Century-of-Change-China-exhibit-catalog-1911-to-2011

The Wuchang Uprising and the Fall of a Dynasty
The October 10, 1911, Wuchang Uprising that led to the collapse of China’s 2,100-year-old dynastic empire
literally arose out of an accident. Revolutionaries in Wuchang, Hubei Province, were building bombs, one of which
inadvertently exploded, giving their plot away. Knowing they faced death if caught, they immediately set in motion
military actions in south and central China that resulted in a wave of strategic victories.
Sun Yat-sen had no direct role in the Wuchang Uprising (he was traveling in the United States and read about it in a
newspaper) and in fact favored an uprising in his native Guangdong. Sun’s rival in the alliance, Huang Xing, favored
an uprising in central China, which he was planning for late October. Thus the revolutionary leaders were all caught
off guard, leaving the mutineers without a leader.
Then Li Yuanhong, the Qing-appointed commander of the Twenty-first Mixed Brigade in Hubei, was dragged from
under his bed by the mutineers and forced at gunpoint to lead the rebellion. He later became the only man ever to
serve twice as president of the republican government. At first, the revolt was considered merely the latest in a series
of mutinies in southern China and was widely expected to be quickly suppressed. But, because the Qing court failed
to respond promptly, provincial assemblies in many southern provinces rapidly declared independence from the Qing
government and allegiance to the rebellion.
As news of the success of the insurrection broke, men in urban areas sheared off their queues as a challenge to the
Manchu authority. Within a month, representatives from the sixteen seceding provinces had met and declared a
Republic of China. In February 1912, 268 years of Qing imperial rule came to an end when Puyi abdicated, thus
becoming the last emperor of China.
武昌起義與滿清覆亡
1911年10月10日所發生的武昌起義,實為一偶發事件,卻使得中國長達兩千一百年帝制王朝宣告終結。湖北武昌
的革命軍,製造炸彈時不慎爆炸了一顆,因此洩露了秘密。他們深知,如果被捕只有死路一條,所以迅速地在華
南和華中地區發動軍事行動,最後取得一系列勝利。
孫中山並未直接參與武昌起義,當時他正在美國旅行,從報紙上得知武昌起義的消息。他向來主張在其家鄉廣東
省發動起義,他在同盟會裡的潛在對手黃興,則力主於當年十月底在華中起義。因此,當武昌起義爆發後,革命
黨人一時措手不及,造成群龍無首的局面。
清軍第二十一混成旅協統黎元洪被武昌起義者,從其床底下拉出來,並用槍口迫使他領導起義。稍後,他成為民
國總統,也是唯一一位兩度擔任此一職務的人。華南地區起義為數眾多,武昌起義最初只被清廷視為是單一事件,
大多數人也認為將很快被鎮壓下去。但是,由於清朝沒有迅速反應,南方各省的省諮議會很快宣布脫離清朝獨立,
34 Hoover Institution
A Century of Change: China 1911–2011
擁護起義。
隨著武昌起義爆發並且獲致成功的消息傳播開來,鄉村地區的人們剪去辮子,對滿清統治當局發起挑戰。一個月
內,十六個脫離清廷統治的省份代表集會,宣布成立中華民國。1912年2月,中國最後一位皇帝溥儀宣布退位,
歷時二百六十八年的清王朝統治宣告終結。
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