BACKGROUND AND CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION OF 1911
Introduction:
The Chinese Revolution of 1911 was a major landmark in the history of
the world and not just in China. It marked the end of one era and the
beginning of another. It was for the first time that the Manchu dynasty
was overthrown and a republic was established. At the same time, it
also brought chaos in the shape of warlordism and left China under
imperialist oppression. However, it is crucial to recall that the
fundamental root of the Chinese revolutionary movement was
Confucian doctrine. The Chinese monarch, according to Confucianism,
controlled under the ‘mandate of heaven.' The emperor was meant to
ensure peace and order and to enrich the prosperity of the people in
exchange for his tyrannical rule. Under these circumstances, it was
claimed that the emperor had forfeited his 'mandate from above,' and
that the population had the right to rise against him and elect a new
ruler. However, nationalist feelings among the young and intelligent
parts of Chinese society increasingly gathered strength, culminating in
the 1911 Revolution led by Dr Sun Yat-Sen. The 1911 Revolution
brought the Manchu dynasty to an end and ushered in a republican era
in China.
Background of Chinese Nationalism:
Secret Organizations:
These secret societies promoted anti-foreign and anti-Manchu attitudes
in many areas of Chinese society. Several secret societies were fervent
nationalists. These groups recruited unemployed and unhappy teens
and gave them military training to foment rebellions. The White Lotus
Order, a secret Buddhist order, started a great revolt in Central China.
In 1822, Small Pax Chu, flew the banner of resistance. Members of the
secret societies known as the Triads and Yae wrought havoc in Hunan
during the 1830s. The other secret society active in China was the
Heaven and Earth Society.
Taiping's Revolt (1851-1864):
The Taiping Rebellion, in the mid-nineteenth century, was the first
serious anti-Manchu revolt. It began in the South China highlands. The
Taiping Rebellion formed a parallel government, the Heavenly Kingdom
of Great Peace (Taiping Tien-Kuo), which governed a wide area of
southern China for more than a decade.
The Manchus destroyed the Taiping Rebellion in 1864 with the support
of local militias headed by scholar generals like Tseng Kuo Fan and Li
Hung Chang, as well as international assistance.
Despite the Taiping Rebellion's early end, its insurrection revived ethnic
enmity, coupled with the forces of current nationalism to bring China's
imperial rule to an end less than fifty years after the uprising ended.
Boxer Uprising (1900):
In the Boxer Uprising of 1900 following the Taiping Rebellion, several
modifications were attempted in a range of fields. Tseng Kuo Fan and Li
Hung Chang, who were largely responsible for the Taipings'
suppression, took the lead in advocating reforms.
The Boxers harbored anti-Manchu views. The Boxers began their revolt
in June 1900 by assaulting missionaries and foreigners in general. The
Boxer Uprising largely affected the provinces of Shantung, Chihli,
Shansi, and Manchuria. The Boxers displayed their anti-foreign feelings
by uprooting railroads and telegraph cables, torching churches, and
massacring missionaries and Chinese Christians. On 21 June 1901,
encouraged by the Boxers' success, the Manchu government declared
war on the foreigners. A combined force of the major Western Powers
and Japan marched into Peking, destroyed the Boxers and the Chinese
government army, and secured a huge indemnity from the Chinese
government via the Boxer Protocol (1901).
The Causes of the 1911 Revolution:
Decline of the Manchu Dynasty:
There was a paucity of effective Manchu leadership in the late
nineteenth century. Women, eunuchs, and cliques of inept and corrupt
bureaucrats and courtiers inhabited the royal court and palace. Under
these circumstances, the Manchu rulers could not provide the desirable
leadership to the country. The affairs of the state slid into disarray.
Inertia, inefficiency, and corruption marked the administrative system.
The civil service degraded into corruption and indolence. The absence
of central control extended misadministration and corruption in the
provinces. The common people in the provinces became victims of
bribery, extortion, miscarriage of justice, and man-made famines.
Political decentralization as such had been getting serious since the
Taiping Rebellion. At that time, the Manchu court approved the
development of regional forces for suppressing rebellions. These
regional forces were locally based, sponsored by local money, and
schooled to obey local province officials. The Opium Wars and the
Taiping Rebellion exposed the military fragility of the Manchu
administration and worsened the decline of the dynasty.
Economic and Social Causes:
Overpopulation imposed an increasing burden on cultivable land which
was restricted in amount and was concentrated in powerful landlords.
The lack of industrialization results in tremendous unemployment. As a
result, more people only meant increasing socio-economic suffering
and inequality. As society was poor, the taxes that the Manchu
government could collect were limited in amount. Corruption in the
Chinese bureaucracy impacted the peasants the most. The tax
collectors exploited the uneducated farmers by collecting two to three
times the assessed taxes.
Economic depressions were generated due to recurring natural
calamities such as floods and famines. Absentee landlordism and the
devastation of domestic industry increased the despair of the peasants
and craftsmen. The Chinese treasury was on the verge of insolvency.
China has to invest a significant amount of money in modernization.
Heavy war reparation that China had to pay to Japan following its
defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) seriously drained the
resources of the country.
Failure of the Reform Programmes:
The main reform program, known as the 'Hundred Days Reforms', was
initiated by Emperor Kuang Hsu under the supervision of Kang Yu-wei in
1898, to an early and inglorious end due to conservative opposition.
The radical elements in the southern portion of China and the Chinese
exiles overseas grew convinced that for the reforms and rebirth of
China, the alien Manchu monarchy had to be overthrown.
Development of the Chinese economy on modern lines gave rise to a
new class, that of merchants as well as scholar-officials. Their desires
and ideals diverged from those of the erstwhile ruling elite.
One of the aims of the Manchu reform programs was to expand the
authority of the central government over the provinces. The common
people and provincial bureaucrats opposed this intrusion on the
traditional powers and privileges of the local bodies.
Spread of Western Education:
Through missionary efforts and via treaty ports, contemporary notions
such as democracy and republicanism were conveyed to and
popularised among Chinese intellectuals. These progressive young
people were greatly affected by examples of significant European
revolutions such as the French Revolution of 1789 and national
unifications such as the Italian and German Unification of 1871. These
abroad Chinese came in contact with new Western ideals. They were
influenced by liberal ideas such as liberty, equality, fraternity,
republicanism, and democracy. Many Chinese went into exile or were
transferred as trainees to neighbouring country, Japan. Chinese
revolutionaries who were in self-exile in Japan surreptitiously
attempted to diminish their commitment to the Manchu kingdom.
Foreign education increasingly promoted the establishment of patriotic
and anti-Manchu revolutionary ideas among the Chinese educated
class.
Role of Dr. Sun Yat-sen: The movement for a revolution and republic
had begun fifteen years before the events in 1911. Dr. Sun Yat-sen, a
Western-educated convert to Methodist Christianity became the chief
architect of the Revolution of 1911. Dr. Sun Yat-sen journeyed between
Hong Kong, Malaya, Japan, and America. He dedicated his efforts and
exploited his influence to produce cash and win recruits for a
revolution. Most of the financial help for the revolutionaries came from
the overseas Chinese, mainly from affluent businessmen. They were
generous in their contributions to a revolutionary movement, which
they viewed as essentially a nationalist and modernizing movement.
In 1905, Dr. Sun created a secret revolutionary group in Tokyo called
the Tung Meng Hui (Revolutionary Alliance). Its principal objective was
to promote revolutionary beliefs among the numerous Chinese
students who had migrated to Japan to pursue modern education.
Between 1906 and 1911, the followers of Dr. Sun Yatsen failed in 10
violent uprisings against the Manchu Empire. None of these efforts got
an adequate number of participants. Following the failure of the tenth
great insurrection at Canton on 27 April 1910, Dr. Sun Yat-sen fled
Japan. Later, he came to the United States to seek support for his
revolutionary operations and raise extra cash from the Chinese
residents.
Immediate Cause-Nationalization of the Railways:
The final crisis that prompted the 1911 Revolution was a fight over
control of China's railway. Many Chinese considered foreign control of
the railway network as a grave threat to their country's independence.
Members of the local aristocracy had contributed significant capital to
the railroad's development. Early in 1911, the central government
cancelled private railway building rights in Central, South, and
Southwest China by a decree for railway nationalization. This decision
was primarily prompted by the intention to mortgage these railway
lines to foreign banks in exchange for a six-million-pound loan from a
consortium of American, British, French, and German bankers.
The agitation began as a 'Movement for Railroad Protection.' The May
1911 decision to nationalize provincial railroads struck a raw chord in
Sichuan and other central provinces. This action precipitated the
explosion that resulted in the 1911 Revolution. In Sichuan, people of
many classes were united by a nationalist movement that was anti-
Western in aim, anti-Manchu in practice, hostile to absolute monarchy,
and already revolutionary. As news of the turmoil spread throughout
central and southern China, hidden revolutionary groups, especially Dr.
Sun Yat-sen's, redoubled their efforts to mount a great insurrection.
