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

AgendaObjective:To understand…1. The fall of the Qing

Dynasty2. The philosophy of

Sun Yat Sen and Chinese nationalism

3. The birth and death of the Chinese Republic

4. The May 4th Movement

Schedule: 1. Lecture, Primary

Source Analysis, and Discussion

Homework:1.“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

2.Continue to work on pre-writing (1&2): Rolling Deadline

When We Last Left Off…

• What do you remember about our study of China?

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.

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.”

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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…