The last decades of the Qing empire saw the concurrent rise of a strong reform movement
and the first truly modern Chinese revolutionary party - the Guomindang of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen.
This week we’ll look into the background of the important reformers and revolutionary
movements within China, that eventually toppled the Qing dynasty.
To be fair: this video is centred more around Sun Yat-sen, as the most important reform
movements have already been covered in two previous videos.
Sun Yat-sen’s story however, well, the man certainly lived an adventurous life to say
the least.
-intro-
The Reformers
After the 100 days’ of radical reforms under the Kuang-hsui emperor in 1898, Empress Dowager
Cixi launched her conservative coup d’etat.
Those reformers that managed to flee to Japan, established the ‘society of protecting the
emperor’.
Their goal was to realize a constitutional monarchy under emperor Kuang-hsu, under house
arrest still, and the incremental creation of a parliament.
China ought to modernize and it needed the full support of its nation.
A constitutional monarchy was China’s best bet to successfully modernize.
Kang Yu-wei, together with Liang Chi-chao, the principal architects of the 100 days of
reform, managed to flee to Japan.
They received much support from young Chinese, many of whom studied in Tokyo and Kyoto.
Due to educational reforms on the Chinese mainland, Kang’s ideas found support from
the new Chinese intelligentsia, schooled under the new system.
What exactly were these ideas by Kang that met so much resistance by the Qing and support
among the young intelligentsia?
Kang reinterpreted many Confucian classics.
He interpreted a passage in the Book of Rites as prescribing linear growth and evolution.
Three stages he defined were (1) disorder, (2) Approaching Peace and Small Tranquillity,
and (3) Great Peace and Great Unity.
Based on this analysis, China was currently moving from a period of disorder towards approaching
peace and small tranquillity.
Kang, in essence, managed to align old Chinese texts with Western theories of evolution and
progress.
This is very important, as reform in China ought to be based on the classic texts and
Confucian thought that so many civil servants and gentry were schooled upon.
Part of the gentry, especially merchants and middle class citizens living in urban areas
longed for modernisation.
Chinese emigrant communities and capitalists longed for a stronger state that was able
to protect their interests.
At any rate, Kang stayed for a time at Prince Okuma’s, the founder of the Japanese progressive
party.
He had been Japan’s prime minister, albeit brief in 1898, and was the author of the Okuma
doctrine.
In essence, this doctrine propagated the notion that due to Japan modernizing before China,
it owed the country a debt of aiding it with its process of modernization and guaranteeing
its freedom.
Inukai, a follower of Okuma went to great lengths to have Chinese political exiles and
revolutionaries meet each other.
Inukai even managed to issue a meeting between Kang Yu-wei and the founder of the revive
China society: Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
Kang refused to meet Sun unless he’d pledge his allegiance..
And the two men had fundamentally different notions of reformist thought.
Sun considered a revolutionary necessary in order to establish a republic, while Kang
vowed his loyalty to the Kuang-hsu emperor.
Collaboration wasn’t likely… but Sun Yat-Sen, he would become very important in China’s
history for the decades to come.
The Revolutionaries
After 1905 the considerable moderate group of reformers would be surpassed in popularity
by a much more radical organisation, lead by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen.
So, what exactly were their objectives, and who was Sun Yat-Sen?
Well, like Kang Yu-Wei, Sun Yat-Sen too was originally from Canton, although from early
on he had travelled all over the world.
Canton, traditionally at the centre of Western imperialism in China, harbored groups of Chinese
with strong anti-Western, and anti-Qing feelings, as the Qing had been ‘unable to protect
the Chinese against the Westerners’.
Whereas Kang was educated based on Confucian classics, Sun Yat-Sen received an entirely
Westernized education.
The Sino-French war, also known as the Tonkin war, and China’s defeat of 1885 sparked
his patriotism after experiencing the war up close.
Sun Yat-Sen was ambivalent during his early life, however, asking himself whether he wanted
to reform China or lead a revolution…
It boiled down to one question: did China have to be destroyed for it to be built up?
Though not fruitful, Sun Yat-Sen attempted to receive Li Hung-chang’s advice about,
and support for his reform ideas.
Li Hung-Chang was the military leader of anti-Taiping forces during the rebellion and notable proponent
of the self-strengthening movement during the 1860s and 70s.
Li was convinced the usage of Western weaponry and military tactics would be necessary, to
safeguard the traditional Chinese values and rebuild Chinese strength and power, in order
to prevent further Western influences... ‘use the barbarians to control the barbarians’,
as they said.
Interestingly enough, this stood in stark contrast with Sun Yat-Sen’s conviction,
who attempted to convince Li that the wealth, strength and power of Western powers was not
due to their gunboats and weaponry, but thanks to their education and the belief that people
ought to develop fully to their capability.
Free markets and usage of land, the developed codes of law were among other things.
Li did not even bother to grant Sun an audience as Sun persistently argued in favour of these
reasons.
Bitter and disappointed, in 1894 in Honolulu, Hawaii, he founded the ‘revive China society’,
a radical anti-Manchu secret organization.
Its 112 members swore to expel the Manchu and install a federal republic.
In 1895, together with 3000 sympathizers, Sun attempted to seize control of Canton.
The whole rebellion was badly organized and had inadequate weaponry and funding.
Qing authorities got wind of it, rounded as many revolutionaries up as they could and
forty-eight were to be executed.
Sun fled the country, now officially living as a revolutionary in exile.
From Hong-Kong Sun went to japan and the United States, eventually travelling to Europe.
Imperial agents attempted to kidnap Sun multiple times throughout these years.
One of the more famous, and admittedly clumsy, attempts was a kidnap attempt in London where
Sun was locked up by Qing agents in the Chinese Legation in London.
The goal was to ship him back to China, have him stand trial and have him executed.
He was freed however and the botched abduction turned him into somewhat of a celebrity around
Europe.
Sun traveled all over Europe and the United States, refining his political thought and
views.
While in exile, the conservative coup against the emperor by Empress Dowager Cixi and the
humiliating Boxer Protocol of 1901 only grew Sun’s prestige, while that of the dynasty
dwindled.
Sun now seeked support from the same groups that Kang Yu-wei was seeking support from.
This shaped a bitter rivalry between the two men, whose political views, as we touched
upon before, were far apart, though both condemned by Beijing.
One such supporter was Charlie Soong.
His three daughters, would play a major role in Chinese politics during the next century.
Ching-ling married Sun Yat-sen, only to join the Communists under Mao Zedong after Sun’s
death and Mei-ling married Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Guomindang and staunch opponent
of Mao’s communists.
I promise you will hear more about them in a future video.
Sun Yat-Sen’s Program
Sun Yat-Sen’s political program encompassed three main points which I will elaborate a
bit upon.
The first was the principle of nationalism.
Sun Yat-Sen wanted to liberate the Chinese from the ‘foreign’ Manchu domination.
Due to political and strategic reasons, Sun did not resist the foreigners and, on multiple
occasions, explicitly confirmed he would comply with treaty agreements the Qing had signed.
After all, Sun’s revolution would have no chance of success if he turned on the Western
powers.
The second principle was the ‘the people’s power’, and it encompassed the gradual implementation
of western-style democracy.
The first stage after the revolution would be a military-style dictatorship, the second
phase an ‘incremental democracy’ and the last phase would be the implementation of
a proper democracy.
The institutions within the state would consist of five powers - the Montesquieu’s Trias
Politica (legislative, judiciary and executive powers) supplemented with two traditionally
Chinese institutions: a control (audit branch) and an examination branch, in order to select
civil servants.
Lastly, the third principle is translated as ‘people’s welfare and livelihood’.
A government for the people, if you will.
It was the social-economic part of Sun’s program.
Emphasis was put on, among others, John Stuart Mill’s theory that the value of land would
increase due to industrialisation.
This increase in value should, via taxing the land, be distributed among the Chinese
population.
It would be the solution to social inequality.
Interestingly enough, these three principles remain, as of today, the credo of China’s
nationalist party in Taiwan.
The Tongmenghui
In 1905, under Japanese encouragement, Sun Yat-Sen was brought into contact with Huang
Hsing and others of the Hunan group.
They would go on to establish the Guomindang in 1911 but for now, in Tokyo in 1905 the
T’ung-meng Hui (the Revolutionary Alliance) was established.
Sun was its chief executive, Huang Hsing was the second in command and other prominent
revolutionaries were assigned to key posts.
The Tung-meng Hui had offices all over the world, from Brussels to Singapore, and though
it had around a thousand members, it had branches in seventeen Chinese provinces.
The Tung-meng Hui was becoming a force to be reckoned with.
Republican and socialist ideas, in line with Sun’s ideology, were distributed via the
official Tung Meng Hui journal, the people (min-pao).
Liang Chi-chao and Kang Youwei’s ideas of reform and a constitutional monarchy, following
Japan’s example, were vigorously attacked.
It was argued that China would be able to surpass the West, if only a few strong men
took control of the country.
Interestingly enough, Japan was used as an example for this point of view as well.
Sun’s three-stage program for democracy was backed by the magazine.
Though it seemed a bit simplistic, it was more appealing than the moderate views of
a benevolent monarch.
At any rate, after the Kuang-shu emperor suspiciously passed away in 1908, one day before Empress
Dowager Cixi died and the three-year-old Pu-yi ascended to the throne, well, there was barely
a case to be made in favour of that theory anyway.
Throughout the years there were several setbacks the revolutionaries suffered.
Sun instigated 10 rebellions between 1906 and 1911.
All of them failed.
In 1907, Sun Yat-Sen was expelled from Japan after repeated requests by the Qing to the
Japanese government.
Both Sun and Huang Hsing settled in Hanoi, French Indo-China and orchestrated six rebellions
in China while residing there.
The French realized these revolutionaries were inspiring the Vietnamese to stage their
own uprisings, and expelled them as well.
In 1909, after four years of barely any results but many casualties, be it due to failed rebellions
or government crackdowns, foreign financial aid in support of the revolution dwindled.
Once again, Sun embarked on a fundraising campaign to Europe and the United States.
Some other members, dissenting from the Tung-meng hui, resorted to anarchism.
It was Wang Chin-wei who tried to bomb the prince regent Chun.
His assassination attempt failed and he was arrested and imprisoned.
Nevertheless, anti-Qing sentiment among the Chinese population kept increasing.
Huang Hsing figured subverting troops of the imperial army had the best chance of succeeding.
An army revolt in Canton in 1910 however, was suppressed.
Another Canton rebellion a year later was doomed; when Huang’s troops tried to seize
government buildings, one of the battalions mistook another group of their soldiers for
imperial soldiers, and a firefight between the two groups of revolutionaries ensued.
It did garner widespread sympathy and is memorialized with a large concrete obelisk that honoured
the 72 revolutionaries that lost their lives.
Now, Sun instigated 10 rebellions right?
Well, across China, in 1909 there were 113 documented rebellions.
Most instigated by hungry peasants.
The next year, there were 285.
I think these numbers clearly portray the instability of the country.
Most rebellions occurred around the region were the Taiping rebellion waged 50 years
before.
Conclusion
Still, riots elsewhere broke out without a revolutionary ideology at the basis.
The peasant peace riots in Hunan in 1910 and eventually the provincial railway protection
movement that swept Szechwan in 1911 contributed to the erosion of Qing stability and control.
It was the railway controversy that would directly contribute to the sequence of events
that would lead to the demise of the Qing dynasty.
I felt it was only right to provide a bit of background to the revolutionary movement
that played a crucial part in this Xinhai revolution.
Next week I’ll cover that revolution, oddly enough sparked by accident, and the abdication
of Pu-yi, the last emperor, marking the demise of the Qing dynasty which had now truly lost
its mandate of heaven.
If you want to know how the situation got up to this point in China, check out the playlist
on the screen right now.
It details the collapse of China’s Qing dynasty from the Opium Wars all the way to
the abdication of Pu-yi, over half a century later.
Thank you for watching this video and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions,
feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
Don’t forget to subscribe, see you next time.