Fall of the Qing Dynasty Quiz

Qing Dynasty's End and the Rise of New Political Forces

• Empress Dowager Cixi died in 1908, and her nephew, Guangxu, died a day before her, leading to the throne being occupied by China's "last emperor", the infant Henry Pu Yi.
• In October 1911, followers of Sun Yat-sen launched an uprising in central China, but Sun was traveling in the US at the time and the revolt had no leader.
• The Qing dynasty collapsed, paving the way for new political forces, but Sun's party lacked the military and political strength to form a new government.
• General Yuan Shikai, a prominent figure in military circles, was placed in charge of the imperial army to suppress the rebellion but eventually negotiated with Sun Yat-sen's party to persuade the Qing emperor to leave the throne.

Sun Yat-sen's Involvement

• Sun Yat-sen arrived in China in January 1912, having read about the revolution in a Denver, Colorado newspaper.
• He exchanged telegrams with Yuan to discuss the revolution and other military issues.

The "Glorious Revolution" and Its Impact

• Sun Yat-sen's party viewed the events of 1911 as a "glorious revolution" that ended 2,000 years of imperial rule.
• However, the uprising produced no new political or social order, and Sun and his followers still had much to accomplish.
• The Revolutionary Alliance, supported by an emerging urban middle class, was based on Western liberal democratic principles.
• The urban middle class in China was too small to support a new political order, and most Chinese people still lived on the land, with few peasants supporting Sun Yat-sen's party.

Assessment of the Events of 1911

• The events of 1911 were less a revolution and more a collapse of the old order.