Causes and Significant of Chinese Revolution

CAUSES AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CHINESE REVOLUTION [1911] 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

CAUSES

AND

BACKGROUND

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THE

CHINESE

REVOLUTION INTERNAL DECLINE OF THE CH'ING (Qing) DYNASTY A. Political factors i. Inefficient emperors - As the Ch'ing emperor held absolute power, administration in Peking was efficient only if he was an able man. In the 19th century, however, there was no great Ch'ing emperor. ii. Lack of able Manchu leadership - As a race conquering China, the Manchus had always enjoyed powerful political influence greater than their small number should give them. Yet in the late 19th century, capable Manchu leadership was, generally speaking, lacking. iii. Downward spread of administrative inefficiency in the government - Without an able emperor to supervise the officials, they became more incompetent, especially when the political structure itself had always the effect of discouraging energetic action in administration. In turn, these incompetent high officials chose incompetent low officials. The harmful effects of inefficiency thus spread downward. iv. Sale of government posts - For lack of money to put down rebellions or to meet government expenses, the Ch'ing court increasingly relied on the sale of government posts to enlarge its income. More and mote people acquired government posts in this way. On becoming officials, they squeezed as much money from the common people as they could. 1

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.

B. Social and economic factors i. Population growth and social poverty - Long years of peace in the early and mid Qing period contributed to a quick rise in China's population. Yet, a cultivable land was limited in amount and was concentrated in powerful landlords, b the people were forbidden by law to move to Manchuria and other places outside China, and c there was no large industrial development to absorb the excessive manpower and to raise the standard of living in society. Consequently, more people only meant greater social poverty. ii. Poor economic conditions of the government - As society was poor, the taxes that the dynasty could collect were limited in amount. Besides, serious corruption in the government ate away a large part of the taxes that had been collected. I n society, powerful landlords evaded government taxes, thereby putting most of the tax burden on the peasants. When the oppressed peasants broke into rebellions, the dynasty had to spend more money to deal with the disorder, thus 2

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.

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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.

EXTERNAL THREATS TO THE CH'ING DYNASTY In the 19th century, when the Ch'ing was on the decline, foreign imperialism came to China and quickened the downward course of the dynasty. A. Political factors i. With the Ch'ing government's defeat by the foreigners, unequal treaties were imposed on China. Politically, therefore, China's national right was violated. This caused the Ch'ing dynasty to lose much reputation and political power. ii. Because of China's weakness, the foreign powers succeeded in annexing many of the vassalstates that traditionally owed loyalty to China, like the Ryukyu Islands, Annam and Korea. iii. At the height of foreign imperialism in the late 19th century, Chinese territories were cut up into different spheres of influence. The Ch'ing government was totally helpless in resisting such foreign pressure.

B. Social and economic factors i. Foreign economic imperialism increased social suffering in China. For example, the import of cheap foreign textile goods destroyed rural Chinese industries. ii. Foreign missionary activities in China aroused much hatred and fear among the Chinese. iii. As for the Ch'ing dynasty, unfavourable balance of trade (imports exceeding exports) reduced the value of the country's currency, which therefore further ate away the government's income. The costs of the wars that China fought with the foreign powers, together with war indemnities that China had to pay, made the dynasty's financial conditions even worse.

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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.

GROWING STRENGTH AND POPULARITY OF ANTI-MANCHU IDEAS A. Anti-Manchu tradition As a race believing in its own cultural superiority over others, the Chinese traditionally disliked being dominated by foreigners, whether the Westerners or the Manchus.

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 5

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.

B. Connections with foreigners and request for foreign help It had been Sun's policy to win foreign sympathy for the Chinese revolutionary movement. He convinced many other fellow revolutionaries of the importance of such a policy. Sun had the connections and opportunities to turn to foreign governments for help. He had many good foreign friends in Britain, America and Japan. Through these foreign friends, Sun could every now and then explain to both foreign governments and foreign peoples the harmlessness, good intention and (above all) moderation of the Chinese revolutionary movement, so that Sun's revolution would not be mistaken for another anti-foreign uprising like the Boxer Uprising. It is true that the 1911 Revolution broke out and developed without the active help of foreign powers. But in respecting foreign privileges in China, the revolutionaries were able to win foreign neutrality, without which the Chinese revolution would never succeed.

C. Willingness to work with lower social classes in revolutionary efforts Unlike other intellectuals who kept themselves apart from the lower social classes, Sun Yat-sen was willing to cooperate and work with peasant bandits and secret-society members in the

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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.

F. Comprehensive ideology for the revolutionary movement Sun's Three Principles of the People provided comprehensive programs to deal with the political, social and economic problems of China. Although such programs necessarily had weaknesses and had to be improved later, Sun was nevertheless the first political leader of Modern China to work out systematic ways to save the country.

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.

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B. Decreased Confucianism and increased Westernization and modernization Such a political break with the past had at least two farreaching effects: i. Negatively, the importance of Confucianism in Chinese society was greatly decreased. As the emperorship political structure had been an inseparable part of Confucianism, the abolition of the monarchy in 1911 declared Confucianism a useless political belief. Later, during the May Fourth Revolution in 1919, even Confucianism as a way of life and a body of social thought was under attack. In this way, the 1911 political revolution made way for the 1919 intellectual revolution. ii. Positively, the creation of a Western-style republic speeded up and extended Westernization and modernization in all areas of Chinese city life and culture. The Chinese people were therefore psychologically better prepared to accept new, modern things. Indeed, some intellectuals even accepted Communism later.

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.

D. Lack of social revolution Socially speaking, the 1911 revolution was a failure: 

First, the Revolution did not bring about much change in the composition of the Chinese ruling classes. It is true that the emperor and his officials were gone, but the conservative gentry-landlords had not been overthrown, and still ruling in the countryside. In addition, military men of the Late Ch'ing like Yuan Shih-k'ai remained influential. Revolutionaries and intellectuals, who helped run the Republic, were powerless in the presence of these conservative forces.

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Secondly, the revolution was limited to several cities only and was too quickly concluded. Only the political system was revolutionized; the social order remained what

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it had been. Consequently, while the city was modernized, the village was as backward and conservative as ever.

E. Increased provincial decentralization Once the dynasty had been overthrown, the traditional link between the provinces and Peking was cut. The new Republic was weak and could not establish centralized political power over all China. Consequently, the local-provincial scholar-gentry fell back on local and provincial, not national, affairs. The growth of national consciousness was therefore slowed down. Seen from this angle, the 1911 Revolution worsened the problem of political decentralization of the late Ch'ing period.

F. From anti-Manchuism to anti-imperialism Before 1911, Chinese intellectuals could blame the Manchus for all the national and social problems that China suffered. Now that the Manchus no longer ruled, the blame began to be directed at foreign imperialism. Modern Chinese nationalism, therefore, gradually changed from anti-Manchuism to anti-imperialism after 1911.

G. Increased foreign influence in China Because the new Chinese Republic was weak and divided, foreign control of China was increased after 1911. For example, the foreign diplomats in Peking had taken over the complete direction of China's maritime customs.

H. Loss of Outer Mongolia and Tibet Territories that traditionally belonged to China were lost, ilke Outer Mongolia and Tibet, which declared independence from China after 1911.

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