- What was the Chinese Revolution of 1911?
- Background to the Chinese Revolution of 1911
- Causes of the 1911 Chinese Revolution
- Consequences of the Chinese Revolution of 1911
- The imperial revival
We explain what the Chinese Revolution of 1911 or the Xinai Revolution was, its causes, consequences and main events.
What was the Chinese Revolution of 1911?
The Xinhai Revolution, the First Chinese Revolution or the Chinese Revolution of 1911 was the nationalist and republican revolt that arose in Imperial China at the beginning of the 20th century. He overthrew the last Chinese imperial dynasty, the Qing dynasty, establishing the ROC in its place.
This insurrection was known as Xinhai because 1911, according to the Chinese calendar, was the year of the mother branch of Xinhai ("metal pig" in Chinese). Although studied as a single movement, the Xinhai Revolution actually consisted of numerous uprisings and revolts.
Its starting point is considered the so-called Wuchang Uprising of October 10, 1911, an event that triggered and precipitated the revolution. It had international support since Sun Yat-sen, an anti-monarchical revolutionary and father of modern China, was at the time in exile in the United States.
Background to the Chinese Revolution of 1911
The history of Imperial China during the 19th century was complicated, with abundant foreign meddling that sought to profit from opium and unleashing the First and Second Wars of Opium against Great Britain and France, in which China always fared very badly.
The same happened with the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895 and later with the Boxer Uprising (1899-1901). These conflicts greatly punished the Chinese people and demonstrated the shortcomings of the ruling feudal system, very technologically behind the rest of the world.
The opening of China to innovations foreign (factories, banks, machinery, etc.) was at the same time an opportunity to modernize the system agricultural, and an affront to methods traditional Chinese traditions and customs, so that the task of stabilizing the nation.
However, European influences brought republican ideas with them, which were embraced by Sun Yat-sen and his nationalist party, the Kuo-Min-Tang, which began formal functions in 1911.
Causes of the 1911 Chinese Revolution
The main cause behind the outbreak of the Revolution has to do with the conditions of misery and backwardness in which Chinese society lived, especially the peasantry, in the feudal society that sustained the monarchy in the government.
Added to this is the constant interference of foreign powers in local politics, imposing conditions that only favored their interests and concessions, as well as their commercial privileges. This resulted in numerous internal outbreaks that were brutally repressed by the aristocracy, which led them to operate in a clandestine and highly organized manner.
The explosion of the rebellion, however, was due to the misuse of resources on the part of the Beijing government, destined to complete the tracks of the Hukwang railway in central China, which sparked immediate unrest among the population.
Coincidentally, a conspiracy was discovered in the army of Wuchang on the march, due to the explosion of a bomb in the city of Hànkou in 1911. The conspirators, instead of surrendering, resisted by force to the authority and thus lit the fuse revolutionary that spread throughout China, rising up against the authority of the Qing.
Consequences of the Chinese Revolution of 1911
On October 11 the revolutionaries took Hànyáng and the following day Hànkôu. As riots were common in southern China, the authorities took longer than they should to react and, when they did, entrusting the work of appeasement to the military Yuan Shikai, hero of the Sino-Japanese War, it was impossible to quell the uprising.
Twelve points of claim were made to the Qing promoting a parliamentary system, and thus Yuan Shikai himself assumed the post of Prime Minister of the Qing Empire. Achieving a consensus among the people was impossible, and on November 30, 1911, the Republic of China was proclaimed in Nanking, whose first president was Sun Yat-sen, back from the United States.
Subsequently, on February 12, 1912, the last Qing emperor, the child Puyi or Xuantong emperor, abdicated under pressure from the prime minister himself, who in exchange for his cooperation He went on to exercise the presidency of the Republic.
In March 1912 the Republican Constitution was promulgated, calling for parliamentary elections within ten months. Thus died the 2000-year tradition of an Imperial China, and the short-lived ROC was born, from whose values nationalists come from both the People's Republic of China (mainland) and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
Another important consequence was the creation of the Chinese nationalist party (Kuomintang) by Sun Yat-sen, which would play an important role in the Chinese Civil War to come.
The imperial revival
In 1913, when the elections were carried out as dictated by the Constitution, the then president, the military man Yuan Shikai, refused to leave power and ruled de facto. In 1915 he restored the imperial character to his government, pretending to establish himself in a new personal dynasty.
On January 1, 1916, Yuan Shikai ascended to the throne, although just three months later he was forced to resign from power. He died on June 6 of that same year, abandoned by his followers.