ABSTRACT
The modernizing reforms implemented by the Qing dynasty after 1901 ultimately failed to guarantee its survival. Abroad, the court faced increasing anti-Qing rhetoric amongst radical Chinese students in Japan who blamed the ‘barbarian’ Manchu rulers for China’s plight and condemned them as a hindrance to the country’s progress and unity, while Republican revolutionaries in exile such as Sun Yatsen organized a series of abortive uprisings in the south of the country. At home, the credibility of the dynasty was gradually undermined as popular discontent grew in response to increased taxes, and disenchantment with the dynasty increased amongst elements of the gentry elite dissatisfied with the central government’s reluctance to grant them a more substantial role in the reform process. Riots in early 1911 led by provincial gentry elites in Sichuan protesting against the central government’s plan to take over provincial financed railways were followed by a mutiny amongst New Army units in Wuchang (Hubei province) in October 1911, which quickly led to a number of provinces in south and central China declaring independence from Beijing. By December 1911 Sun Yatsen, on his return to China after more than a decade in exile, had been elected provisional president by an assembly in Nanjing. Negotiations then ensued with Yuan Shikai, the commander of the northern forces still loyal to the throne. In February 1912 an agreement was reached between the southern revolutionaries and Yuan which allowed for the peaceful dissolution of the Qing dynasty and, one month later, the designation of Yuan Shikai as President of the Chinese Republic (Zhonghua minguo).
