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THE 1911 (Xinhai) REVOLUTION

QUESTION:Examine the various factors that played a vital role in the 1911 Revolution in China andcritically analyze its various interpretations.

INTRODUCTION:

In the face of foreign imperial and dynastic decline, there emerged two major politicalmovements in China, each representing a different approach to the problem. The first,was a revolutionary reform led by Dr Sun Yat Sen who aimed to introduce sweepingchanges and completely overthrow the Manchu dynasty, establish a parliamentaryrepublic and constitutional government. The second was a progressive reform of 1898,led by K'ang Yu-wei from which evolved Ch'ing reform, and aimed to introduce strictlyconstitutional changes in the system. The Chinese revolutionaries slowly gainedincreasing support from the young intellectuals in the face of discriminatory and

insincere Manchu endeavors. Eventually, the movement managed to replace the rusticimperial institution with a republic. The Manchus who had entered China in 1644 asconquerors had completely lost face before the Chinese republic. A desperate strugglefor survival was highlighted in an anti Chinese policy under the pretext of reform andconstitutionalism. Such a flagrant show of discrimination amidst rapid dynastic declineonly served to exacerbate opposition from the ruled.

BACKGROUND:

As far as Dr Sun Yat Sen was concerned, there were a few things worth noting. Sociallyas well as geographically, Dr Sun Yat Sen's origin was opportune. Son of a peasant, he

was schooled by an uncle who had fought for the lost cause of the Taiping. Heapproached China's problems from opposite social contexts, with antithetic

preconceptions and through different media. Basically, Dr Sun Yat Sen had built up theentire structure of early Revolutionary movement. However, there were certain other

prevailing conditions that require attention. Jonathan Spence points out certain reformsthat further aggravated the social inequalities and furthered discontent.

1. The first dramatic gesture in the direction of constitutional reform was made bythe Empress Dowager Cixi in 1905, when she ordered a small study group andofficials to travel to Japan, Russia, USA, Britain, France, Germany and Italy, tostudy their governments.

2. Other proposed reforms were to establish women schools, to develop an urbanpolice system, and, in particular, to re direct funds from local communityorganizations to the needs of reforming local government and education.

3. Under the law of avoidance, Qing officials were barred from serving in theirown native provinces so they could not use their office to bolt their economicinterests back at home. However, local men appointed to local offices were able toabuse and consolidate their power in their own communities.

4. Another example of ambiguity of reform was the abolition of the state

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examination system in 1905. On hand, this could be viewed as a greateropportunity for the talented of varied groups, but in fact it was largely the sons ofthe traditional elite groups who had the money and the ambition to enroll in thenew schools.

5. In late 1908, the court announced that full constitutional government would beestablished over the next nine year period.

6. Sun's Three People Principles of Nationalism, Democracy and Socialism also hada major impact and were accepted as the revolutionary philosophy. However, themajority of the members focused only on the 1st two principles of nationalism anddemocracy. This was because the China Revival Society and the RestorationSociety, both of which emphasized the overthrow of Manchus and theestablishment of a republic.

Jonathan Spence, after enumerating these various 'so called ' reforms, remarks, that thesesuggest the 'frailty of proto democratic institutions and the difficulty of establishing them

in an unprepared context. Members of the Confucian educated Chinese elite, whetheroffice holding, landholding, or involved in trade, enjoyed a natural dominance in thecountryside and the cities.

CAUSES OF 1911 REVOLUTION:

BUDGETRY DEFICIT:The resulting budgetary deficit was so huge, that it had to be met by increasedagricultural taxes, a wide range of new duties on tea, wine, salt and tobacco; high transitand custom dues, and special taxes on all real estate and land registration deals. Marie

Claire Bergere argues that in the economic sphere, the Chinese reaction to the westernaggression was quite adept, adroit and a successful effort to industrialize, the main aimof the foreign powers in the opening up of the country was to promote the expansion oftrade. Eventually, the balance of trade was disrupted and China was forced to make upher trade deficit in cash. From the western perspective, the tendency at this time was toregard the Chinese market more as an outlet for manufactured items than a source ofsupply for primary products, or local agricultural products for export.

JAPANESE INFLUENCE:The period from 1898- 1914 saw a majorJapanese influence on the course of Chinese

history. Japan was the home base for anti- Qing revolutionaries. The Japanese stimulusto modern education, militarism and constitutionalism in China, was a part of a broadercontribution to the rise of Chinese nationalism in general. Japan's influence in this brief

period was more direct, profound and far reaching than that of Britain in the 19th century.Reason being that, Japan's geographical and cultural proximity to China was closer.Also, it can be noted that, China, in that age was more eager to learn and Japan, moreeager to teach.

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ROLE OF RAILWAYS: Many Chinese considered railways as disruptive to the harmony of nature and ofmanThe foreign powers had made it clear that they would go ahead and build railways intheir areas of influence despite the protests of the Qings. In 1895, railway constructionhad started in different parts of China; The Germans, in Shandong; the British in Yangzivalley; the French from Hanoi to Kunming; the Russians in the Heilongjiang province;the Japanese from North Korea to Mukden. These had become tools of economicimperialism, preliminary to opening mines, extracting resources, and exploiting markets. However, a strong mood of nationalism had prevailed in China. The aim was toraise money through local bonds so that the Chinese could buy back the railroad rightsmade available to foreign investors and thus regain complete control over their owntransport system. The court therefore decided to buy out the rights to the railway linesfrom their Chinese investors and to nationalize the whole system under Qing control. Asa reaction to this, the railway agitation of 1910 and 1911 protested on the grounds that

the Qing was selling out the nations resources to the foreigners.

ROLE OF SECRET SOCIETIES:Anti Manchu sentiment never disappeared through the 268 year reign of the dynasty.Although their activities did not result in the direct overthrow of the alien rule, the germof revolution was kept alive in underground organizations and secret societies. TheRevolt of the Three Feudatories, the activities of the Heaven and Earth Society, theWhite Lotus Rebellion and the Taiping revolution all demonstrated the never endingthread of nationalistic- racial protest.

FOREIGN INFLUENCE:With the French, American and the Glorious Revolution (England), the ideas of liberty,equality, democracy, human rights, independence and freedom swept through the mindsof the young Chinese having a profound impact on them. More so, the success of theItalian and German unification's in 1870, prompted the Chinese to take similar action.

NEED FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION:The monarchical institution of China, in the view of Dr Sun Yat Sen was responsible forthe succession of the imperial dynasties in China. Chinese history revolved around thecycle of division, disorder, unification and despotism. In this process, the country and

the people mercilessly suffered and the historical pattern repeated itself periodically. Tobreak this cycle, it was necessary to replace the monarchical institutions with a federalrepublic. In order to achieve this, Dr Sun Yat Sen felt, that the people should be engagedin a National Revolution to bring about the downfall of the imperial system and theManchu dynasty.

ROLE OF EDUCATIONImmigrant Chinese and the westerners played a major role in education. For example,

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Spence talks of how the Empress Dowager sent a study group of officials to travel toJapan, Russia, USA, Britain, France, Germany and Italy, to study their governments.Institutions were also started by missionaries and these were the centers through whichideas of equality, liberty and brotherhood developed. Therefore, all these factors helpedDr Sun Yat Sen to mobilize these section of people and money sources from the supportof various secret societies)in order to make it a more peaceful country.

ECONOMIC DEPLETION AND TAXATION BURDENThe discontent of people was severely heightened by increased taxation stemming fromhuge sums of war indemnity. With the introduction of various foreign banks, the processof drain of wealth had begun. These introduced a systematic method of exploitation-loans to people, government and industry, assigned to the clients at an obvious highinterest rate. New reforms of rail, education, industry and road required fund led to nosource of income, but only further burden.

ROLE OF MEDIA:The press, newspapers & magazines fueled the spreading of revolutionary ideas andliterature. This became the medium of transmission of western thoughts and ideas; likethe social contract theory.

TRADITIONAL REASONS:1. Overpopulation.2. Inadequate resources.3. Unbiased utilization of resources.4. Unemployment.

5. Social degradation.6. Inherent feudal attitude of China's society.7. Natural calamities (Dynastic cycle).8. Lack of funds.9. No government support and disintegration of divine imperialist government; the

Manchu dynasty.

HISTORIOGRAPHY:Most historians have underlined the role of educational reforms in the 1911 Revolution.They have stressed the importance on how these reforms in the educational sector

brought about a whole new world of ideas centering themes like liberty, equality andfreedom; which helped bringing down the dynastic rule.

Fairbankhas argued that though some sharp fighting occurred in the Wuhan cities, the1911 Revolution was singularly non violent. It was also inconclusive as its main aim

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was purely negative; to get rid of the Manchu rule. 1911, though it marked the end of anera, it was also significant as the beginning of a prolonged crisis of central power in theworlds most ancient government.Hsu argues that the Revolution and the republic had not brought the anticipated peaceand order, instead the republican period saw more and lawlessness than before. Itresembled the traditional disorder and chaos that always followed the fall of a dynasty.Yet, Sun, had laid the foundation for progress, from which his disciples could carry on.Chesenaux stresses the role of the politicized proletariat. Generally, a lot of strikes took

place in the work place of this proletariat class. This eventually had a long term effect,as the nature of these protests and strikes were usually political, and not economic innature. They shared an anti imperialistic feeling.M Wright underlined the role of the educational youth as well; calling them the mostvibrant force in the nation. Besides the educational elite, the migrant Chinese were alsoable to experience freedom and modern ideas of a modern nation inclined with theirloyalty for the Chinese nationalists by sending money for the required purposes.

M.B Rankin argues, that the foreign experience of many youngsters from the gentrybackground made them influence the countryside with ideas of romanticism, heroic selfsacrifice and revolutionary ideas. Rankin, in fact has even questioned, as to whether the1911 'Revolution' deserves to be called a Revolution or not.Finally, Harold Issac under-defines the role of capitalism in China. He says, that morethan capitalism, the final blow to the dynasty was from the reformist group under Dr SunYat Sen. The Chinese society, according to him was on the brink of a political

breakdown and chaos as a result of Western expansion against the Chinese shore.

Marxist historians comment, that for the first time, a bourgeois class was seen in China,

as a result of foreign trade and treaty port system. Initially, being supporters of theWesterners, they eventually switched sides, as they realized that the government wouldnot protect their industrial interests against foreign encroachment as native Chinese men.Therefore, according to the Marxists, nationalist reformist groups were supported by the

bourgeoisie class, since the present government couldn't support them. Demanding achange , this bourgeoisie class rooted for a strong central government that supportedchange.

Chen Tiejian underlined the role of the native bourgeoisie as it was the only progressiveforce that was relatively mature to start and lead a Revolution. Though it had its own

inherent weaknesses, M. Wright and several other historians have emphasized the role ofthis class in the Revolution.Imperialist writerP. H Kent, puts the Sichuan struggle something between the centralauthority and provincial autonomy. The argument goes in the direction of how provincialinterest against the imperial authority in the railway crisis context.Peter Zarrowpoints out, that society and polity didn't really change after the 1911Revolution. It then turned into an era of warlords. The gentry class clung on to thedynastic class which now did not exist. He classifies the interpretation of the 1911

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Revolution in 3 broad categories:1. The Revolutionaries Revolution. (Dr Sun Yat Sen and his group)2. The Bourgeoisie Revolution.3. The Urban Gentry Revolution

A) The Revolutionaries Revolution. (Dr Sun Yat Sen and his group):Most mainstream historians underline the importance of the heroism of few leaders andthe role that educational reforms played. However, according to Zarrow, the Manchugovernment fell because its own army was not willing to support it. Neither did thegentry or the industrialists have any reason to support it.

B) The Bourgeoisie Revolution:Chinese communist historians regard the 1911 movement as a revolution led by the

bourgeoisie, whose members were democratic and socialist in outlook. As far as ifnationalism is concerned, the communist theory is that it got rid of the Manchus, only to

capitulate to Western imperialism. Its democracy failed to reverse the absolutism of theimperial regime. This semi impotence and partial failure are attributed to 2 main causes: The numerical weakness of the bourgeoisie and its lack of political maturity,which made it incapable of choosing the right allies in the struggle and led it to rely onthe gentry rather than on the peasant masses. The deep hostility shown by the foreign powers towards the republican movementand the aspirations of the bourgeoisie, whose expansion could only take place at theexpense of the imperialist powers with vested interests in China.

Marie Claire Bergere talks of economic incentive for the foreign powers as one of the

industrializing factors in China. She talks of how the supply of cheap labor andavailability of raw material at a low price was an attractive offer to the entrepreneurswho sought to increase their profits. According to her, the Chinese tried to take part inthis development; but when it came to industrial expansion, collaboration gave way todirect competition in which the Chinese entrepreneur, handicapped from the outset bythe absence of any effective tariff protection, had little chance of success. Thisindustrialization process implied the erection of the necessary buildings, a provision fora means of transport and communication. Therefore, an overall growth of urbandevelopment led to the destruction of ancient buildings and erection of new structures.This development, (rather changes) according to Bergere had very minute effects on

Chinese economic life as a whole, in which traditional methods of agriculture remaineda predominant feature. She argues that the commercial exploitation of primary productssuch as silk, cotton and tea and the supply for manufactured goods for the domesticmarket were on a very small scale that they ranked as secondary features of the Chineseeconomy.Albert Feurwerker points out that the existence of treaty ports made little difference tothe lives/methods of production, in areas where new channels of trade were beingdeveloped. By no means, could the decline of the handicrafts industry and certain other

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sectors be generalized. On the contrary, the industrialization of spinning and amechanized consumer based marked stimulated handicraft production.G. William Skinner propounds the false modernization theory where the requirementsof foreign trade and the new demand have intensified this trade, but its pattern stillfollowed the old models. Only big cities and areas immediately surrounding them had

been affected by the introduction of modern transport and communications. Apart fromthese, there was no such change in the market structure during the first years of the 20th

century. A number of markets increased under the growing influence and stimulus offoreign trade.Joseph Esherickargues that even if there is a question as to whether it deserves to becalled a Revolution or not, it did end millenia of imperial rule. The monarchy wasreplaced by a republic, even if was not like the republic, the Chinese and the Westernadvocates would have liked to be. The abolition of the examinations destroyed thetraditional criterion for gentry status. The establishment of Chambers of Commerceallowed and even encouraged merchant participation in the political process. The

constitutional reforms institutionalized the power of local elites to an unprecedenteddegree.

C) The Urban Gentry Revolution:The third school categorically say that the local elite feared local violence and wanted tomake sure that the radical element did not claim power. They wanted preservation oftheir rights and the provincial leaders wanted cession from the center.

CONCLUSION!!:

The Japanese provided their support for the 1911 Revolution. Provisional governmentwas started under Dr Sun Yat Sen, with Nanking as its capital. Delegates form 13

provinces lent their support to Dr Sun Yat Sen to start a republic in China. Subsequently,he became the president of The Young Republic of China. The 1911 Revolution was a

great success in bringing down a dynastic rule in China that lasted 2100 years.In the early years of Republic of China, the intellectuals in China and the participants ofthe Revolution were excited by the revolution's success in overthrowing the ManchuDynasty, and they had high hopes for the revolution. However, because democracy had

been only partially realized after the 1911 Revolution, people began to develop differentperspectives. After the 1920s, the two dominant parties - the Nationalist Party and theCommunist Party- evaluated the 1911 Revolution quite differently. The Nationalist Partyrecognized Sun Yat-Sen as the Father of the Nation and as the leader who led the 1911

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Revolution to success. They had a high opinion of the 1911 Revolution, viewing the1911 Revolution as the starting point of the modern history of China, and as the keyelement that enabled China to develop into a democratic and modern nation. On theother hand, the Communist Party thought that the 1911 Revolution merely overthrew thetotalitarian rule of the Qing Dynasty. It did not oppose imperialism or feudalism becausethe bourgeois class was thought to be compromising and feeble, and therefore it did notcreate a truly republican system. Land had not been redistributed equally, and atransformation of society had not been achieved. The revolution ended up yielding to theWestern powers, and it compromised with Yuan Shikai, who represented the old regime.At the same time however, they recognized that, if viewed as a first stage of reform, the1911 Revolution had achieved much and had set the stage for further revolutions.