Stage 1 - Normalcy
Normalcy is the stage of revolution before any ideas of revolution were thought of and when the previous ruling class was still in charge. Before the 1911 Chinese Revolution, the Qing Government was in charge of protecting and ruling the people. Prior to the revolution, China had been under the rule of nearly 4000 years of Dynasties. The Revolution occurred during and ended the Qing Dynasty, which at the time, was under the rule of Emperor Puyi and the Han Chinese Government. The Emperor was in charge of ruling and he took advice from his court. Because the Emperor's father, the previous Emperor had died when the Emperor was very young, making him one of the youngest Emperors in Chinese history, he was quite inept at ruling, therefore his mother, the Empress Dowager Cixi, assisted him in most of his law making, and because the Empress had little faith and trust in the corrupt court, she ended up making many major decisions that both benefited and brought negative effect to the government. Before the Revolution, the society had major class divides, which was one of the reasons that led to the lower class becoming displeased with the government. Most of the higher classes, for example people who were employers and had occupations that did not require labor, highly exploited the lower class. The higher class enjoyed comfort and were very often corrupt, while the lower class barely had enough food, due to the presence of famine during the time. Moreover, the government was growing weaker, and a lot of the taxes the people paid for a stronger military and a better functioning government was either pocketed by greedy officials or wasted on unnecessary means. Stage 2 - Criticism of Existing Regime The stage "Criticism of Existing Regime" is the stage when the people begin to realise that their political figure, in most cases their government, was less than capable of ruling its people. This stage usually begins in small speculations, and slowly grows to a mass number of people growing more and more dissatisfied with the ruling class, sparking further action. After China’s defeat by the West in the Opium War, the Qing government struggled with frequent invasions by Western armies, and the people were growing more and more restless with the inability of the government and the armies who were supposed to protect them. Small reforms were taken place, the government were aware of the growing dissatisfaction among the people but were conflicted by their customs and the unwillingness of the government which consisted mainly of the Manchu minority to give too much power to the Han majority that will allow them to start a revolution. The Chinese quickly realised after the Qing Government's many failed reforms, that it was no longer capable of protecting its people and ruling the people wisely. Small groups started to form all around China. People who could see that the government was growing more incapable by the day began to gather and formed different groups in different provinces, all of them with the same goal: to bring down the Qing Government and establish a new, more modern and fair political system where the people were benefited. |
Emperor PuyiThe Empress Dowager CiXi |