best exemplified by US ambassador's pressuring Manchu government into recalling Yuan Shi-Kai for sake of cracking down on Xin Hai Revolution.
That is what I will call here as the Tragedy of Chinese Revolution, not the same as Harold Isaacs' book Tragedy of The Chinese Revolution, i.e., Chinese revolution failed as a result of the ideological difference between Lenin, Stalin, Bukharin and Trotsky on the matter whether China's revolution was at the stage of Russian 1905 Revolution or Russian 1917 Revolution.
At http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2004/3123morgan_v_dr_sun.html, Mike Billington wrote for "Executive Intelligence Review" an article entitled "How London, Wall Street
Backed Japan's War Against
China and Sun Yat Sen", pointing out the behind-the-scene manipulations as to "SYNARCHISM AND WORLD WAR".
As stated by Mike Billington, "... British synarchist banking interests, centered around Bank of England head Montagu Norman, Hongkong and Shanghai Bank director Sir Charles Addis, and J.P. Morgan chief executive Thomas Lamont, deployed militarily and politically to destroy Sun Yat Sen and his influence.
... when their subversion and looting failed to crush Sun's republican movement, the British threw their weight behind the synarchist/fascist forces in Japan, financing the Japanese military occupation of the Chinese mainland...
By 1931, J.P. Morgan had floated $263 million in loans for Japanese borrowers, including direct loans to the government in 1930", with quite some of the funds going direct to the Southern Manchurian Railway under disguise to avert the world opinions.
Anglo-American hostility and subversion against China continued well into the 1940s, at which time General Wedemeyer, right after succession of Stilwell's post in 1944, reported to Washington DC in a cable, stating that "...British Ambassador personally suggested to me that a strong unified China would be dangerous to the world and certainly would jeopardize the white man's position immediately in Far East and ultimately throughout the world".
More available at Century-long American hypocrisy towards China, Anglo-American & Jewish romance with Japanese, and What Foreign Powers Did To The Flowery Republic Prior To, During And After The 1911 Revolution.
(Anglo-American supremacists, today, should have no worry about China anymore since the so-called "elites" of China, relatives and families of Chinese government officials, and the "street and market people of the cities", men and women included, had already capitulated to the West. What remained "unconquered" would be the humblest people of this earth, i.e., peasant Chinese, whom the communist government had already enslaved and bondaged on behalf of the West.
Chinese communist rulers, who were pre-occupied with "pleasure-seeking and literature-decoration" like Manchu rulers, would most likely lose badly during the next confrontation which could be very well against the old feud [i.e., Japan, now a lethal force under American umbrella, but having no memory of either the pardon from the Republic of China or the humiliation of being declined a decent surrender by Russians].)
Dr. Sun Yat-sen had deficiencies, too. His "Three People's Principles" had been ambiguous. Later, Borodin modified the principles into factual policies:
Per Harold Isaacs, Borodin modified Sun Yat-sen's ambiguous Three People's Principles, like "restriction of capital" and "equalization of rights in the land", and made them into something like a "25 percent reduction in land rents" and a promise of "labor code".
Sun Yat-sen, in order to secure imperialists' support for the 1911 Xin Hai Revolution, had been ambivalent to foreign powers as to the unequal treaties imposed on Manchu China. Per JYJ, Sun Yat-sen had always upheld the agenda of 'quelling internal enemies before expelling external invaders'; as shown in his policy difference with Huang Xing etc, in 1915, Sun Yat-sen called on revolutionaries to oppose Yuan Shi-kai's treachery rather than unite behind Yuan Shi-kai for a concerted struggle against Japan's 21 Demands. (Sun Yat-sen, in his 1925 trip to Peking for meeting with Duan Qirui, did insist that Peking government should not acknowledge the unequal treaties with the West and Japan. Duan Qirui continued the unequal treaties in exchange for the imperialists' acknowledgement of the Peking government.) Sun Yat-sen, in order to win support from USSR, had contacted Lenin two times in 1918 and expressed much softer stance on Mongolia independence and China Eastern Railroad in 1922 correspondence with Joffe. Dr. Sun Yat-sen, after Jan 26th 1923 Sun-Joffe Joint Statement, had fallen into a de facto Soviet agent, sowing the seeds of struggles and conflicts between KMT and CCP as well as the disasters of the Chinese people in 20th century.
More, Dr. Sun Yat-sen was commented to have possible disregard for human life and to have resorted to political assassinations as well. Scholar Yuan Weishi pointed out that Sun Yat-sen, using his followers (i.e., Zhu Zhixin, Huang Dawei, Zhang Ji, Ju Zheng and Tian Tong), were behind the assassinations and attempted assassinations of Dian-jun General Fang Shengtao in Jan 1918, Navy Minister Cheng Guangbi on Feb 26 1918, Yue-jun General Chen Jiongming in April 1922, and Deng Keng (? doubtful in light of Ding Zhongjiang description).
One more possibly implicating event would be Chiang Kai-shek's assassination of Tao Chengzhang inside of Guangci Hospital at the order of Chen Qimei on Jan 14th 1912 since Tao Chengzhang, three days before, had received a letter from Sun Yat-sen demanding an explanation for Tao's 1909 accusations of 14 crimes that Sun Yat-sen had committed on the matter of funds raising and appropriation.
Xin Hao-nian's research and dissertation on modern Chinese history is incredible in that very few people inside of China could have gained extraordinary insights and judgments into the historical events that had occurred in the 20th century. According to his Foreword, he began to gain this kind of insight beginning from 1985 when the CCP declared 'national heroes' for 85 Nationalist generals who died in the Resistance Wars Against Japan.
In then China, everybody was living in the 'Dark Ages', with no knowledge of truth aside from the CCP propaganda. Short-wave radios were in no existence during the whole time period of the Cultural Revolution (CR). Occasionally, I could tune in to 'the Voice of Free China' Cantonese version via medium-wave. I remembered that one day during the CR, a truck carrying several tightly-bound 'convicts' rotated to the working unit for 'parade prosecution' by the masses,: among those on the truck was a young man classified as so-called 'reactionary caught red-handed' for listening to enemy stations. In late 1970s, after the fall of the Gang of Four (ultra-leftists), CCP's 3rd Plenary of the 11th Session proposed liberalization of thoughts in late 1978. 'Wounds Literature' popped out, describing various persecutions and tortures that the communist leaders and their families had endured during the CR. The movie 'Bitter Love' described two lovers and their stories during CR. Some movies ("Legends Of Tianyunshan Mountains", e.g.) carried 'Wounds Literature' further, beyond the CR, to the Anti-Rightists Movement of late 1950s. While still in junior high school, in 1980, I read about a book called 'Ten Year History of Cultural Revolution'. I also had access to Chinese version of Edgar Snow's 'Red Star Over China' as well as some torn-apart old book about communist warfare in Manchuria; I read about the traitor-general Lin Biao and his wars against KMT in Manchuria, especially the siege of Changchun city wherein over 300,000 civilians were starved to death as a result of communists' blockade of the city and refusal to allow civilians exit the city. ('Xue3 [snow] Bai [white], Xue4 [blood] Hong [red] by Zhang Zhengrong is a good reference book on this subject.) Liberal criticisms of CCP would soon end as an episode called the 'Beijing Spring'. Soon, political control was tightened after Deng successfully overthrew Mao-designated heir (Hua Guofeng). on Jan 29th, 1981, Deng Xiao-ping, to justify his crackdown on the 'Xidan Democracy Wall', would launch the theory of 'Four Insistencies', namely, Insisting On Communist Dictatorship [i.e., People's Democratic Dictatorship]. A warning, related to the criticism of the Movie 'Bitter Love', was issued to the entertainment industries and propaganda ministry. Around 1983, in the college library, I could still find books like 'The Third Road' (circulation 8000 copies nationwide) written by some East European communist leader. In late 1983, a short term movement called 'Anti-Bourgeois Liberalization & Anti-Westernization' was launched, but it lasted 27 days due to lack of support. My American professor would be allowed to set up a section in the departmental library and her overseas friends kept sending over various books. Salisbury's 'New Long March' would change my perception of the communist dictatorship, and histories about the Korean War further convinced me that whatever CCP propaganda talked about would be sheer lies. In December 1986, First Students' Movement erupted in major cities like Beijing, demanding democracy as well as punishment of corrupted officials. Another 'Anti-Bourgeois Liberalization Movement' followed in early 1987, and CCP Secretary General Hu Yao-bang was forced to resign by Deng and the Politburo. Hu's death in 1989 would trigger the Second Students' Movement which ended in the June 4th Massacre of 1989.
This section could be deemed a continuation of the dynastic substitutions from Prehistory to Qing.
Xin Hai Revolution: External vs Internal Inducements
Quite a few people had recently uncovered the facts surrounding the Boxers' Movement of 1900 and the subsequent invasion by 'Eight Allied Nations'. A noteworthy person would be Bei Ming of 'Radio Free Asia'. The main spirits of this kind of research would be to point out that United States had acted fairly before, during and after the crackdowns on the Boxers. Further, Bei Ming etc claimed that the United States had acted as the most altruistic of all in voluntarily refunding the overcharged 'war compensations' from damages caused by the Boxers, in the form of scholarships for supporting Chinese overseas studies in America.
Bei Ming, in description of boxers' arson of the adjacent Imperial Library and the British Legation, unscrupulously commented that the British prized Chinese classics books more than the Chinese the same way as today's foreigners giving more love to tens of thousands of baby girls whom the Chinese government sell to the west for an adoption fee of US$5,000 to $20,000. (Increasing interest in Chinese baby girls had encouraged a new form of human smuggling business in China, with a Chinese news report of an interception of a truck carrying 28 baby girls wrapped up in cloth. Note that in US, revenue services would offer as much as $10k as annual adoption tax exemption. The impact on the growth of Asian baby girls was never assessed, and some advocates acknowledged that China had only begun its overseas adoption project in 1994, thus yielding no statistics for research yet. However, in 1990, I personally met a Dunlap family in the mid-West and encountered a Korean girl who, apparently used as a "baby wife", was said to be engaged with their boy. More abhorrent example would be related to Woody Allen etc who treated adopted Korean girl as a concubine. The obsession with baby girls could be exemplified by the long list of missing girls advertised on Internal Revenue Services Publication 17.)
Per DZJ, Zhou Ziqi, a graduate of Beijing's "Tong Wen Guan" [i.e., "same language house" interpreter school] and later a Manchu Qing emissary to US, had been responsible for negotiating with US in regards to refunding the 12,000,000 US dollars.
It was never a spontaneous act of the US in the refund. (Japan, out of boxer indemnity, established an annual sole-quota scholarship for Chinese on the precondition that recipient swore allegiance to Hirohito. In late 1920s, Hu Qiuyuan yielded the Japanese Imperial Scholarship in preference for a Hubei Provincial scholarship for attending Waseda University. Later in 1932, Mussolini offered to pay Italian advisers with money from overcharged boxer-related war damages in exchange of China's purchasing Italian airplanes in the amount of several million of US dollars.
Also see century-long American hypocrisy towards China &
American manipulations of Chinese politics [e.g., Stilwell's instigating General Bai Chongxi, Stuart's instigating Li Zongren, and McArthur's instigating General Sun Liren].)
The so-called 'Open Door Policy' were exalted by Bei Ming as a fundamental US policy safeguarding Manchu China's territorial integrity during various imperialist powers' games of 'water-melon partitioning'. 'Open Door Policy' never stopped Russia from encroaching on China's territories in Manchuria and Xinjiang [New Dominion Prov]. ('Open Door Policy', first put forward by John Hay, Secretary of State in the McKinley Administration in 1899, was supposedly accepted by Germany, Russia, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan on solar calendar Sept 6th of 1899, which was to assure commercial equality for all powers in China.)
We want to ask a question here: Was United States a truly altruistic country which saw Chinese people's interests more important than their own interests? The answer is 'No'.
As pointed out by
at Chinese Americans in Corvallis (Oregon), "the Opium Wars waged against China by England, with the encouragement of American President John Quincy Adams, resulted in massive suffering in the (Chinese) countryside (and the cities) as the English and American drug cartels pushed their wares into every small village in Asia (China) as a means of paying for massive imports of Chinese tea and silk." Note that John Quincy Adams had said, "The seizer of a few thousand chests of opium smuggled into China by the Chinese government was no more the cause of the Opium War than the throwing overboard of the tea in the Boston harbor was the cause of North American Revolution." (Details about the Opium War was covered in qing.htm section.)
Moreover, ensuing the 1856 Second Opium War or the Arrow War, British and French troops compelled the Manchu government into signing the 'Treaties of Tianjin or Tientsin' (June, 1858), to which France, Russia, and the United States were also parties.
Opium War led to an indemnity of 21 million Mexican dollars as damages for the British and the cession of HK Island.
Second Opium War caused Manchu China to indemnify Britain with 12,000,000 taels of silver and France with 6,000,000 taels of silver.
Furthermore, John Foster, former US secretary of State, had been the culprit in pushing through the Treaty of Shimonoseki of April 17th of 1895 by volunteering to take the treaty to Peking for Manchu emperor's ratification, accompanying Li Jingfang to Taiwan for transferring Taiwan, and acting as the ultimate "facilitator" with a claim that Western diplomatic protocol would allow transfer to be legalized with a signed affidavit rather than to be validated by a de facto personal ceremony on Taiwan Island.
Also note that US government, after acquiring Hawaii in summer of 1898 and Philippines in Dec 1898, applied "Chinese Exclusion Act" to Chinese on the two islands, and further, President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law to have "Chinese Exclusion Act" applied throughout US-controlled islands and territories over the world.
Xin Hao-Nian reminded us that at the outset of Xin Hai Revolution of 1911, touched off by the soldier rebellion in Wuchang, Hubei Province, the American minister-envoy, together with the diplomatic corps, had been responsible for pressuring the Manchu government into recalling warlord Yuan Shi-Kai just for sake of restoring Manchu order and cracking down on Xin Hai Revolution. Almost all imperialistic powers sailed their warships and gunboats along the Yangtze River in demonstration of their opposition to the revolutionary 'Provisional Government' in Wuchang City.
Manchu Qing Dynasty, after the humiliation of the Second Opium War, began to devote itself to the cause of reform. It launched the 'Foreign Enterprises Movement' (i.e., "Yangwu Yundong" or "Self-Strengthening Movement" from 1874 to 1895) with the assignment of South-Sea Minister and North-Sea Minister in 1858 and the buildup of Manchu navies, earlier than Japan's Meiji Restoration of 1868.
But it would end in the destruction of the Manchu fleet inside of the Weihaiwei Harbor during the 1894-1895 Sino-Japanese War. This shattered the self-strengthening dreams completely.
1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki incarcerated China with 230,000,000 taels of silver and cession of Taiwan (Formosa) and Penghu Islands (the Pescadores), in addition to Japan's control of Korea.
Thereafter, reformists, like Kang You-wei, persuaded Emperor Guangxu into reforming the system itself. This led to the power struggles between conservatives and reformers which ended in Hundred Day Reformation. Empress Dowager Cixi's plot to revenge on foreigners by means of the boxers would lead to 1900 Invasion by Eight Allied Powers, resulting in a loss of 450,000,000 taels of silver which was to accrue to 982,000,000 tales with interests included throughout the installments for 39 years. (In 1943, 'Boxer Protocol' was nullified after a total payment of 670 million taels of silver.)
Meantime, revolutionaries, such as Dr. Sun Yat-sen, had resorted to overthrowing the Manchu rule as an alternative way to rescuing China.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who was denoted a doctor for his graduation from a medical college in HK, organized 'Xing Zhong Hui', i.e., 'Society For Reviving China' (Society to Revive China), in Honolulu in 1894 (Oct [lunar calendar]).
In AD 1898. Russia forced China into leasing Port Arthur.
During the 1900 Boxer Rebellion, Russia occupied Manchuria and slaughtered Chinese in batches.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, after the abortive First Canton Uprising In 1895, would launch the Huizhou Uprising in 1900 by taking advantage of the boxer debacle.
Further details about Dr Sun Yat-sen could be seen at Sun Yat-sen's Devotion To Armed Rebellion.
Revolutionaries had conducted numerous Assassinations & Uprisings. There were numerous uprisings and assassinations during this time period. Assassins would include Shi Jianru, Tang Caichang, Wan Fuhua, Huang Xing, Wu Yue, Hu Ying, Wang Han, Xu Xilin , Wang Zhaoming (i.e., Wang Jingwei), Huang Shuzhong and Luo Shixun etc.
Empress Dowager Cixi's government, under the pressure of both reformers and revolutionaries, would murmur reform in 1901.
On Jan 29th, Manchu court pronounced "xin zheng" [i.e., Manchu new administration], decreeing i) that "eight-part stereotyped essay" be abolished from 1902 onward; ii) that provincial governments should select and dispatch students for overseas studies; and iii) that grand school, middle school and elementary school be established in capitals of provincial, prefecture and county levels, respectively.
Tao Chengzhang, who entered Peking twice in 1900 and 1901 in contemplation of assassinating empress dowager, was sponsored by Cai Yuanpei for overseas studies in Japan in 1902.
Overseas Chinese students in Japan would become the propelling force in the overthrow of Manchu government, as expounded at Manchu "New Administration" & Overseas Chinese Students In Japan.
Japan, both its government and its non-govermental notables, had played a significant role in fomenting China's revolution.
The incentive behind Japan's acquiesce would be its secretive attempt to get rid of Russian influences in Manchuria.
Japanese newspapermen, who witnessed Russian killing and pillaging in Manchuria in 1903, claimed that "The Han ethnic Chinese men of Manchuria would be killed off by Russians within 3 years, the country of China would be gone within 10 years, and the race of Chinese would be gone within 100 years"
(See Chen Tianhua's Bell That Alarms China).
In March 1902, Cai Yuanpei established "China Education Society" in Shanghai, and in Oct, established "Patriotic Women School" and "Patriotic Society".
In 1902, in Tokyo, Zhang Taiyan [aka Zhang Binglin] and Qin Lishan established "Guangfu-gui" (i.e., Restoration Society), also known as "Fugu-hui" (i.e., society for restoring antiquity), in memory of China's fall to barbarians for 242 years.
Japanese authority, at the request of Manchu court, prohibited the 242 year commemoration convention. Sun Yat-sen, who had a low profile invitation to a 1901 meeting held by Guangdong Province natives for declaring provincial independence, would be invited by Zhang Taiyan to attend the aborted "242 year convention".
Su Manshu, later revolutionary-monk, enrolled in Waseda University in 1902. Earlier, Su Manshu had joined "youth society" under the influence of Feng Ziyou who had pioneered the propaganda of liberty and freedom by publishing a magazine entitled "kai [open up] zhi [talent] lu [compilings]" in Yokohama in 1900.
In Tokyo, in April 1903, over 500 Chinese students, under Lian Tianwei [a cadet from Japan's infantry cadet academy], including 12 female students, organized "student army" in the name of "righteous and brave army for resisting Russians" as a result of continuous Russian occupation of Manchuria since 1900 boxer incident.
Manchu envoy-minister to Japan Cai Jun asked Japan intervene in dismissing the band. Thereafter, Liang-bi of Manchu infantry ministry established a so-called "Committee for Qing Country Students Who Study Infantry Military Subjects In Japan" in cooperation with Japanese government, culminating in "Zhenwu [reviving martialness] Academy" [4th session onward till 1911], a military prep academy similar to "Hu Cheng Academy" (? Cheng Cheng Academy - typo in first character in some writings) [1st, 2nd & 3rd sessions].
While Sun Yat-sen's Cantonese gang had mainly relied on secret societies for staging the 1895 Guangzhou Uprising & 1900 Huizhou Uprising, overseas students in Japan, i.e., the Yangtze-Anhui gang and Hunan-Hubei gang, had resorted to penetrating and instigating the defection of the Manchu New Army.
In the section on Manchu Qing Dynasty, we expounded upon propagation Of Revolution.
Zhang Ji proposed armed rebellion in 1902.
Huang Xing, who co-established so-called "military nation citizen society" in May 1903, left Japan for China on June 4th 1903, with a mission for staging armed rebellion, i.e., aborted Changsha Uprising in Oct 1904.
In China, Japan returnee Chen Fan was distributor for "Subao Newspaper" of Shanghai, which became the distributor for Japan-based monthly magazine "compilings of translated works while studying overseas".
In May 1903, Zou Rong wrote "Ge Ming Jun" (i.e., revolutionary army or ranks) to propagate changes in Shanghai, with Zhang Binglin authoring the preface.
After the banning of "Subao Newspaper" [i.e., Suzhou-he River Newspaper], Zhang Shizhao established "guo min ri ri bao" [i.e., "National Citizen Daily Daily Newspaper"] to continuously attack Manchu government.
After the closure of "National Citizen Daily Daily Newspaper" on Dec 3rd 1903, Su Manshu went to work for Chen Shaobai's "China Daily Newspaper" in HK for a short while.
In 1904, Russo-Japanese War broke out with a surprise attack on Port Arthur by the Japanese fleet.
The next year, defeated on land and sea, Russia ceded to Japan Port Arthur, the southern portion of the Manchurian Railway, and the southern half of Sakhalin Island under the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth.
In 1904, Tao Chengzhang returned to China and exerted his efforts in rebuilding secret societies in Zhejiang Prov.
In the winter of 1904, Restoration Society was established in Shanghai, with Cai Yuanpei made into the president as a result of Zhang Taiyan's imprisonment. Restoration Society proposed the slogan of "restoring our Han ethnicity and returning our mountains and rivers".
In the spring of 1905, Sun Yat-sen visited Europe. In the spring, he knocked on the door of Wu Zhihui who had refused to see him while in Japan in 1901, thinking that Sun might just be a 'Robinhood' kind of figure. With Liu Chengyu's referral letter sent from San Francisco, Sun Yat-sen obtained invitation from overseas students in Brussels and Berlin. While Sun touted the role of secret societies, Zhu Hezhong alerted to the influences of students and soldiers in Hunan-Hubei provinces as well as the possible unrestrained ambitions of secret society members. After 3 day and 3 night talks, Sun Yat-sen was convinced by Zhu Hezhong.
Details could be seen at Sun Yat-sen's Establishing Contacts With Intelligentsia From Societies of Yangtze Area.
In July of 1905, Sun Yat-sen arrived in Japan from France.
On Aug 13th, Sun Yat-sen made a speech at a reception held by overseas students in Japan and called for establishment of republic via revolution.
On Aug 20th of 1905 (solar calendar), Sun Yat-sen, who reportedly had spent idle time in Japan after losing his brave men in prior uprisings, was supported by Huang Xing for organizing "Tong Meng Hui" (i.e., 'Allied Society of China' or 'Revolutionary Alliance') in Japan, with a slogan calling for expelling of the Tartars and restoration of our China.
About 400 students joined the secret society.
"Tong Meng Hui", relaunching its newspaper as "Min Bao", engaged in newspaper blasting at the constitutional monarchists, and within half a year drove monarchist newspaper into bankruptcy.
On June 29th 1906, Zhang Binglin [Zhang Taiyan] was released from prison, and Sun Yat-sen dispatched messenger to have him fetched to Japan.
Jiang Yongjing estimated that "Tong Meng Hui" had conducted 24 uprisings from 1905 to 1911, with Sun Yat-sen participating in organization 8 times, and that prior to 1905, "Xing Zhong Hui" had conducted 2 uprisings and the rest of parties 5 times.
Revolutionaries pressed the Manchu government into declaring Constitutional Monarchy Reform:
In 1906, Manchu government would declare that they would adopt Japan and Britain's system (i.e., "constitutional monarchy" with royal house and Parliament) nine years later. They would agree to 'political reform' beginning from 1907.
On March 4th 1907, Japanese government expelled Sun Yat-sen at the request of the Manchu government.
Owing to Sun Yat-sen's monopolization of Japanese donation, Zhang Taiyan proposed a censure against Sun Yat-sen.
Meantime, Liu Shipei advocated for a re-organization of Allied Society.
Further details could be seen at Dispute With Sun Yat-sen & Separate Military Actions By "Guang Fu Hui" Members.
On Nov 14th & 15th 1908, Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu died, consecutively.
Manchu Regent Zai-li [Zai-feng] held the actual power over three-year-old Emperor Xuantong (Aixinjueluo Pu-yi or Henry Pu Yi, later as Emperor K'ang Te of puppet state Manchukuo).
Manchu Regent Zai-li [Zai-feng] thought that monarchism (not the same as parliamentarism) could save the Manchu monarchy.
In April 1908, revolutionaries launched Hekou Uprising in Yunnan Province.
Tens of thousands of overseas students and Chinese celebrated Yunnan independence in Tokyo.
Later, Manchu court suspended government funding for those students who played an active role in the relief activity to Hekou Uprising.
(From 1907 to 1908, revolutionaries launched altogether eight uprisings that would include May 1907 Chaozhou [Chao Chow] Uprising in Guangdong [by Yu Chou , Cheng Yong-bo & Yu Tong], Huizhou Uprising in Guangdong by Deng Zi-yu,
July 1907 Ching-Cho Uprising in Guangdong by Fung Chung,
Oct 1907 Zhennanguan [Zheng-Nan-Quang] Uprising on Vietnam-Guangxi border by Wang Ho-shun,
and Qin-Lian Revolt by Huang Xing [Huang Ge-qiang].)
Also in 1908, Anqing Soldier Rebellion broke out, and over three hundred revolutionaries were killed in Anhui Province.
Xiong Chengji, a member under Restoration Society, was responsible for this action. (Xiong Chengji was an officer inside of cannons battalion, and led his soldiers for an uprising to avenge Xu Xilin's death by taking advantage of imperial mourning. He, later in Jan 1910, fled to Harbin of Manchuria where he was caught after a betrayal and at age 24, got executed [without kneeling down] in Jilin on Feb 27th.)
On Dec 1st 1908, Tang Jiyao graduated from Japanese Infantry Cadet Academy, with diploma conferred by Japanese emperor at the ceremony. (198 cadets of 6th session were Chinese, including Wang Zhaoji, Li Genyuan, Liu Cunhou, Luo Peijin, Yan Xishan, Sun Chuanfang, Lu Xiangting, Zhou Yinren, Tang Jiyao, Li Liejun, Yin Changheng, Zhang Fenghui and Cheng Qian. Among 6th session graduates of Japan Cadet, Yunnan Province would boast of Tang Jiyao, Luo Peijin, Li Genyuan, Liu Zuwu, Zhao Fuxiang, Li Hongxiang, Ye Quan, Zhang Kairu, Xie Ruyi and Gu Pinzhen.)
In 1909, Tao Chengzhang had an argument with Sun Yat-sen in Southeast Asia over the matter of fund raising and appropriation, and listed 14 crimes that Sun Yat-sen had committed. Tao Chengzhang re-organized Restoration Society with Zhang Taiyan and Li Xiehe.
In this year, two sisters, Yi Weijun and Yi Ruizhi, both students of martyress Qiu Jin, attempted assassination by going to Peking.
Reform consultancy committees (i.e., provincial viceregal assemblies) were set up for 'show' in all provinces in 1909.
In Yunnan Prov, Tang Jiyao and returnee students from Japan took up lecturer posts at Yunnan Province "infantry lecturing academy" which was headed by Hu Jingyi and Gao Erdeng respectively. Li Genyuan assumed the superintendent post at the academy.
In 1910, a military school attached to Manchu's Yunnan Province 19th Division was incorporated into Yunnan Province "infantry lecturing academy". On April 1st [lunar cal ?], Li Genyuan took over the schoolmaster post from Gao Erdeng. Tang Jiyao was transferred to 19th Division as tactician. Manchu military forces in Yunnan Province fell into the hands of the revolutionaries.
Li Genyuan and Luo Peijin recommended Cai E to Manchu Governor-general for Yunnan-Guizhou provinces.
In July [lunar cal ?] of 1910, Cai E took over the post of 37th brigade chief under 19th Division.
By 1910, delegates of the provincial reform consultancy committees joined in a national body at Peking, trying to hasten up parliamentary reform.
However, the new Manchu royal house still adopted a policy of absolving Han ethnic officials, and they deprived Yuan Shi-kai (Yüan Shih-k'ai) of his military post. (It was said that late Emperor Guangxu had left a will that his successor avenge on Yuan for the treachery, but Emperor Guangxu's brother absolved Yuan by merely depriving him of his military posts. )
Also in 1910, Wang Zhaoming (i.e., Wang Jingwei from Anhui Prov) returned from Japan, and Chen Bijun, after tearing apart her colonial passport, followed him to Peking. Wang Jingwei invited Huang Shuzhong and Luo Shixun in assassination of Manchu Regent Zai-li [Zai-feng].
In October, 1910, Dr. Sun launched Second Canton Uprising.
On March 29th, 1911, Dr. Sun launched Third Canton Uprising, i.e., Quang Chow revolt.
Huang Xing [aka Huang Ke-qiang] pulled ahead the uprising and personally led 100 men in the revolt, including main cadres like Lin Juemin [Ling Jaio-ming], Fang Sheng-dong & Ju Zhi-xin [Zhu Zhixin].
86 revolutionaries died during this battle, with the bodies of 72 revolutionaries later collected and buried on Huanghuagang Hill [yellow flower hill] in Canton by Huang Huagong.
Both Second Canton Uprising & Third Canton Uprising were executed by Huang Xing.
(Jiang Yongjing stated that 29 martyrs came from overseas and the rest came from six different provinces, with backgrounds varying from students to soldiers, merchants, intellectuals, martial arts masters, workers and peasants. Jiang Yongjing stated that the funds for this uprising and martyrdom, totaling 200,000 yuan or dollars, had mostly come from overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, North America and Japan.
Majority of 500 men pre-selected for this uprising had come from HK and Southeast Asia, a reason that KMT and Sun Yat-sen claimed that "overseas Chinese" were the mother of revolution.)
In April, 1911, Manchu royal house reorganized the cabinet, but they still retained 9 ethnic Manchu among altogether 14 members.
Two brothers of the regent, Zai-Xun and Zai-Tao, were both conferred the minister posts. King Qing-wang (Yi-kuang) was appointed the post of prime minister. To replace deceased Han-ethnic officials of Sun Jia'nai, Lu Chuanlin and Zhang Zhidong would be Xu Shichang as assistant to Yi-kuang.
Numerous uprisings erupted throughout the nation.
In the Yangtze River area,
in July of 1911, Song Jiaoren [Sung Chiao-jen 1882-1913], being unhappy over the failure of March 29th Canton Uprising and lamenting the deaths of revolutionaries in inconcerted uprisings (e.g., death of Xu Xilin in Anqing, Wen Shengcai in Canton and Xiong Chengji in Manchuria), had organized a Shanghai Branch of "Tong Meng Hui".
Xin Hai Revolution would be a coordinated action by the revolutionary organizations reporting to Song Jiaoren.
Parallel to the assassinations and uprisings would be a Manchu suicidal attempt at nationalizing the railways.
Manchu minister Sheng Xuanhuai's railroad naturalization led to 'Retaining (Recovering) Railroad' Movement in four provinces of Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei and Guangdong, and set up the stage for various southern provinces to declare independence.
Manchu Army System & Northern Warlords
Mr. Ding Zhongjiang wrote a great book called "History of Northern Warlords" in 1964. He thoroughly traced the warring history of China from 1912 to 1928. During this time period, there had ensued 38 cabinets, with the shortest cabinet lasting only 6 days.
This period of Chinese Republic was called Northern Warlords time period because the regimes in Peking were of the same lineage as Yuan Shi-kai cronies.
Per DZJ, the Northern Warlord Lineage could be traced to Manchu's Xiang-jun (Hunan Province Army) and Huai-jun (Anhui Province Army). Yong Ying (Brave Camp) System, including Xiang-jun and Huai-jun headed by Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, had exhibited themselves as a better army during the crackdown on Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Rebellion & Nian Rebellion. (Manchu Banner System/Green Camp System and Yong Ying (Brave Camp) System are covered in the qing.htm section.)
After defeating the Taiping Rebellion and the Nian (Nian-jun) Rebellion, majority of Xiang-jun and Huai-jun troops were retained as garrisons in place of the Eight Banner and Green-Camp soldiers. Gradually, Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang and their cronies took over the posts of governor-generals for Jiangsu and Jiangxi provinces, South-Sea Minister, North-Sea Minister and governor-general for Zhili Province (Beijing area).
Li Hongzhang, at age 42, took over governor-general for Zhili Province in 1901.
During the 1894 Sino-Japanese War, however, the backwardness of Huai-jun was shown by the total annihilation of Huai-jun's Sheng-jun column in Korea. Before the 1894 defeat, Yuan Shi-kai spent 12 years in Korea training the Korean army; after the 1895 defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, Manchu government began to recruit the so-called Xin-jun ('New Army') in accordance with the West's military system.
King Chunqin-wang (Yi-xuan), King Qingqin-wang (Yi-kuang), Weng Tonghe, Li Hongzhang and Rong-lu etc adamantly recommended Yuan Shi-kai for training 'Xin-jun' or the New Army at Xiaozhan. Yuan Shi-kai contacted Yin-chang of Tianjin's "Wubei Xuetang" Academy for referrals of talents, and Yin-chang recommended to Yuan Shi-kai "Wubei Xuetang" top students such as Feng Guozhang, Duan Qirui, Liang Huadian and Wang Shizhen. (Among the four guys, Liang Huadian accidentally drowned himself on one night, and the other three would be appointed lecturer for field or infantry battalion, cannons battalion, and cavalry battalion, respectively. The three would become the so-called 'Distinguished Three' among the Northern Warlord Armies later. Duan Qirui had at one time studied in military school in Germany.)
Yuan Shi-kai's training of the new army will be expanded to 12000 men, with eight infantry 'ying' (i.e., camps or battalions) totaling 8000 men, two cannon battalions, two battalions of cavalry totaling 1000 men, and 1000 men engineering battalion.
'Engineering Battalion' was in charge of repairing arms, building bridges, building castles, planting mines, sending telegraphs and surveying maps. German, Japanese and American lecturers were hired, and a German language school was also set up.
More available at Manchu-New-Army-New-Adm.pdf
(Check
RepublicanChina-pdf.htm
page for up-to-date updates.)
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* Stay tuned for "Republican China 1931-1941 - A Complete History" *
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Founding Of The Republic Of China (ROC)
Chinese saying goes that "the wind will be blowing through the whole storey-building at the time the mountain rain is to pour down".
Another soldier uprising, Wuchang Uprising of Oct 10th 1911 (termed Xin Hai Revolution), in Wuchang, Hubei Province, would terminate the Manchu rule in China.
Numerous factors contributed to the overthrow of Manchu Qing Dynasty. The important point to remember is that it was never an "accident" as the fuse appeared to be nor was it a revolution initiated by a few military platoon chiefs.
Cai Dongfan commented that Shen Xuanhuai's railroad nationalization had led Manchu to its demise.
Jiang Yongjing, in "The Land-Sea Ebb History of KMT", attributed multiple-province members recruited and disciplined by "Tong Meng Hui" in Japan to the success of domino-effect provincial independence during 1911 Xin Hai Revolution.
Late Historian Shen Yunlong, in his book "An anthology of Events and Figures During ROC Time", attributed Manchu Governor-general Zhang Zhidong's launching innovative academies and military academies to the upbringing of a generation of revolutionaries. Shen Yunlong also called the attention to Manchu Qing's abolition of the imperial civil services exam as a fundamental cause in re-orienting lots of talented Confucian-apprentices towards services under Manchu Qing's re-organized New Army. (Manchu Qing had authorized Yuan Shi-kai in rebuilding the New Army on basis of "rightside martial defense column", the only remnant that survived the wars against the invasion of the Eight Allied Nations while the other four columns had been basically decimated.)
Shen Yunlong stated that "You planted cucumber, but you get the beans", which was to ridicule the Manchu court as far as establishing its New Army was concerned.
By the time the uprising broke out, Manchu court had only fulfilled the recruitment of two third of the original 36 division plan, with 16 divisions and 16 mixed purpose brigades recruited.
Wuchang Uprising was heralded by Manchu 8th Division of the New Army in Hubei Prov.
China should thank three bands of revolutionaries for the overthrow of the Manchu and emergence of the Republic, namely, Sun Yat-sen's Cantonese Band, Zhang Taiyan & Tao Chengzhang's Zhejiang Band, and Huang Xing & Song Jiaoren's Hubei-Hunan Band.
Looking back in history, one would have to be moved by the great sacrifice and courage of southern Chinese, especially those of Zhejiang Province where people carried the spirits of "King Goujian Restoring Statehood" over two thousand five hundred years ago.
(Note in ancient times, Zhejiang people used to carry swords all the time in the similar belligerent fashion as Japanese samurai.)
Armed revolution, starting with Sun Yat-sen's 1895 aborted Guangzhou [Canton] Uprising & 1900 Huizhou Uprising, would be fomenting itself after the formation of "Tong Meng Hui". Though "Hua Xing Hui" 1903 Changsha Uprising was aborted, relatively independent "Guang Hui Hui" continued relentless assassinations and uprisings from 1905 to 1910.
At Wuchang, 8th Division possessed 2 brigades or 4 regiments of field army, about 6000 men; 1 regiment of cannon column and 1 regiment of cavalry, about 3000 men; and 1 engineering battalion and 1 logistics battalion, about 1000 men. Other than the armies which either stationed in provincial cities or were relocated to Sichuan Province by Rui-fang for cracking down on railroad recovery movement, Wuchang area boasted of 7500 New Army soldiers, including Li Yuanhong's 21st mixed purpose brigade of 4300 soldiers.
Alliance of Secret Societies In Hubei Province
Wuchang Uprising
Revolutionaries Cooperating With "Constitutional Monarchists"
On Nov 13th, Chen Qimei, in Shanghai, called upon provinces to send in representatives to Shanghai.
Wuchang city agreed with revolutionaries and constitutional monarchists in Shanghai city that a system similar to USA should be formulated.
Agreement was reached to have each province send in two representatives, with one representing Manchu-era consultancy bureau and the other representing provincial governor-general office.
With the compromise of revolutionaries and constitutional monarchists, about 18 provinces sent in their representatives to Shanghai.
First meeting was held on Nov 15th [Sept 25th per lunar calendar], with a decision to have governor-generals play the role of the senate by mapping the "Continental Congress" scheme of the USA at the time of the Independence War against Britain.
At the request of Li Yuanhong & Huang Xing, representatives split into two halves, with the group of people for Wuchang to be bestowed with the responsibility of drafting China's first constitution, i.e., "Organization Guidelines of the Interim Government of the Republic of China" [later commonly known as "Interim Agreed-Upon Laws"].
Representatives also devised the 18-star national flag by mapping the US national flag, which was symbolic of the 18 provinces which declared independence from Manchu court.
The 18-star national flag will then be replaced by "five color national flag" which would be symbolic of the union of five ethnic groups of Han, Manchu, Mongol, Hui Muslim and Tibetans.
Domino Effect Across China
Manchu Invoking Yuan Shi-kai For Cracking Down On Revolutionaries
Revolutionaries Embarking On Establishing the Republic & Stipulating the Constitution
Wu Luzhen Failing to Shake Up Yuan Shikai's Crony Forces
Yuan Shikai Talking 'Peace' With Revolutionaries
Revolutionaries Making Nanking the Capital of ROC
Sun Yat-sen Assumption of Interim Presidency of ROC
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US Interest Rate Down = 
China Exchange Rate Up !
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![Though, Anna Wang [Anneliese Martens], in her memoirs, expressed jealousy over Gong Peng by stating that the Anglo-American reporters had flattered the Chinese communists and the communist movement as a result of being entranced with the goldfish-eye'ed personal assistant of Zhou Enlai](GongPeng.jpg)