1911 Xin Hai Revolution

[Conqueror]

辛亥：“革命”与“立宪”的赛跑
Xin Hai：The Race of "The Revolution" and "The Constitution"

Interpreted by Conqueror

Why did the monarchy's constitution drafting stopped in the late Qing Dynasty ? 100 years ago, the revolutionists, the constitutionists and the reformists had forced themselves to take the path of revolution ? The official records pointed out that it was the cause of the stubborn imperialism and the closed door policies that the Qing had often adopted and sweared by. But, was that the real reason behind the emergence of the first revolution ?

Westernization had led to the Qing's industrialisation and modernisation of the military through imitation. This has gone right through the arduous years of the "Reformed Governance" and following the 1906 initiation of the "Preliminary Constitution". Many a time, there were signs and symptoms of change from the highest echelons to the lowest ones; however, these reforms often ran aground, and hence, violence broke out. In Lei Yi view, the political reform was actually the "self-reform" for the emperor himself which involved the vital interests of the Qing's ruling class; therefore, the resistance was great.

History has shown that it was a "difficult political situation", but the Qing court had no real understanding of the urgency of their political situation and the commoners' feelings. They did not understand the public opinions and more reluctant to give up any power altogether. They were too conceited with their own abilities, and they thought that the situation would develop according to their expectations. They failed to comprehend the grassroot's feelings and they would only move according to each surmounting pressure given to them one step at a time with no urgency to reform. For this, they missed the boat.

There was no sincerity in their reform and the progress was painfully slow that it was beginning to show signs of stagnation. The wind of change came eventually where the "luke warm constitution" was going to give way to a more radical one - revolution.

Even the ardent believer of non-violence Liang Qi Chao admitted, "The revolutionists' objective was to remove the monarchy. But, yet, it was the present rulers that were creating more revolutionists unwittingly. What an irony !" Soon, the word "Patriotism" became synonymous with the word "Revolution".

Many have forgotten that the word "revolution" did not come into ones' mind suddenly. Even the Father of Xin Hai Revolution, Dr. Sun Yet-san tried ways to get Wang Tao to pass a letter to Li Hong Zhang regarding his new formula of governance. His idea was turned down straight away and the word "Revolution !" appeared in his mind.

Soon, Russia invaded and occupied a part of China, the people began to demonstrate and wanted the Qing government to denounce the invader's criminal action. The anti-Russian sentiment was seen as a revolution by the rulers and a harsh crackdown soon followed. Because of that, the students began to promote and harness the idea of "Revolution !" The government was trying to appease the crowd by creating a propaganda for resisting the Russian bandits instead of fighting their Manchus masters (PAP).

Lei Yi said that many wanted to know whether the Qing government's sincerity for change at that time. Was that supposed to be a true constitution or a sham ? It was really important to these people at that time to know whether the constitution was a true one or not. If it was a true one, then the progress for a revolution will be greatly limited. But, if the constitution was a sham, then the planned revolution would succeed in days to come.

In the night of the Xin Hai Revolution in May 8th, 1911, the Qing government foolishly created a "Royal Cabinet" (PAPists) to monopolise power (fascism !) The Qing did not want changes or to reform its economic structure and policies. There were great fluctuation of hardness and softness against its people regarding about its policies. To make things worse, the Royal Cabinet managed to retract all the private enterprise of the rail network into the goverment's hands once more. That was seen as a reverse of what was previously reformed. The people lost their faith with the Qing rulers. In order to protect their property, the people began to promote a propaganda to protect their railroads. A big demonstration was was seen in Si Chuan province. This was also the detonator of the bigger one to come - the Xin Hai Revolution. In September, their leaders were arrested and a crackdown ensued in Si Chuan causing 30 odd unarmed people being shot dead.

Guang Zhou Daily headlined : "Towards Revolution !"

According to Lei Yi, this could be seen from all aspects that it was an eventual event to take place and it was all the fault of the court officials in greater proportion. It's their own undoings that cause this to emerge and they deserved it ! It all began in 1840, during the Opium War, the common people were humiliated (not forgetting my great Lim's heritage and heroes !) till the "modernatisation" (railroad ?) The path to change was arduous and full of obstacles. The Qing were ignorant and they did not understand the political climate. Because of their passiveness, they dragged and delayed the change or reform. What could be worse from passiveness to inactivity ! The failure for Qing to modernise the country had led to its fall and demise. From another perpective, it was the fervent hope and the vigorous effort of the people to modernise that cause the Qing Dynasty to topple.

All in all, When a regime based on its rule is greatly doubted and suspected about its real motives; without the common trust, its actions will be seen as illegitimate altogether.