The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a decade of agitation, revolts, and uprisings. Its success marked the collapse of the Chinese monarchy, the end of over two millennia of imperial rule in China and the 200-year reign of the Qing, and the beginning of China's early republican era.

The Qing had struggled for a long time to reform the government and resist foreign aggression, but the program of reforms after 1900 was opposed by conservatives in the Qing court as too radical and by reformers as too slow. Several factions, including underground anti-Qing groups, revolutionaries in exile, reformers who wanted to save the monarchy by modernizing it, and activists across the country debated how or whether to overthrow the Qing dynasty. The flash-point came on 10 October 1911, with the Wuchang Uprising, an armed rebellion among members of the New Army. Similar revolts then broke out spontaneously around the country, and revolutionaries in all provinces of the country renounced the Qing dynasty. On 1 November 1911, the Qing court appointed Yuan Shikai (leader of the powerful Beiyang Army) as prime minister, and he began negotiations with the revolutionaries.

In Nanjing, revolutionary forces created a provisional coalition government. On 1 January 1912, the National Assembly declared the establishment of the Republic of China, with Sun Yat-sen, leader of the Tongmenghui (United League), as President of the Republic. A brief civil war between the North and the South ended in compromise. Sun would resign in favor of Yuan, who would become President of the new national government, if Yuan could secure the abdication of the Qing emperor. The edict of abdication of the six-year-old Xuantong Emperor, was promulgated on 12 February 1912. Yuan was sworn in as president on 10 March 1912.

In December 1915, Yuan restored the monarchy and proclaimed himself as the Hongxian Emperor, but the move was met with strong opposition from the population and the Army, leading to his abdication in March 1916 and the reinstatement of the Republic. Yuan's failure to consolidate a legitimate central government before his death in June 1916 led to decades of political division and warlordism, including an attempt at imperial restoration of the Qing dynasty.

The revolution is named Xinhai because it occurred in 1911, the year of the Xinhai (辛亥) stem-branch in the sexagenary cycle of the traditional Chinese calendar. The governments of Taiwan and China both consider themselves the legitimate successors to the 1911 Revolution and honor the ideals of the revolution including nationalism, republicanism, modernization of China and national unity. 10 October is the National Day of the Republic of China on Taiwan, and the Anniversary of the 1911 Revolution in the PRC.

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  • 2Password2Remember [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    below is the english-language portion my list of books to read. comment one and i'll read whichever gets the most upbears. also, if any of these are so cringe as to not be worth reading, lmk and i'll consider taking them off my list

    big ass list

    Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance by Hudson, Michael

    On War by von Clausewitz, Carl

    The War against the Commons: Dispossession and Resistance in the Making of Capitalism by Angus, Ian

    I, Robot (Robot, #0.1) by Asimov, Isaac

    The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1) by Kuang, R.F.

    Yellowface by Kuang, R.F.

    The East is Still Red - Chinese Socialism in the 21st Century by Martínez, Carlos

    Half-Earth Socialism: A Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change and Pandemics by Vettese, Troy

    The Collapse of Antiquity by Hudson, Michael

    Ireland by Delaney, Frank

    The Counterinsurgent Imagination: A New Intellectual History by Mackay, Joseph

    Ulysses by Joyce, James

    No Longer at Ease (The African Trilogy, #2) by Achebe, Chinua

    Arrow of God (The African Trilogy, #3) by Achebe, Chinua

    Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Freire, Paulo

    Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta by Vidal, Gore

    Bright Lights, Big City by McInerney, Jay

    The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, Geoffrey

    Lincoln by Vidal, Gore

    Paradise Lost by Milton, John

    The Second Sex by Beauvoir, Simone de

    The Analects of Confucius by Confucius

    A Short History of Chinese Philosophy by Feng Youlan

    Selected Works of Mao Zedong by Mao Tse-tung

    The Governance of China by Xi Jinping

    Workers' Councils by Pannekoek, Anton

    What Is to Be Done? by Lenin, Vladimir

    Synopsis of Capital: Summation of Das Capital Vol 1 by Engels, Friedrich

    Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Engels, Friedrich

    Socialism and the Irish Rebellion: Writings from James Connolly by Connolly, James

    Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism's Final Crisis by Smith, John

    Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation by Federici, Silvia

    Reform or Revolution by Luxemburg, Rosa

    Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung: Mao’s Little Red Book Original Version by Mao Tse-tung

    The Principles of Communism by Engels, Friedrich

    The Poverty of Philosophy by Marx, Karl

    The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Engels, Friedrich

    Oppose Book Worship by Mao Tse-tung

    One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society by Marcuse, Herbert

    Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison by Foucault, Michel

    Marxism and Socialism with Chinese Characteristics by Huiming, Jin

    Labour in Irish History by Connolly, James

    Capitalism in the Web of Life: Ecology and the Accumulation of Capital by Moore, Jason W.

    The Housing Question by Engels, Friedrich

    The James Connolly Reader by Connolly, James

    Guerrilla Warfare by Guevara, Ernesto Che

    Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy by Marx, Karl

    The German Ideology / Theses on Feuerbach / Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy by Marx, Karl

    The Foundations of Leninism by Stalin, Joseph

    The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey by Guevara, Ernesto Che

    The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte by Marx, Karl

    Deng Xiaoping s Selected Works (Volume 3) by PING, DENG XIAO

    Debt: The First 5,000 Years by Graeber, David

    Dialectical and Historical Materialism by Stalin, Joseph

    Critique of the Gotha Program by Marx, Karl

    The civil war in France by Marx, Karl

    Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: A Guide for Foreigners by Boer, Roland

    The Antonio Gramsci Reader: Selected Writings 1916-1935 by Forgacs, David

    Anti-Dühring by Engels, Friedrich

    The Accumulation of Capital by Luxemburg, Rosa

    NATO's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe by Daniele, Ganser

    Ten Crises: The Political Economy of China’s Development (1949-2020) (1949-2020) (Global University for Sustainability Book Series) by Wen, Tiejun

    Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

    The Record of Linji by Kirchner, Thomas Yuho

    The Paris Commune: A Brief History by Eichner, Carolyn J.

    How the West Came to Rule: The Geopolitical Origins of Capitalism by Anievas, Alexander

    Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality by Hobsbawm, Eric J.

    The Blue Cliff Record by Keqin, Yuanwu

    War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo

    Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Leo

    Metamorphoses by Ovid

    One Hundred Years of Solitude by García Márquez, Gabriel

    The Godfather (The Godfather, #1) by Puzo, Mario

    Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle, #1) by Jones, Diana Wynne

    A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1) by Le Guin, Ursula K.

    The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, #1) by Jordan, Robert

    Notes from the Underground by Dostoevsky, Fyodor

    Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, Fyodor

    The Idiot by Dostoevsky, Fyodor

    The Iliad & the Odyssey by Homer

    Pride and Prejudice by Austen, Jane

    Three Body Problem Collection by Liu, Cixin

    Leviathan Wakes by Corey, James S.A.

    The Aeneid by Virgil

    The Colour of Magic by Pratchett, Terry

    Siddartha by Hesse, Hermann

    The House of the Spirits by Allende, Isabel

    On the Road by Kerouac, Jack

    The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera, Milan

    The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1) by Pullman, Philip

    Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1) by Brown, Pierce

    The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Gaiman, Neil

    Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1) by Butler, Octavia E.

    Bel Canto by Patchett, Ann

    The Last Unicorn by Beagle, Peter S.

    Dandelion Wine by Bradbury, Ray

    Kindred by Butler, Octavia E.

    A Gentleman in Moscow: by Towles, Amor

    Paremovedo by Lee, Min Jin

    American Gods by Gaiman, Neil

    Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Kimmerer, Robin Wall

    The Royal Game by Zweig, Stefan

    The Road by McCarthy, Cormac

    Heart of Darkness by Conrad, Joseph

    East of Eden by Steinbeck, John

    American Psycho by Ellis, Bret Easton

    Fight Club by Palahniuk, Chuck

    Death to America

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      1 month ago

      Holy shit you have your entire reading schedule for the next ten years!

      Some real good stuff on there I approvw.

    • Blockocheese [any]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      I recommend only the original trilogy for the golden compass, the more recent additions have reallllly bad British brain worms

      Also I finished the expanse series this year and it was okay enough that I finished it but not enough for me to recommend it to anyone

      Edit: I really liked american psycho but most of the torture scenes can be skipped if they're too much for you, if you've already seen the movie (I haven't) the book is seems to be a million times more gorey

    • Mog_Pharou [he/him]
      ·
      1 month ago

      The Poppy War was incredibly lib and very boring, my two cents. Excellent list though