ABSTRACT
A Chinese Republic is said to be in the birth-throes: the Dragon Throne is to pass into the dust-bin of history. On 3 November 1911, the Qing court announced that China would be ruled as a constitutional monarchy. It was one of the last attempts to ensure the survival of the Qing Dynasty in the face of a rebellion which was quickly spreading across the southern provinces of China. The British Constitutional monarchy has therefore been selected for adoption in China. The Chicago Tribune noted: 'Americans have a special interest in the Chinese revolt because America, American ideas and institution, and American schools have played so direct though innocent a part in arousing and formulating the revolution'. The Xinhai Revolution has surprisingly been rather neglected by Western scholars because it occurred roughly a decade after the Boxer Uprising, which continues to attract a great deal of academic attention, not least because so many foreign countries were directly involved in it.
