L11: The Fall of the Qing Dynasty and the Birth (and Death) of the Chinese Republic

1. L11: The Fall of the Qing Dynasty and the Birth (and Death) of the Chinese Republic • Agenda • Objective: • To understand… • The fall of the Qing Dynasty • The philosophy of Sun Yat Sen and Chinese nationalism • The birth and death of the Chinese Republic • The May 4th Movement • Schedule: • Lecture, Primary Source Analysis, and Discussion • Homework: • “Chinese Marxism” • Read pages 133-137 • Take notes on: voluntarism (view of history), view of peasants, “permanent revolution” • “Star” in notes elements of totalitarianism in Mao’s philosophy • Discussion question • Due: Thurs 3/7 • Continue to work on pre-writing (1&2): Rolling Deadline

2. When We Last Left Off… • What do you remember about our study of China?

3. Imperialism Intensifies in China • During 1898 and 1899 foreign powers intensified their presence in and pressures on China. • In this atmosphere of hostility and fear, a sense of nationalism began to develop in China. • Belief that the Chinese must come together as a people and be mobilized for their own survival. • One of the famous early leaders of this budding nationalist movement was Sun Yat Sen.

4. Sun Yat Sen • 1866-1925 • Father of modern China • Born into into a poor rural family in the Canton area • Educated in Hawaii (not yet a US state!) at a mission school which introduced him to the ideas of democracy and republican government. • Transferred to medical school in Hong Kong (British colony) • Grew increasingly frustrated with the Qing Dynasty’s refusal to reform and quit his medical practice to devote his time to transforming China. • In 1905 founded a revolutionary nationalist organization called the “Revolutionary Alliance.”

5. Sun Yat Sen’s Three People’s Principles • Sun Yat Sen’s political philosophy is known as the Three Principles of the People. • Nationalism • Democracy • The People’s Livelihood

6. Sun Yat Sen’s Nationalist Movement • Sun Yat Sen’s Nationalist movement is the first major “revolutionary” reform movement in China. • This movement is brewing underground in China from 1905 to 1911. • In 1911 it gets its big break.

7. Qing Government Attempts Reform (1905-1911) • In 1908 the Chinese emperor Guangxu, as well as the effective Chinese ruler Empress Dowager Cixi, both die. • The new emperor is baby Puyi. • Random Fact: Puyi is later captured by Soviet authorities in 1945 and returned to China in 1959 where he is assigned a job in machine repair shop by the communist government.

8. The Qing Fall:The Chinese Revolution of 1911 • Throughout China a wide variety of revolutionary groups, in addition to the Nationalists, were all calling for the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty. • On October 9, 1911 one of these groups set off an explosion while making bombs in their meeting house. • As the Qing government began to investigate the revolutionary group, one of the government’s army battalions mutinied. • Soon more and more revolutionary groups launched uprisings and more and battalions began to mutiny.

9. The Qing Fall: The Chinese Revolution of 1911 • In December of 1911, after continued uprisings Sun Yat Sen, was elected “provisional president” of what would be the new Chinese republic. • Sun Yat Sen, however, declines and invites Yuan Shikai to be the first president of the new republic. • Puyi abdicates • The Republic of China, led by Yuan Shikai, is established. • More than 2000 years of China’s dynastic system were brought to a close and with no experience in self-government, the Chinese sought to establish the first Asian republic and make China a truly modern nation-state.

10. The Chinese Republic Becomes a Dictatorship • In 1914, Yuan Shikai and his cabinet issued a “constitutional compact” which gave him virtually unlimited power. • In 1915 Yuan Shikai restored the emperorship system and declared himself emperor. • China’s republic had now become a dictatorship.

11. The Era of Warlordism • Throughout China there were mass protests against Yuan Shikai’s rule. • In 1916 Yuan Shikai died and his successor, was ineffective. • Province after province began to declare themselves independent. • Soon, China dissolved into what has become known as the Era of Warlordism. • Provinces became independently ruled by a series of warlords. • While technically China was still a Republic with a President, most local political power was in the hands of these military leaders.

12. China During World War One • In 1917 China entered World War One on the side of Britain and France. • China largely contributed manpower, rather than troops, to the allied war effort. • Chinese hope that their assistance in the war would be rewarded with the reclaiming of German provinces in Shandong. • The Treaty of Versailles promised that all of Germany’s colonies in Shandong would be transferred to Japan, as a thank you for Japanese naval assistance in the war. China gets nothing.

13. The May 4th Movement • Outrage over the terms of the Treaty of Versailles resulted in massive protests throughout China on May 4, 1919. • May 4th Movement • Gets its name from this day of protest • Refers a new movement in China in which Chinese youth begin to directly question both Western and Chinese culture and institutions. • Task: • Read the excerpt from Hu Shi’s “Our Attitude Towards Western Civilization” • Answer the Critical Thinking Questions

14. The May 4th Movement • The events at Versailles made many Chinese begin to question what role, if any China, played in the modern world. • They began to believe that China, because of its ancient culture and traditions, was being forgotten (and abused) by the modern world. • China’s culture was responsible for China being held back while the rest of the world plunged into the modern era. • What did it mean to be Chinese? Where was the country heading? What would be China’s role in the modern world?

15. Red Sun Rising… • Some May 4th thinkers attacked what they saw as the particularly archaic aspects of Chinese culture: Confucianism, the patriarchal family, arranged marriages, traditional education. • Other thinkers adopted a more radical stance arguing that the time had come “to struggle against the forces of darkness with our bare fists.” • But if China’s youth were going to fight the forces of darkness with their bare fists, they would need a plan of attack, and their Russian nations seemed to have one…