WHAP: THE 1911 REVOLUTION IN CHINA—PRIMARY SOURCES
Introduction: China is Forced Open
In the aftermath of Qing defeat in the Opium War (1839-1842) a number of Qing officials put
forth and put into action proposals meant to increase the empire’s military strength by adopting
Western military and industrial technology and other Western techniques.
Feng Guifen (1809-1874) was one of the leaders of this effort. Feng was a classically educated
scholar who had a successful career as an official in his own right, but also as an advisor to the
leading Qing statesmen of the midnineteenth century.In the essay from which the following
excerpt was taken, Feng discussed Western learning and its role in the Qing empire.
Document 1:
Excerpts from “On the Adoption of Western Learning”
By Feng Guifen
Books on mathematics, mechanics, optics, light, chemistry, and others all contain the
ultimate principles of understanding things. Most of this information is unavailable to people in
China. …
I have heard that with their new methods the Westerners have found that the
movements of the earth conform closely to those of the heavens. This can be of assistance in
fixing the calendar. … I have heard that the Westerners’ method of clearing sand from harbors
is very effective. … This can be of assistance to keep the water flowing. Also, for agricultural
and sericultural tools, and things required for the various crafts, they mostly use mechanical
wheels, which require little energy but accomplish much. …
There are many intelligent people in China. Surely there are some who, having learned
from the barbarians, can surpass them …
Excerpts from “On the Adoption of Western Learning”
By Feng Guifen
… Today the world is 90,000 li around. There is no place boats and vehicles do not travel
or human power does not reach. … According to Westerners’ maps, there are at least one
hundred countries in the world. Of the books of these hundred countries, only those from Italy
from the time of the end of the Ming and from present‑day England, numbering in all several
tens, have been translated. …
Books on mathematics, mechanics, optics, light, chemistry, and others all contain the
ultimate principles of understanding things. Most of this information is unavailable to people in
China. …
I have heard that with their new methods the Westerners have found that the
movements of the earth conform closely to those of the heavens. This can be of assistance in
fixing the calendar. … I have heard that the Westerners’ method of clearing sand from harbors
is very effective. … This can be of assistance to keep the water flowing. Also, for agricultural
and sericultural tools, and things required for the various crafts, they mostly use mechanical
wheels, which require little energy but accomplish much. These can assist the people to earn
their living. Other things beneficial to the national economy and the livelihood of the people
should also be used. …
There are many intelligent people in China. Surely there are some who, having learned
from the barbarians, can surpass them …
WHAP: THE 1911 REVOLUTION IN CHINA—PRIMARY SOURCES
The principles of government are derived from learning. In discussing good
government, [the famous historian] Sima Qian [Ssu‑ma Ch’ien] said, “Take the later kings as
models,” because they were closer to his own time, and customs, having changed, were more
alike, so that their ideas were easy to implement because they were plain and simple. In my
humble opinion, at the present time it is also appropriate to say “Learn from the various
nations,” for they are similar to us and hence their ways are easy to implement. What could be
better than to take Chinese ethical principles of human relations and Confucian teachings as the
foundation, (ti) and supplement them with the techniques (yong) of wealth and power of the
various nations?
Questions:
1. What does Feng Guifen see as China’s weaknesses?
2. When Feng Guifen looks at the west, what sort of things does he notice and
draw the attention of his fellow Chinese to? Are there aspects of the West
which would be relevant to the goal of strengthening China, but which Feng
does not notice?
3. Analyze the author’s point of view.
Stage Two: China Moves Towards a Republic
Introduction to Liang Qichao, China's First Democrat
"Liang Qichao, who was born in 1873 in a small southern village, not far from the Portuguese
colony of Macao, died in 1929 after an intellectually tumultuous life. He wrestled continuously
with the problem of how to reform China without destroying what he took to be its cultural
essence and without humiliating its people with cultural annihilation. Among Liang's formative
political experiences was his participation in China's first student demonstration, in 1895. The
Imperial government had just signed a humiliating peace treaty with Japan following China's
defeat in the Sino-Japanese War; in response, eight thousand young Chinese scholars, who
had come to Beijing to take the national civil service exams, signed a petition expressing their
opposition to the treaty. They then formed a line one-third of a mile long in front of Duchayuan,
the Censorate of the Qing government, in protest. Their public demonstration proclaimed for the
first time that Chinese citizens had the right, indeed the obligation, to regulate those by whom
they were governed. Confucius's disciple Mencius had written, "He who restrains his prince,
loves his prince." But Liang belonged to the first generation of scholars who, instead of going
into voluntary exile when their entreaties were rebuffed by the Imperial government, dared to
organize a constituency outside of the government to apply political pressure.
Like other forward-thinking Confucian scholars, Liang came to see "wealth and power" as the
only salvation for a beleaguered China living under the threat of national extinction at the hands
of Japan and the technologically advanced, rapacious Western powers. Just as intellectuals in
the nineteen-eighties were debating the causes of China's backwardness and searching for
ways to remedy it through "modernization," so too had Liang and his generation of reformminded scholars sought to understand the origins of China's dynastic weakness and to suggest
remedies.
WHAP: THE 1911 REVOLUTION IN CHINA—PRIMARY SOURCES
A brilliant Confucian scholar, Liang came to believe that the source of Western wealth and
power lay in democracy. He held that the energy generated by popular participation in the
political process was what drove any dynamic society forward. But while he valued the
dynamism that free, competing individuals might contribute to the building of a nation, he was
vague indeed about how these Promethean, alien forces he wished to see released in China
might be reconciled with the interests of the Chinese state. In fact, in optimistically Confucian
fashion, he avoided entirely the problem of possible conflict by assuming that the natural order
of things was harmony between rulers and the ruled. Whereas Western thinkers such as
Hobbes and Rousseau (who recognized how particular interests easily come into conflict with
the "general will") had immediately identified this obvious point of discord in any democratic
social contract, Liang missed it completely. In holding his new convictions that individuals
should and did have "rights" (quan), he never imagined that a state might become tyrannical or
that its people might become rebellious."
Excerpted from Orville Schell, Discos & Democracy: China in the Throes of Reform (New York:
Pantheon Books, 1988; paperback: Anchor Doubleday, 1989). Reprinted with permission.
DOCUMENT 2: “Renewing the People” By Liang Qichao
Since the appearance of mankind on earth, thousands of countries have existed … All
countries have the same sun and moon, all have mountains and rivers, and all consist of people
with feet and skulls; but some countries rise while others fall, and some become strong while
others are weak. Why? … I know the reason. A state is formed by the assembling of people. …
If we wish the nation to be secure, rich, and honored, we must discuss the way for “renewing
the people.”
…
… There are two meanings of renewing. One is to improve what is original in the people
and so renew it; the other is to adopt what is originally lacking in the people and so make a new
people. …
…
… Our people have been established as a nation on the Asian continent for several
thousand years, and we must have some special characteristics that are grand, noble, and
perfect, and distinctly different from those of other races. We should preserve these
characteristics and not let them be lost. …
…
If we wish to make the nation strong, we must investigate the methods followed by
other nations in becoming independent. We should select their superior points and appropriate
them to make up for our own shortcomings. …
Questions:
1. From what philosophical or other ideas (Chinese and/or Western) does Liang
Qichao draw in making these remarks?
2. What assumptions might Liang be making about the relationship between
the people and the nation-state in these remarks?
3. How does Liang’s advice for making the country strong and independent
compare to the ideas of earlier men, such as Feng Guifen?
WHAP: THE 1911 REVOLUTION IN CHINA—PRIMARY SOURCES
Introduction to Sun Yatsen, "Three People's Principles"
By 1900 the leading revolutionary in China was Sun Yatsen (1866-1925), a man very different
from previous Chinese reformers. Born to a peasant family in the Guangzhou region, Sun was
educated in missionary schools in Hawaii and Hong Kong and developed a world view as much
Western as Confucian. In 1894 he founded his first revolutionary organization, and by 1905 he
was made head of the Revolutionary Alliance (Tongmenghui) in Japan by representatives from
Chinese secret societies, overseas Chinese groups, and Chinese students abroad. After sixteen
years of traveling, planning, writing and organizing, his dreams were realized when the
revolution of 1911 led to the end of the Qing dynasty. He gave up the presidency in favor of
General Yuan Shikai, whose death in 1916 led to an era of local warlord rule. Sun died in 1925.
His "three principles of revolution" were first articulated for the Revolutionary League and later
formed the foundation for the Nationalist (Guomindang) Party; they included:
1. Nationalism. Finding evidence of proto-nationalism throughout Chinese history,
Sun believed that he had enlarged and modernized the principle to include
opposition to foreign imperialism and a firm sense of China as an equal among
the nations of the world. He also addressed the need for self-determination for
China's minorities.
2. Democracy. Finding important Chinese precedents for the notion of the voice of
the people, Sun introduced the new notions of a republican government and a
constitution as the best way to articulate and protect people's rights. Sun
advocated popular elections, initiative, recall and referendum, but he felt that
China was not yet ready for full democracy, requiring instead a preparatory
period of political tutelage.
3. Livelihood. Sun believed in both economic egalitarianism and economic
development. He sketched out a complicated plan to equalize land holdings and
ensure that taxation was both widely and fairly implemented. Dedicated to
industrialization but concerned about China's difficulty in securing investment
capital and also about social unrest, Sun advocated nationalization of key
industries as the best way to ensure both economic development and political
stability.
In 1918, the Republic of China, established in 1912, had collapsed into chaos. President
Yuan Shikai (1859-1916), who had no use for democracy and ruled with an iron hand, had
died in 1916. Without him, the various military commanders of the country (many of whom
had not been happy with Yuan to begin with) became de facto rulers of whatever territory
they could control — which ranged from a county or two to one or more provinces. The
central government itself continued to exist in Beijing, but had no real power within the
country.
Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) hoped to make his Guomindang, or Nationalist Party, into a strong
organization that could bring coherence, unity, and effective government back to China. In
doing so, Sun prepared statements of his ideology and goals. A Program of National
Reconstruction, published in 1918, was part of that project. This document drew on
WHAP: THE 1911 REVOLUTION IN CHINA—PRIMARY SOURCES
statements of Sun’s revolutionary thought going back to the period before the 1911
Revolution. Thus, some of the rhetoric addresses issues (such as the need to overthrow the
Manchus) that had been resolved by 1918.
DOCUMENT 3 “The Three Stages of Revolution” (1918) By Sun Yat‑sen
The first stage [of revolution] is the period of destruction. During this period martial law
is to be enforced. The revolutionary army undertakes to overthrow the Manchu tyranny, to
eradicate the corruption of officialdom, to eliminate depraved customs, to exterminate the
system of slave girls, to wipe out the scourge of opium, superstitious beliefs, and geomancy,
to abolish the obstructive likin trade tax and so forth.
The second stage is a transitional period. It is planned that the provisional constitution
will be promulgated and local self‑government promoted to encourage the exercise of
political
rights by the people. …
…
The third phase is the completion of reconstruction. During this period, constitutional
government is to be introduced, and the self‑governing body of a district will enable the
people
directly to exercise their political rights. …
…
It is not to be denied that the Chinese people are deficient in knowledge. Moreover, they
have been soaked in the poison of absolute monarchy for several thousand years. …
…
… China … needs a republican government just as a boy needs school. As a schoolboy
must have good teachers and helpful friends, so the Chinese people, being for the first time
under republican rule, must have a farsighted revolutionary government for their training.
This calls for the period of political tutelage, which is a necessary transitional stage from
monarchy to republicanism. Without this, disorder will be unavoidable.
Questions:
1. How does Sun Yat-sen understand the roles of the revolutionary
government and of the people respectively? How do the two (people and
government) relate to each other, and how is that relationship to develop
and change over time?
2. How does Sun view the Chinese people? Compare his view to that of Liang
Qichao in his observations on his trip to North America.
3. How does Sun imagine the revolutionary government developing and
changing over time? What factors might lead government to develop in
directions different from those that Sun imagines?
How long might it take to complete these three stages?
The Republic of China was in a shambles in 1924. The national government in Beijing was a
virtually powerless prize over which warlords fought; it had no real authority over the
country, which was administered (more or less) in a patchwork fashion by hundreds of
independent warlords. Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), the intellectual “father” of the
WHAP: THE 1911 REVOLUTION IN CHINA—PRIMARY SOURCES
Republic of China, was in Guangzhou, working, with Soviet assistance, to turn his
Guomindang or Nationalist Party into a tightly organized Leninist political party in command
of an army strong enough to defeat the warlords and reunite China.
As a part of the rebuilding of the Guomindang, Sun Yat-sen gave a series of lectures on the
Three People’s Principles. The Three People’s Principles (Democracy, Nationalism, and
People’s Livelihood) were the ill-defined “ideology” of the Nationalist revolution. Sun had
begun articulating these three principles as a revolutionary conspirator prior to the 1911
Revolution. Now, as the leader of a political party, Sun wanted to sharpen the definitions of
the Three People’s Principles and fit them to the needs of the mid-1920s.
Document 4: “The Principle of Democracy” (1924) By Sun Yat‑sen
After China has established a powerful government, we must not be afraid, as Western
people are, that the government will become too strong and that we will be unable to control
it.
For it is our plan that the political power of the reconstructed state be divided into two parts.
One is the power over the government; that great power will be placed entirely in the hands
of the people, who will have a full degree of sovereignty and will be able to control directly
the affairs of state — this political power is popular sovereignty. The other power is the
governing power; that great power will be placed in the hands of the government organs,
which will be powerful and will manage all the nation’s business — this governing power is
the power of the government. …
…
What are the newest discoveries in the way of exercising popular sovereignty? First,
there is suffrage, and it is the only method practiced in the so‑called democracies. …
The second of the newly discovered methods is the right of recall. …
…
… If the people think that a certain law would be of great advantage to them, they
should have the power to decide upon this law and turn it over to the government for
execution. This third kind of popular power is called initiative.
If the people think that an old law is not beneficial to them, they should have the power
to amend it and to ask the government to enforce the amended law and do away with the
old law. This is called the referendum and is a fourth form of popular sovereignty.
Questions:
1. Looking at it from Sun Yat-sen’s point of view in 1924, why should he want a
powerful government? Why does he contrast his desire with a Western fear
of powerful government?
2. Sun lays out four ways in which popular sovereignty will be exercised. Are
there ways in which popular sovereignty could be exercised that Sun fails to
mention? If so, why might he not mention them?
3. Considering the models of government available at the time (1924), which
other models around the world does Sun’s vision most closely resemble?
Why?