The Xinhai Revolution

The revolution that ended more than two thousand years of imperial rule in China.

Background

Defeats by foreign powers, the failed attempts at reform and the weakness of the Qing court had undermined the dynasty. Revolutionary societies, including Sun Yat-sen's Tongmenghui, gained support among students, overseas Chinese and officers of the new army.

Course of events

An uprising at Wuchang on 10 October 1911 triggered the defection of province after province. Sun Yat-sen was named provisional president of the Republic of China in Nanjing on 1 January 1912. In February the child emperor Puyi abdicated.

Legacy

Power soon passed to the general Yuan Shikai, and the new republic fell into decades of division and warlordism. The revolution nevertheless ended the imperial system and opened a long period of political experimentation.