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The 1911 Revolution created significant conditions for social and economic development, and the revolutionaries during the period always pursued the objectives of enriching and strengthening the country and making the masses well off. They were convinced that if they overthrew the feudal autocratic government,China would surely achieve economic development at an "exceptional pace" and would "keep up with" and even overtake Western countries within a short period of time.
UNDERLYING REVOLUTION
CAUSES
AND
BACKGROUND
OF
THE
CHINESE
v. Corruption - Corruption in the government was serious. High officials received "gifts" from low officials. In turn, low officials put government money into their own pockets. Heavy taxes were imposed on the people, who suffered economically. vi. Political decentralization - As politics was so corrupt and demoralized, political power could no longer be centralized in Peking. Political decentralization as such had been growing serious since the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864). At that time, the Ch'ing court permitted the creation of regional armies for suppressing rebellions, since the traditional Eight-Banner forces were weak and useless. These regional armies were locally based, financed by local money, and trained to obey local-provincial officials like Tseng Kuo-fan and Li Hung-chang. Peking's control over them was ineffective. This factor partly explained why the provinces declared independence in 1911. vii. Growth of the scholar-gentry's local power - Because of corruption and inefficiency in the government, the local magistrate was increasingly dependent on the scholar-gentry's cooperation in ruling his county. Consequently, the power of the local scholar-gentry grew. Local men of influence safeguarded local interests. They organized their own military forces for self-defence (known as local militias, t'uan-lien ) and collected taxes themselves.
making the financial conditions even worse. From the mid-19th century on, the problem of political decentralization made collection of the whole country's taxes more and more difficult (sometimes impossible). Administrative inefficiency led to confusing financial management. To solve its money problem, the poor government increased taxes and sold more of its offices -thus more social suffering, more corruption, and more rebellions.
C. Ideological factors
Despite attempts at destroying anti-Manchu attitudes by the Ch'ing rulers, such attitudes were preserved at the lowest level of society (i.e. villages), where central government control was weak. With the outbreak of anti-Ch'ing rebellions since the late 18th century, anti-Manchu feelings that had long been kept underground re-surfaced. The ideological basis of the Manchu rule was challenged.
D. Military factors
The military forces that the Manchu dynasty depended on were of two kinds: the Manchu EightBanner Forces, with which the Manchus conquered China; and the Chinese Green Standard Army (lu-ying ), which the Manchus recruited after entering China. By the 19th century, all these troops were no longer useful: i. Administrative inefficiency and the lack of cooperation - For fear of military disloyalty, the Ch'ing court saw to it that troops in any given area in China were a mixture of soldiers from different Banners. As the Eight Banners rivalled and were jealous of one another, cooperation between them was weak. Military efficiency was poor. The same happened to the Green Standard Army, owing to the lack of central command and the harmful effects of corruption. ii. Poverty of the soldiers - The pay of the Banner soldiers was set at the beginning of the dynasty but remained unchanged even until the 19th century. Consequently, their livelihood was difficult. Yet, Banner soldiers were forbidden by law to follow any other profession. The Green Standard Army was becoming increasingly corrupt and had also lost its fighting value. Soldiers robbed the people and created more social disorder.
iii. The Manchus' loss of fighting spirit - After entering China as rulers, the Manchus gradually lost their fighting spirit. They were used to enjoyments. Long years of inactivity in peaceful times and the lack of training reduced government troops to paper soldiers.
C. Ideological factors
i. The Manchus had tried to make their dynasty a lawful one in Chinese history by appearing as the defenders of Confucianism and adopting Chinese culture in full. After the coming of the West in the 19th century, however, Confucian political ideas came increasingly under attack. Thus if the Ch'ing dynasty continued to promote Confucian political ideas, it would be condemned as backward and reactionary by the progressive-minded intellectuals. If the dynasty gave up Confucian political ideas, it would lose the ideological foundation on which its rule was built for over two centuries. ii. Foreign imperialism and the introduction of Western learning stimulated the rise of modern Chinese nationalism. In the presence of foreigners, more and more Chinese people became conscious of their common racial background and national identity. Both national and racial consciousness grew among many Chinese. Anti-Manchu feelings spread quickly. In fact, modern Chinese nationalism expressed itself in the form of an anti-Manchu attitude.
D. Military factors
In the Self-Strengthening Movement (1862-94), a modern army and navy were developed. However, they were destroyed in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95). After 1896, a New Army was created. But as anti-Manchu nationalism spread among the New Army soldiers, they were not loyal to the dynasty.
B. The psychological comfort derived from anti-Manchu ideas in an age of foreign imperialism.
In late Ch'ing times, not only the foreigners, but also the Manchus, were blamed for all kinds of problems that China faced - political, social, or economic. But since the foreigners were too
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strong to resist (such as in the Boxer Uprising, 1900-01), the only hope of saving China was the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty. By putting all the blame for China's weakness on the Manchus, Chinese intellectuals had a psychological comfort that it was the corrupt Manchu rule, not Chinese civilization itself, that explained China's weakness.
SUN YAT-SEN'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE 1911 REVOLUTION A. Fund-raising to finance revolutionary activities
Sun had close connections with the overseas Chinese , especially in Southeast Asia and America. With a strong power of persuasion, Sun was able to win enthusiastic financial support from them. Living in a foreign (often unfriendly) environment, the overseas Chinese were particularly sensitive to being discriminated against by foreigners. As a result, these Chinese people were especially patriotic. They contributed much money in Sun's fund-raising campaigns. The funds were in the form of "patriotic bonds". The revolutionaries promised that the money would be repaid to the buyer after the success of the future revolution.
revolutionary movement. In fact, he was a member of one of the famous secret societies, the Triads.
D. Flexible leadership
Sun Yat-sen had not laid down any absolute and unchangeable formula of revolution. Rather, he followed whatever was suitable and necessary,as long as the aim remained the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty. Thus revolutionary strategies would change in accordance with the demands of unexpected situations. Because the harmful effects of policy disagreement were cut down, there was better unity within the revolutionary movement.
E. Strong confidence
With repeated failures of revolutionary attempts in the late 1 900s, morale began to decline among many revolutionaries. Sun, however, continued to view the future optimistically. He kept his fellow revolutionaries going. And if to some people he appeared to be childish and unrealistic, he nevertheless provided a quality so very important for the success of a revolution faith.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 1911 REVOLUTION IN CHINA A. End to the monarchical form of government
Politically speaking, the 1911 Revolution was a decisive break with the past. For over two thousand years, China had been ruled by the monarchical form of government. Now, in 1911, however, she was willing and determined to abandon it. Whereas in the past, the dynasty could claim absolute obedience from its subject people, the Chinese people after 1911 began to learn that sovereignty (i.e. national right) belonged finally to them and to no one else.
C. Practice of republicanism
Over the world at large at that time, republicanism was still not popularly practiced. For example, except for China, there was no republic in Asia in 1911. Even in Europe, there were only two republican governments, one in France, the other in Switzerland. Seen in this way, therefore, the 1911 Revolution in China was indeed very advanced.
it had been. Consequently, while the city was modernized, the village was as backward and conservative as ever.