Revolutionary groups - 1911 P1

Question 1

RG 1911 - workers - general

Answer 1

• in 1900 SHnghai industrial work = 76,000
• Shanghai had fifteen stoppages in 1904-06, 24 in 1909-11

Question 2

RG 1911 - workers - nationalism - economic

Answer 2

• handicrafts big source of employment; threatened by foreig imports

– In Hankou 9000 workers at a tea-brick factory went on strike for pay rises, attacked rival Russian plant

Question 3

RG 1911 - workers - nationalism - under control of foreigners

Answer 3

• Tatsu Maru incident 1908*
• Japan imposed 5 demands on China over the detaining of a Japanese ship by China (ship had been an arms shipment for Revolutionary Alliance)
• ship had to be released and apology made to Japan
• merchants in Canton launch boycott of Jap goods (spreads through China), 50,000 protested in Canton March 24
• Mar.21-22 > Under pressure from Japan, the Imperial government orders the anti-Japanese boycott to end
• outrage (angry at foreign minister Yuan Shikai)
• foreign pressure = govt supress radicals*
• Dec.29 1909 > A Shanghai court arbitrarily permanently closes the radical paper The People’s Sigh under Japanese pressure - angry protests by Chinese progressives
• end.Mar > The Shanghai radical paper The Alarm Bell is shut down under German pressure

Question 4

RG 1911 - new armies

Answer 4

• became seedbeds for reformist ideas
• attracted a better, more educated class Beiyang Army
• personal loyalty to Yuan, even after dismissal
• largest, best equipped and best trained military force in China
• 2/3rds of Chinese army

Question 5

RG 1911 - new armies reforms

Answer 5

• 35 military schools opened
• forces = 175,000 of 600,000 soldiers in China
• relaunched by 1901 decree in 8 provinces
• taught languages and Western military tactics

Question 6

RG 1911 - conservatives

Answer 6

• Jan 1906 civil service exams abolished
• wanted closure of modern schools (100,000 open by 1911)
• disbandment of NAs
• end to railway construction (disrupting feng shui)

Question 7

RG 1911 - reformist gentry - govt action = provincial assembly

Answer 7

• provincial assemblies organized in October 1909
• To vote for the Provincial Assembly one had to be a male at least 25 years old and either have an education or be a civil official or military officer or own 5,000 yuan
• franchise = 0.42% of population
• 90% of members had old imperial degrees - provincial assemblies, chambers of commerce and Overseas Chinese banded toghether to demand constitution and convocation of parliament

Question 8

RG 1911 - reformist gentry - govt action = Outline of a Constitution

Answer 8

• ‘Outline of a Constitution’ August 27 1908
• executive judicial powers remaind with the throne
• put off convocation of Parliament for 9 years
• May.09 1910 > The Imperial Court announces that a National Assembly will convene Oct.03; half of its members are to be appointed rather than elected; consultative body
• Dec.18 1910 > The Imperial Court rejects the National Assembly’s call for replacing the Grand Council with a responsible cabinet
• May.08 1911 > The Regent replaces the Grand Council with a cabinet dominated by the Imperial family

Question 9

RG 1911 - reformist gentry - govt action = bad policy decisions

Answer 9

• Prince Chun ordered Yuan Shikai to retire on 2 Jan 1909 (regime’s most competent modernizer)
• July 15 1909 Chun announces himself commander-in-chief of both the army and navy, independent of the War Minister

Question 10

RG 1911 - reformist gentry - actions

Answer 10

• August 11 1908 PA sent delegation to Beijing calling for immediate convoc of Parliament - refused
• showed alienation of a class that had beena major prop for regime – Fenby
• 2nd petition JUne 22 1910 = 300,000 signed, over a fifth of gentry members
• 3rd petition for immediate parliament October 3 1910 = 25 million signatures, support from high provincial officials
• formed ‘Friends of the Constitution’ political party Novermber 1909, delegates from 16 provinces