Cause of the 1911 revolution
The outbreak of the 1911 revolution, which terminated the 267 years rule of the
Manchu, was in essence a result of certain basic causes which from time to time have
caused the Chinese people to rise against their rulers. The contact with the west in the
later years of the Manchu rule and the consequent acquaintance with governmental
ideas other than those which had prevailed in China since time immemorial gave this
particular uprising a twist towards constitutionals, for leadership of the movement fell
into the hands of a class of utopian thinkers determined to put into practice the
theories and ideals of the west. But underneath, all the talk of republicanism and
parliaments lay the fundamental cause of this as other revolutions.
Fundamental causes of the Revolution
1.Population pressure: underling every movement of the kind in China, there has been
the population problem growing out of too great a pressure of people in the means
of subsistence. In the 25 years preceding the revolution of 1911, population had
increased as many as 50 million. Migrating to the less densely populated parts of the
Empire or to foreign countries might have relieved this pressure of population. One
serious hindrance to migration however lay in the necessity of keeping up the
worship at the ancestral tombs. Another thing that until after 1900 localized the
people was the difficulty of movement from, place to place. But in spite of these
hindrances, many Chinese had begun to find new homes in Manchuria and other
sparsely populated area of the Empire while others had begun to seek an outlet
overseas especially to Indochina and Malaya. It is clear however that neither by
colonization nor by emigration was the population problem solved. For the total
population is estimated to have increased from 377 million to over 430 million
between 1885 and 1911. But all in all, the number of overseas Chinese by 1911
must have total well under 2.5 millions. By 1911, the pressure of food supply thus
became very acute since these movements provided no relief for the basic problem
of livelihood..
2.The Return of flood and Famine: the years 1910-1911 marked the culmination of a
series of bad season. The ruin of crops in Anhwei and Kiangsu for the third time in
5 years added the horror of famine and disaster. The provinces of Shantung,
Chekiang, Kiangsi and Hupeh also suffered, some from floods and some from
droughts so that in the 6 provinces affected, a total of 3 million people were actually
starving and dying. Lack of transportation facilities made it impossible to transport
food to regions in need and despite efforts all through Chinese history, no effective
means had ever been devised to check the disastrous floods especially those of
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Yellow River which from time to time caused great misery. When as in 1911,
famine, flood and plague appeared simultaneously, there were sure to be thousands
of people to whom life would not well-look more discouraging and who would
willingly follow anyone who promised them relief from their suffers. These people
thus furnished the material for a siderspread revolt.
3. Rising Taxation and official corruption: throughout China, discontent had also
been around by rising taxes, expenses had been steadily increasing after 1900
because of new expenditures, made necessary by the Late Ching Reform
programmer. These included the paying and equipping of the new army. The
construction of new railways and the establishment of new educational, new
industry. Moreover, the payments on the loans to meet the Japanese War indemnity
of 1895 had to be made as did the much river payment on the Boxer indemnity of
1901. These absorbed almost the entire revenue and as a result, taxation became
increasingly heavy and new charges had to be made. Moreover, when the Manchu
demand the carrying out of reforms, the corrupt officials often made the required
reforms an excuse for further extractions from the common people until to the
average overserver the refrom policy seemed simply an excuse for new extortion.
Had the Manchus possessed an efficient administrative machine capable of
demonstrating the real benefits of reform, they might have postponed their downfall
as it was. However, the Manchus confessed their weakness by avoiding the most
necessary, but most different reform, the re-shaping of the official system. Rising
taxation together with official squeeze thus increased the volume of discontent and
dissatisfactory with the Ching dynasty.
A Decadent dynasty (rise of nationalism): The Manchus had passed the Zenith of their
power. The 19th century had produced no emperor who was a worthy descendent of
Kang Ksi or Chien Lung. The two Anglo-Chinese wars, the Taiping Rebellion, the
defeat at the hands of Japan, the scramble for concessions, the disastrous Boxer
Upsizing, the dispute between Russia and Japan over Manchuria, all these events had
served to associate the dynasty in the minds of the most Chinese with humiliation and
failure. Anti-dynasty feeling was increased by the fact that the Manchus were
descendents of a barbarian tribe which had conquered China and that they had their
racial prejudice and had kept a privilege position in politics. As nationalism grows in
China, it was almost inevitable directed against the ruling house on whose shoulders
was laid the blame for the Chinese weakness. From 1860-1908, the real ruler of China
was the Empress Dowager, Tsu Hsi. Her regency was, in general, a period of decline,
but had she not occupied the position of power that decline would have been more
rapid and disastrous than it was. In the closing years of her life, she adopted a policy
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of modernization on western lines and her strong character had compelled a partial
observance of her commands. On her death, the administration passed into the hands
of a child emperor and a well-intentioned, but incompetent regent. With Tzu Hsi’s
strong hand removed there was little hope for the dynasty. In the face of external
pressure and growing internal dissatisfaction, the political vacuum at Peking only
meant that the end of the Manchu rule could not be far off. As J.O.P. Bland in his
“recent Events and Present Politics in China ”has summed up the situation “If the
Manchus have lost the dragon throne, it is not because they were tyrants and despots,
but because they were inefficient, ignorant, and effete, because they tribute of
sovereignty was converted by a body of men better organized, more intelligent and
more determined than themselves, because the advance of popular education, the
work of the vernacular press and above all repeated foreign encroachment and
invasions had impressed upon the restless intelligence of the Cantonese. The fact that
the Manchus were no longer to be feared.”” Who were these men that were better
organised, more intelligent and more determined than the Manchus? They were the
followers of Sun Year-sen.
Influences of the revolutionary groups: Ever since his exile from China in 1895, Sun
had been gathering funds and supports for a replicas revolution against the Manchus
and the Chinese students who came to Japan grew most receptive to his propaganda.
Gradually the Chinese students in Japan formed a number of revolutionary secret
societies, which added to the many groups of an anti-dynastic character of these
various societies into one single organization, the Tung Meng Hium, thus assuring the
cooperation and unity of the effort. The death of Kuang Hsu in 1908 robbed
Kang Yu-Wei’s party of its objected. Had the regent been wise enough to pardon Kang
and Liang as supporters, a considerable group of the disaffected might have been won
back to the aid of the Manchus. But Prince Chun with his usual lack of political
wisdom failed to seize this opportunity and the majority of Kang’s followers passed
into camp of Sun while the modern sage himself devoted his energies to reform of
Confucianism. The pronounced anti-dynastic propaganda in Japan was matched by a
tiding tide of opposition to the Manchus at home.
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