October 10, 2021 is the 110th anniversary of the first righteousness of in Wuchang. This day in 1911 opened the prelude to and the Revolution of 1911, ending the monarchy system that had lasted for thousands of years in China and spreading democracy The idea of republic has promoted the transformation of modern Chinese society.
In September of this year, Nanjing Normal University Jing Shenghong revised and published "The Past of Xinhai"; in late October, Jing Shenghong will also be invited to Wuhan to attend the "International Academic Symposium in Commemoration of the 110th Anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution" and submit it Thesis entitled "The Origin and Development of Anti-Qing Revolution and Democratic Republic Thought in Jiangsu".
"Micro History" Weekly invited Professor Jing Shenghong to tell us about the Revolution of 1911 and Jiangsu.
After the revolutionary army occupied Wuchang city , the military government hung up the 18-star military flag (profile photo), which symbolizes the unity of the 18 provinces. Xinhua News Agency issued
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Reporter : After Professor, everyone is familiar with the historical facts about the Revolution of 1911. Why do you say it is a great milestone on the road of the Chinese people?
Jing Shenghong : After 1840, the Qing government was corrupt and incompetent, unable to effectively govern internally, and unable to defend itself against the enemy externally. Countless people with lofty ideals seek solutions to domestic and foreign difficulties and explore strategies to save the country and the people. The Westernization Movement, the Reform Movement, the Revolutionaries...they drew a different path to change the current state of the country in the late Qing Dynasty based on their respective political ideas. But in fact, not all paths will work. Li Hongzhang laughed at himself as a "life-time paperworker", but sewing and mending could not save the Qing government in the end.
Sun Yat-sen saw this and resolutely chose the revolutionary road. Revolution in the monarchy environment that lasted a few years ago,Attempting to establish a government without an "emperor" is quite difficult. Before 1901, when the Xingzhong Society led by Sun Yat-sen launched successive anti-Qing armed uprisings in Guangdong, at that time, most of China, including the academic and intellectual circles in Jiangsu, did not take it seriously. There was a young student Qin Yuliu in Wuxi. , "The Sun Wen in my mind, but one of the pirates of Guangzhou Bay,...I didn't think it was crazy at the time." However, the signing of the Gengzi Incident in 1900 and the Xinchou Treaty in 1901 allowed people to see the corruption and incompetence of the Manchu Qing government, and at the same time quickly promoted people's awakening and awareness of Sun Yat-sen and the revolution. , A fundamental change occurred.
By October 10, 1911, when Wuchang first uprised, the Revolution of 1911 overthrew the feudal monarchy that had lasted for thousands of years and opened the door for China to modernization; at the same time, it also brought people an enlightenment ideological revolution, which opened The gate of Chinese ideological progress also provided the basis for the wide spread of new culture movement and Marxism in China around the May Fourth Movement.
Reporter : Speaking of the Revolution of 1911, the first thing that comes to mind is the First Uprising of Wuchang. But before that, there have been uprisings in China, but why is it called the "first uprising"?
Jing Shenghong: Wuchang Uprising Before, Sun Yat-sen and others had launched 10 armed uprisings in , South China and other regions. In 1911, there were also Huanghuagang Uprising and Chengdu Uprising. But these uprisings failed and did not fundamentally shake the Qing government's rule. Only the Wuchang Uprising not only won, but also established a local military government. Under its influence, various provinces across the country responded, launched an uprising, declared independence, and eventually overthrew the Qing Dynasty. Judging from the historical context of the restoration of various parts of the country,The Wuchang Uprising deserves to be the "first uprising".
Reporter : Why did the "first uprising" of the Revolution of 1911 occurred in Wuchang and not elsewhere?
Jing Shenghong : Just now we said that Sun Yat-sen initiated multiple uprisings in South China , all of which failed. At that time, their eyes were less focused on the inland areas. In fact, at this time, the revolutionary situation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is becoming more and more mature. Song Jiaoren, Chen Qimei and others realized this. Song Jiaoren proposed to establish a revolutionary organization exclusively over the Yangtze River. Union League branch president meeting to discuss the establishment of the organization. On July 31, 1911, the "Tongmenghui Central General Assembly" was formally established at Hubei Primary School in Sichuan Road, Shanghai.
The Yangtze River Basin is vast. Among the cities along the Yangtze River, Wuhan was already the second largest city in China at that time. It was a center of Qing government rule and a center of the rise of new thoughts. In 1889, after Zhang Zhidong became the governor of Huguang , a large number of modern industrial enterprises were established. In order to cultivate suitable modern industrial talents, 28 new schools were established and 3 groups of foreign students were sent to study in Japan. These new talents are active in thinking and bring vitality to the local area.
In addition, after the Gengzi Incident, the Qing government carried out military reforms and established the Eighth Town of the New Army (equivalent to a division) and a mixed association (equivalent to a brigade) in Hubei, with about 15,000 people. Many revolutionaries took the opportunity to sneak into the new army and endured hardships as soldiers. After years of practical and meticulous propaganda and mobilization, a large number of officers and soldiers were secretly developed to join the revolutionary organization. According to statistics, revolutionaries and revolutionary sympathizers participating in the revolutionary organization accounted for the total number of the new army. 1/3 of it. The Eighth Battalion of the New Army's Eighth Town Project, which was the first to attack during the First Uprising of Wuchang, had more than 100 revolutionary members, and the revolutionary force was relatively strong. These favorable situations were not available in other places at that time.
Sichuan Road Protection Movement occurred,The Qing government sent Hubei New Army to Sichuan to suppress it. The E army entered Sichuan, leaving Wuchang troops empty. On October 10, 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out.
Zhao Sheng
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Reporter : What was the social picture of Jiangsu during the Revolution of 1911?
Jing Shenghong : At the beginning of the 20th century, the tyranny, corruption, and reaction of the Manchu Qing government were fully exposed. Facing China's unprecedented national disaster and political crisis, advanced people in Jiangsu are thinking about China's destiny and methods of salvation. Due to the strong influence of Shanghai, which was under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu at that time and connected to the Jiangsu region by water and soil, and the revolutionary activities of Jiangsu students studying in Japan, the anti-Qing revolution and democratic republic thought were widely spread in Jiangsu.
In September 1903, teachers and students from Nanjing Sanjiang Normal School, Jiangnan Naval Academy, and Jiangnan Lushi Academy, in response to the anti-Russian movement, under the initiation and organization of Zhao Sheng and Zhang Shizhao, at Nanjing Xuanwu The by the lake, Jiming Temple, Arctic Pavilion held a rally, reaching thousands of people. They demanded that militias be formed in the school, and volunteers were organized to prepare to go to the northeast to fight against the Russian invading army. More importantly, they took advantage of Russia to address the revolution and pointed the finger at the Qing government. Zhao Sheng in his speech directly and sharply denounced the imperial Russian aggression and the incompetence of the Qing court. He called for not being a slave to the country. Only by standing up and revolution, there is hope for salvation, and the audience is filled with righteous indignation. This shows that revolutionary thinking had a considerable mass foundation at that time.
In addition, after the Gengzi Incident, the Qing government established the Ninth Town of the New Army in Jiangsu. As a result of the activities of the revolutionary party such as Zhao Sheng, revolutionary ideas were also widely spread in the army.Zhao Sheng is a native of Zhenjiang. He had traveled to Japan and got to know Huang Xing , He Xiangning and others. In the autumn of 1905, the Ninth Town of the New Army was formed in Jiangsu, and Zhao Sheng served as the thirty-third standard of the Ninth Town and the 17th Association. It has successively absorbed Bai Wenwei, Lengyu, Tao Junbao, Ni Yingdian, Xiong Chengji, Li Jingcheng, Wu Chongren, Lin Shuqing, Lin Zhixia, Sun Lin, Han Jinsheng, He Sui, etc. Dozens of lower-level officers and teachers and students from Nanjing Jiangnan Lushi Academy and other schools joined the League and recruited more soldiers. Bai Wenwei said that in the Ninth Town, "the number of students and soldiers who joined the situation after hearing the wind, more than a thousand people, constituted a good foundation for the subsequent revolution."
Zhao Sheng often led his officers and soldiers to Nanjing Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum to recount the story of Zhu Ming's rise and fall. The "Crying Ling" incident made the Qing government on guard against Zhao Sheng.
At the end of 1906 and early 1907, the League would take advantage of the Pingliliu Uprising to organize the first anti-Qing revolutionary armed struggle in Jiangsu in Nanjing, Yangzhou and other places, but it quickly failed and the uprising leader Yang Zhuolin was killed. Zhao Shengyuan walked to Guangzhou and Bai Wenwei avoided the northeast. But most of the revolutionaries chose to hibernate in the new army until five years later, when the revolution broke out again.
"The grave of the dead in the Battle of Yuhuatai in the Revolution of 1911"
Reporter : Specifically, what is the progress of the revolution in various parts of Jiangsu?
Jing Shenghong : The recovery process varies across Jiangsu.
The earliest recovery was Shanghai (Shanghai was under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu at that time): On November 3, Shanghai launched an uprising. Fierce fighting took place in the Shanghai Recovery Uprising. Chen Qimei organized a death squad to attack and attack the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau . Unfortunately, he was captured in the battle,On the morning of the 4th, the insurgents took the manufacturing bureau and Shanghai recovered and rescued him in a room next to the toilet. "Comrades opened the shackles and put down his hair. He has numb hands and feet and cannot move."
The recovery of Shanghai put Suzhou in a dilemma. As the capital of Jiangsu, Suzhou is very close to Shanghai, and Shanghai has recovered, so Suzhou is naturally "inevitable". But at the same time, Suzhou is connected to Ningzhen to the west and Zhejiang to the south. In particular, there are heavy troops stationed in Ningzhen and Zhenzhen. If Suzhou is rashly recovered, the Qing troops will attack from Ningzhen and Hangzhou. Governor of Jiangsu Cheng Dequan Affected by revolutionary ideas, he prepared for it anyway. At the time of embarrassment, Shanghai sent a letter asking him to announce the restoration of liberation quickly, so as not to be overwhelmed. In the end, with the concerted efforts of the constitutionalists and the revolutionaries, on November 5th, Cheng Dequan announced the peaceful restoration of Jiangsu and telegraphed all parts of Jiangsu. Lu Xun humorously wrote in his essays that in order to show that the revolution must be sabotaged, Cheng Dequan, who was changed from governor of Jiangsu to governor, ordered a large bamboo pole to pick up a few tiles from the eaves of the governor’s office. Regarding the recovery of Suzhou, "all schools clapped their hands and sang after hearing the letter, and classes were suspended for three days." After that, all parts of Suzhou received a telegram from Cheng Dequan to ask local people to wrap their arms around the market for a week. The four gates of the city were high and white flags were raised, indicating that they had become independent and separated from the Qing court.
After that, Jiangyin, , Changshu , Haimen , Tongzhou, several days, hundreds of miles of strategic locations in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River have been restored.
Although Cheng Dequan proclaimed Jiangsu's peaceful recovery, some people in various parts of Jiangsu did not obey him. Take Wuxi, for example. On November 6, the magistrate of Wuxi refused to comply with the order after receiving the power. The revolutionary party Qin Yuliu sent a recovery team to attack Wuxi and Jingui County Offices and seize the county seal. Wuxi was recovered in the afternoon.
Nanjing and Xuzhou are the hardest for the recovery of various parts of Jiangsu. Nanjing was the military and political center of Jiangsu, and the Qing court had heavy troops stationed there. Among them, Zhang Xun's Jiangfang Battalion was strong, insisting on a reactionary stand and being hostile to the revolution. Only the ninth town of the New Army (equivalent to the division) has a strong revolutionary force. The headquarters of the Ninth Town and the 17th Association (equivalent to the brigade) under its jurisdiction are stationed in Nanjing, and the 18th Association is stationed in Zhenjiang.
Zhenjiang had the Qing Ting Banner Battalion, but under the pressure of the Eighteenth Rebel Army, the diehard loyalists in the banner camp were forced to surrender and surrender.
and Nanjing is different. At that time, the governor of Nanjing was Liangjiang Governor Zhang Renjun, Jiangning General Tieliang and Jiangnan Admiral Zhang Xun, die hard to the end, after the first uprising of Wuchang, the ninth town of the new army was transferred to Nanjing Moling Pass, tens of kilometers to the south, was stationed, and Zhang Xun’s Jiang Fangying was pulled into the city. On November 8, the leader of the Ninth Town of the New Army, Xu Shaozhen , was persuaded by the revolutionary party and the officers and soldiers to decide to revolt. Unexpectedly, on November 7th, Su Liangbin and others preliminarily rebelled in the city. They were suppressed by Zhang Xunjiang’s defense army, and the entire army was destroyed, disrupting the plan for the uprising of the Ninth Town. On November 8, the ninth town uprising officers and soldiers set off from Moling Pass and attacked Nanjing City as planned. The vanguard arrived at Yuhuatai, thinking that the fort defenders had turned to revolution, and waved to them. As a result, they were attacked by artillery fire and suffered heavy losses. The officers and soldiers of the Ninth Town uprising began in the afternoon of the same day and launched a continuous fierce attack on the Qing army in Yuhuatai. The rebels defeated Nanjing and ended in failure.
At this time, Yuan Shikai has led the Qing court. If Nanjing cannot be won at this time, Wuhan is bound to fall into a crisis. If Wuhan is not guaranteed, neither will the Yangtze River Basin. So on this occasion, the Revolutionary Party quickly formed the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Allied Forces, divided into four groups, and fought Nanjing City two. Starting on November 24, the bloody battle lasted for seven days and seven nights, and finally on December 2, Nanjing recovered.
After the restoration of Nanjing, the Revolutionary Army put together more than 200 martyrs and war horses who were killed in the Yuhuatai battle of the 9th town of Xinjun. . In 1981, relevant authorities in Nanjing rebuilt the Tomb of the People and Horses and built a new granite stone monument with the inscription "The Tomb of the Dead in the Battle of Yuhuatai during the Revolution of 1911".
Zhang Xun
Let’s talk about Zhang Xun,After escaping from Nanjing, he ran all the way and fled to Xuzhou. At this time, Xuzhou has declared its recovery and a military government has been established. But with the arrival of Zhang Xunjun, Xuzhou has returned to the old pattern. Zhang Xun claimed: Xuzhou is not independent. If it is independent, I will do it with a cannon. On February 11, 1912, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Nanjing under the command of the Provisional President Sun Yat-sen organized the Northern Expedition to attack Xuzhou, and Zhang Xuncai fled again. On February 14, Xuzhou recovered again. So far, the whole province of Jiangsu has recovered.
After the Wuchang Uprising, various provinces have uprised one after another
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Reporter : What is the significance of the recovery of Jiangsu for the entire Xinhai Revolution?
Jing Shenghong : In the struggle between the revolutionaries and the Qing government, the recovery of Jiangsu, especially the recovery of Nanjing, was of great significance to the entire war.
Nanjing chokes the traffic of Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shanghai. According to the throat of the southeast provinces, it can cut off the Yangtze River shipping, and can block . Jinpu Railway and Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. As long as Nanjing is occupied, the Qing court can be wiped out. The last fortress in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region, connecting the upper and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to restore the provinces, strategically can form a confrontation with the Qing government.
At the time of the attack on Nanjing, the situation in Wuhan had changed drastically: under the command of Yuan Shikai, the Beiyang Army launched a fierce offensive with superior forces and advanced weapons. Following the occupation of Hankou on November 2, 1911, it was again in 1911. Conquered Hanyang on November 27, 2015. The revolutionary army in Wuhan was forced to retreat to Wuchang. The situation in Wuhan is critical. Hubei rebel leaders such as and Li Yuanhong are preparing to lead the rest of the army to withdraw from Wuchang and escape to other places. Once Wuchang, the land of the first uprising, falls, it will inevitably deal a heavy blow to the revolutionary parties throughout the country, and may even reverse the country's revolutionary situation. The recovery of Nanjing in blood and fire not only occupied the southeast military center, but also made all the provinces south of the Yangtze River belong to the revolutionary army.It also encouraged the morale of Wuchang and the revolutionary parties across the country, stabilized the revolutionary army’s battles after the fall of Hankou and Hanyang, stabilized the revolutionary army’s military spirit, attacked the arrogance of Yuan Shikai’s Beiyang Army, and aggravated the Qing court and Yuan Shikai’s Beiyang. The conflicts of the military pushed the dying Qing court to annihilation. Sun Yat-sen said: "After Hanyang was lost, our party had to Nanjing to offset it, and the overall situation of the revolution was intensified."
After the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Allied Forces conquered Nanjing, they then captured Xuzhou, and the entire Jiangsu province recovered. "Jiangsu's wealth is the best in the world, and victory in form is enough to control the southeast." The recovery of Jiangsu and the birth of the Jiangsu Dudu Mansion stabilized the overall situation of the national revolution.
The recovery of Nanjing can be said to be an important turning point in the Revolution of 1911. Before the first uprising of Wuchang, the center of the uprising was mainly in the southeast coastal area; after the first uprising of Wuchang, Hunan was the first to respond, and the Hubei and Hunan regions became the center of anti-Qing; and the recovery of Nanjing caused the center of the revolution to move east again, from Wuhan to Nanjing, in 1912 The Provisional Government of the Republic of China was established in Nanjing on January 1, laying the foundation.
proofreading Xu Heng
Source: Ziniu News
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