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Nick Cartwright
Dr. W. Kesler Jackson
HIST-1220-001-Sp16
18 April, 2016

Rise of a Republic

January 1, 1912, the Republic of China was formally established. This had broken two
thousand years of Imperial rule in China, and would pave the way for Chinas current
government. I will discuss how China evolved from imperial rule to the government it has today.
And how the West has had such a large influence on how China has changed, but also how China
sees itself. To get to the Republic of China, I will first talk about the Qing Dynasty. I will discuss
the fall of the Qing Dynasty, discussing the Opium Wars, the Taiping Rebellion, the First SinoJapanese War, the Hundred Days Reform, the Boxer Rebellion, and how the various failures of
the government would lead to the May Fourth Movement and Xinhai Revolution. I will also
discuss the different leaders of the Revolution gained power and how each of them tried to
implement their ideals. Finally, I will talk about the years after, how Communism took control
from the KMT, and how many who supported the Republic fled to Taiwan to escape execution.
The Republic was too much of a Western idea, formed by men who spent too much time away
from Asia. This coupled with corruption of the leadership led to the Republic fleeing to Taiwan,
thus leading to the governments we have today.
The First Opium War, also called the Anglo-Chinese War, took place from 1839 to 1842,
and is considered a turning point for the Qing Empire. It is also considered to be the beginning of
modern Chinese history, and would help give China the name The Sick Man of Asia. The war

was fought between the United Kingdom and the Qing Empire over their conflicting views on
diplomatic trade and the administration of justice [Tsang 19]. Nineteenth Century China was
very self-sufficient as far as their trade went, and Europe saw a high demand for Chinese goods,
particularly for silk, porcelain, and tea. Europeans were not allowed into Chinas interior,
restricting sea trade to Canton. When The British East India Company began auctioning opium
grown on their plantations in India, many independent entrepreneurs began taking the opium to
China to sell to middlemen, who would then sell the drug to the populace. The increase of opium
addict and loss of revenue for the Chinese government led to many different ideas on how to
handle this new problem.
The Daoguang Emperor had rejected proposals to legalize opium, and assigned Viceroy
Lin Zexu to solve the problem and abolish the trade. Lin sent an open letter to Queen Victoria
[ Lin], "Your Majesty has not before been thus officially notified, and you may plead ignorance
of the severity of our laws, but I now give my assurance that we mean to cut this harmful drug
forever." Lin would then force the British and the American who were trading in opium to
surrender all of their opium cargo over to the Chinese government, and while the British did not
officially condone the opium trade, they objected to the unexpected seizure of their cargo, and
used their superior naval power and after two years of Gunboat Diplomacy, forced the Chinese
to sign the Treaty of Nanking, the first in what would later be called the Unequal Treaties. The
Treaty of Nanking would open five ports and gave Hong Kong to the British, an island that
would be under British control until 1997. The Second Opium War, 1857 to 1860, would involve
both British and French forces, and would be about the Qing not wanting to open more ports to
Western merchants. The Second Opium War would take place in the middle of the Taiping

Rebellion, forcing the Qing Government to fight their own people at the same time as fighting
the British and the French.
The Taiping Rebellion, or Taiping Civil War, lasted from 1850 to 1864, and was fought
between the Qing Government and Christian millenarian movement of the Heavenly Kingdom of
Peace. The rebellion started in the southwest province of Guangxi, when the local officials
started persecuting a local Christian sect called the God Worshipping Society. The sect itself
was led by a man named Hong Xiuquan, who believed himself of being the younger brother of
Jesus Christ. Hong would change the name from God Worshipping Society to Heavenly
Kingdom of Peace when he declared himself Heavenly King of a new dynasty [Fairbank].
The war would reach many provinces in China, and was the largest in China since the Qing
Conquest, in 1644. It ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, with an estimate of 20
million to 70 million dead, with millions more displaced [Ge 455].
The provinces that were under Hongs control were ruled by a theocratic, and highly
militarized rule, applying many social changes. They did away with foot binding, and refused to
wear the queue hairstyle, dictated by the Qing Government, giving them the nickname, Long
Hair. However, it was ineffective, and very brutal, as all of its efforts were concentrated on the
army. The Taiping Civil War would end in 1864, with various groups of the Heavenly Kingdom
disintegrating into bandit groups. During this time, the Qing Government would fight many
uprisings, most of them based on ethnicity and religion. China would then face the power of the
Meiji Restoration for power over Korea.
The First Sino-Japanese War was between 1 August 1894 17 April 1895, fought
between The Qing Dynasty and The Empire of Japan [Paine 30]. The war was primarily fought
over control of Korea. It was very much a demonstration of how the Qing Empire had failed in

trying to modernize their military, especially compared to the Meiji Restoration. Japans superior
navy was a major factor in the war, with modern ships winning major battles. Feng Guifen
advised many officials on the adaptation of Western technology [Gentzler 70] in the midnineteenth century, which shows that many in the Qing Dynasty wanted to update their military
to western standards. He also spoke of other aspects of Western learning. Books on
mathematics, mechanics, optics, light, chemistry, and others all contain the ultimate principles of
understanding things. Most of this information is unavailable to people in China.... I have heard
that with their new methods the Westerners have found that the movements of the earth conform
closely to those of the heavens.This can be of assistance in fixing the calendar....I have heard that
the Westerners method of clearing sand from harbors is very effective....This can be of
assistance to keep the waterflowing. Also, for agricultural and sericultural tools,and things
required for the various crafts,they mostly use mechanical wheels,which require little energy but
accomplish much
Besides lacking modern technology, China didnt have a national army, following the
Taiping Rebellion. The army had been segregated into ethnic and regional groups, such as Han,
Manchu, Mongol, and Muslim. They also had a very large corruption problem, one that went to
the top of the government. The Dowager Empress was said to have used war funds to renovate
the Summer Palace. The loss of Korea as a vassal state would be a catalyst for revolutionaries
like Sun Yat-sen, who I will talk about later in this paper.
Looking at Chinas defeat at the hands of Japan, the Guangxu Emperor wished to attempt
a reform of Chinese culture, politics, and education. They had only made modern militarily with
technology after the First Sino-Japanese War, and had not made any institutional changes. The
Opium Wars and the Taiping Civil War were still fresh in the Chinese peoples minds, and with

Japans victory, who had always been considered an inferior state, the Emperor and his
supporters wanted to emulate the Meiji Restoration and their change to a modern state. This was
complicated by a scramble for "privileges" in China by other foreign powers, notably by the
German Empire and Russia, giving the conservative elements more reasons to not adopt Western
ideas.
The Hundred Days Reform Movement ran from 11 June to 21 September 1898, trying to
meet certain preconditions to make the changes to a more Western Government. Some of the
changes included:
modernizing the traditional examination system
eliminating sinecures (positions that provided little or no work but
provided a salary)
building a modern education system (studying math and science
instead of focusing mainly on Confucian texts, etc.)
changing the government from an absolute monarchy to a
constitutional monarchy with democracy
rapid industrialization of all of China through manufacturing,
commerce, and capitalism
In the end, the Hundred Days Reform failed due to lack of support from the conservative
elements of the Qing Government, most notably from Yuan Shikai, who would later be an
important figure in the Xinhai Revolution, and the Dowager Empress. The Emperor would be put
under house arrest in the Forbidden City, and the Dowager Empress would reign as regent. The
next year, she would face foreign powers, and deal with the Boxer Rebellion.
The Boxer Rebellion took place between 1899 and 1901, initiated by the Boxers United
in Righteousness, also know as the Yihetuan. To the English they were known as the Boxers,
due to their martial arts practice and calisthenics. Many of them were powerless village men,

primarily teenagers [Cohen 114], who were inspired by proto-nationalist sentiment and opposed
imperial expansion. Many of them associated Christian missionary activity with the Great
Powers of the time, England, Germany, Russia, France, The United States, Austria-Hungary,
Italy, and Japan, and they would be known as the Eight Nation Alliance [Bickers 50].
The Convention of Peking had allowed foreign missionaries to preach anywhere in China
and buy land to build churches. The Christian missionaries even converted old buildings to
churches, particularly the temple to the Jade Emperor in Liyuantun village, which became a site
of conflict in October 1889. In January of 1900, the Dowager Empress, who was initially hesitant
to support the Boxers, issued edicts in the Boxer defense, causing protests from the foreign
powers. The Imperial Court was split over the way to proceed, either to help the Boxers evict the
foreign powers, or to try to find a diplomatic solution. In the end, they sided with the Boxers, due
to their popularity with the people in the countryside. After a long siege at Beijing, the Dowager
Empress was forced to move the capital to Xian, which would cause many people to lose what
confidence they had in the Qing Government. After a long occupation of Beijing and other major
cities, the Russian invasion of Manchuria forced the Qing to fight on too many fronts. The
capture of Peking ended the Boxer Rebellion, forcing the Qing to sue for peace.
After the Boxer Rebellion, the foreign powers found that in trying to colonize China, it
was easier to deal with China through the ruling dynasty, rather than trying to deal with the
Chinese people directly [Dreyer 112]. The Boxer Protocol outlined the reparations that China
had to pay. It is another one of the Unequal Treaties. One of the things it stipulated was the
death of ten high ranking Chinese officials who were linked to the outbreak and others who were
found guilty of the slaughter of foreigners. The Qing government didnt capitulate on all the
demands. For example, the Imperial Court refused to execute Han General Dong Fuxiang,

allowing him to live in exile. On of the more interesting facts of the Boxer Protocol was its
place in the Russo-Japanese War. Russias refusal to withdraw from territories in eastern
Manchuria, which was stipulated in the Boxer Protocol, lead to two years of negotiations with
Japan. The breakdown of these negotiations lead to the Russo-Japanese War [Bianco 40]. While
again, there would be many uprisings and rebellions, none would have the same impact as the
what we now call the Xinhai Revolution.
The Xinhai Revolution, also called The Revolution of 1911, consisted of many revolts
and uprisings [Li 10]. One of the main political parties that were involved was the Tongmenghui
[Li 50], who would be a precursor to the Kuomintang [Kuomintang]. The Tongmenghui would
be one of the few political parties that survived the various uprisings that happened during the
revolution. There were many Chinese outside the country that sent money and support to the
revolution, along with some foreigners. There were even some Japanese who became member of
the Tongmenghui.
The Xinhai Revolution ended with a compromise between Sun Yai-sen, the leader of the
Tongmenghui, and Yuan Shikai, who was a Qing military strongman. This would lead to the
abdication of the six year old Last Emperor Puyi [Rhoads 50], and end two thousand years of
imperial rule. He would be reinstated as the Emperor for 12 days in 1917, but would then be
imprisoned by the Peoples Republic of China as a war criminal. He would die in 1967 under
the protection of the local security bureau. While there were those who wanted to install a Han
as Emperor [Woodhouse 20], which would have given him the title Duke Yansheng. This was a
hereditary title, and would be held by the same family in Taiwan, but became ceremonious,
rather than have any real power.

The May Fourth Movement, also called the New Culture Movement, was a series of
1919 protests against the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versaille,
especially allowing Japan to receive territory in Shandong. This protest marked a shift towards
political mobilization and away from cultural activities, and a move towards a populist base
rather than intellectual elites. Many political and social leaders would emerge at this time.
Among them was Chen Duxiu, who would later co-found the Chinese Communist Party. At the
time of the May Fourth Movement, he edited the New Youth magazine. In his article Final
Awakening, Chen wrote, use a constitutional republic cannot be conferred by the government,
cannot be maintained by one party or one group, and certainly cannot be carried on the backs of
a few dignitaries and influential elders. A constitutional republic which does not derive from the
conscious realization and voluntary action of the majority of the people is a bogus republic and
bogus constitutionalism. It is political window-dressing, in no way like the republican
constitutionalism of the countries of Europe and America, because there
has been no change in the thought or the character of the majority of the people, and the majority
of the people have no personal feeling of direct material interest.
Even at the time, the Chinese outside of the country would still try to effect the political
landscape of their home country. He Zhen, the wife of Anti-Manchu leader Liu Shipei, wrote an
essay while they were in exile in Japan, titled What Women Should Know About Communism.
[Theodore 389-392] In the essay, she wrote, ...those of us who are women suffer untold
bitterness and untold wrongs in order to get hold of this rice bowl. My fellow women: do not
hate men! Hate that you do not have food to eat. Why dont you have any food? It is because you
dont have any money to buy food. Why dont you have any money? It is because the rich have

stolen our property... This is an interesting perspective, especially appealing to women at the
time. The May Fourth Movement also led to the rise of Sun Yat-sen.
Sun Yat-sen is considered the Father of the Nation in the Republic of China (ROC) and
forerunner of democratic revolution" in the People's Republic of China (PRC) [Bergere 5]. He
spent most of his life in political struggle with the various Chinese governments. He was exiled
in 1895, and would spend most of his time in exile in Japan. While he did travel to other
countries, Japan was where he spent most of his time. Sun Yat-sen would try to raise money for
various Chinese political groups while in these countries, and was always looking for foreign
support. He supported the Philippines in the PhilippineAmerican War, hoping he could use the
archipelago as a staging point of another revolution. However, their defeat in 1902 would break
these plans. In 1905, he formed the Tongmenghui with other Chinese students in Tokyo. They
would survive the Xinhai Revolution, and place Sun Yat-sen as the President of the provisional
government. He was pressured to resign, due to the Beiyang Army, which was controlled by
Yuan Shikai. Sun Yat-sen would form a fragile alliance with the Communists, and the parties
would split after his death. In A Program of National Reconstruction, Sun Yat-sen discussed
The Three Stages of Revolution [Sun]:
Destruction: Martial Law is enforced
Transition: A provisional constitution and local self-government is
promoted
Completion of Reconstruction: a constitutional government is
introduced and self-governing body of the people exercises the peoples rights.
In one of his last speeches, he would talk about the Three Principles of The People, which
were nationalism (meaning non-ethnic independence independence from imperial rule),

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democracy (as defined by Western standards), and the peoples livelihood (free trade and tax
reform).
General Chiang Kai-shek became a founding member of the Kuomintang after the 1911
Revolution. He returned to China during the Xinhai Revolution, after learning of the Wuchang
Uprising. He worked closely with Sun Yat-sen to strengthen the Kuomintang, and would come to
represent the right-wing of the party. When Sun Yat-sen died in 1925, a power vacuum was
created in the party. The two main contenders were Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei, both of
whom worked personally with Sun Yat-sen. Wang Jingwei represented the left wing of the party,
and succeeded Sun Yat-sen as Chairman of the National Government. Chiang Kai-shek was
actually low in the hierarchy of the party, but he was able to utilize his military position and was
quite adept at political maneuvering [Crozier 80]. On June 5, 1926, Chiang Kai-shek became the
Commander-in-Chief of the National Revolutionary Army, and would launch a military
campaign known as the Northern Expedition to defeat warlords controlling northern China and
unify China under the Kuomintang. He would have tenuous control over most of the country,
with warlords who were only allied with Chiang in theory. Wang Jingwei would lead his faction
of the Kuomintang and split the party to go over to the Communists, drawing political power
away from Chiang. In 1928, Chiang would be named director of the State Council, which was
the equivalent to President of the country.
Over the next ten years, which would be the Chinese Civil War, Chiang Kai-shek and the
Kuomintang would fight both the Red Army and the Japanese as they would enter the Second
World War. His government was notoriously corrupt,and not averse to cooperating with
organized crime on projects such as opium suppression(i.e. monopoly). With his wife,
Chiang would found the New Life Movement, in an effort to combat the May the Fourth

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Movement, and the Communists. In his description of the New Life Movement, Chiang
would tell people The New Life Movement aims at the promotion of a regular life guided by the
four virtues, namely, li [ritual/decorum], yi [rightness or duty], lian [integrity or honesty],and chi
[sense of shame].Those virtues must be applied to ordinary life in the matter of food, clothing,
shelter, and action. The four virtues are the essential principles for the promotion of morality.
Chiang Kai-sheks government was struggling before the beginning of the Second World
War, forcing him to try to bolster Chinese nationalism. In a speech given to Kuomintang, Called
China Cannot be Conquered [Ebrey 70], he would tell the officials, ... We are fighting this
war [against the Japanese] for our own national existence and for freedom to follow the course of
national revolution laid down for us in the Three Principles of the People.... You [high-level
Guomindang officials] should instruct our people to take lessons from the annal of the Song and
Ming dynasties.The fall of these two dynasties [to the Mongols and the Manchus] was not caused
by outside enemies with a superior force, but by a dispirited and cowardly minority within the
governing class and society of the time.Today the morale of our people is excellent.
He is obviously appealing to the Han people, trying to compare the Communists to the
historic Manchus and the Mongols. The real fact was that at the time, the ethnic groups had been
mixing for generations, and trying to address real Chinese. However, this would not help him
in 1949 when the Communists laid siege to Chengdu, and Chiang Kai-shek and his government
would evacuate to Taiwan, never to return to the mainland again.
In conclusion, the fall of the Qing Government was due to ethnic divisions within China
and a lack of modernization. The Qing Governments inability to defend itself militarily not just
from within, but also from foreign powers allowed too much military power to be handed over to
warlords, and have no control over trade. The various revolutions and uprisings over the latter

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half of the Nineteenth Century and the beginning of the Twentieth Century made China a
dangerous place to be, especially if you were a foreigner.
The Republic of China had many problems from the beginning, not the least of which
was corruption. While they were trying to adapt to a Western Government, they allowed too
much of the old system deal with their problems. They let themselves be separated by religion
and ethnicity, not truly unifying, even with the rise of Communism.
While this paper only lightly covers the Communist movement within China, my focus
was on the fall of the Qing and the rise of the Republic. For most of the Nineteenth Century, and
into the Twentieth Century, Europe had dominated politics in China, forcing the Qing, at times
by force, to bend to their will. The Republic was based on ideas being practiced in Europe, and
would not have been received as well as Communism would be, especially with the close power
of the Soviet Union. While the Republic being a Western idea isnt the sole reason it failed on
mainland China, it did play a role in how it was perceived by the Chinese people.

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