Revolution in China Chapter 7 Section 2

A. The Fall of the Qing Dynasty After the Boxer Rebellion, China tried desperately to reform Schools were changed and modeled after western education 1909, legislative assemblies were formed at the local or provincial level  Assemblies had no power to make laws, only advice the emperor Reforms did nothing for the peasants, artisans, or miners  They faced poor living conditions and high taxes

1. The Rise of Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen, a Chinese radical formed the Revive China Society -Thought that China should follow the pattern of the West He also knew that China was not ready for a Democracy He developed a three-stage reform process: a) Military Takeover b) Yat-sen’s own political party would rule and prepare the people for democracy c) created a constitutional democracy 1905, Yat-sen met in Tokyo with Chinese groups who supported him They formed the Revolutionary Alliance

2. Revolution of 1911 Empress of China died along with her nephew Last person in line was a child named Henry Pu Yi In October 1911, Sun Yat-sen’s followers began a revolt Yat-sen was in the U.S. at the time The Dynasty collapsed Yat-sen’s followers could not control China, so they had to turn to a member of the Old Order General Yuan Shigai agreed to be president of the new government A legislature was set up Yat-sen accepted Shigai as president, but started a new party called the Guomindang or Nationalist Party

B. n Era of Civil War After the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, the military took over Instead of following democratic principles, Shigai set himself up as a new emperor Shigai was hated by most of the people and thought of as a traitor for betraying the Qing Dynasty When Yuan abolished the legislature, Yat-sen and his followers launched a rebellion The rebellion was defeated and Yat-sen fled to Japan In 1916, Shigai dies and China collapses into a civil war

C. Chinese Society in Transition The coming of westerners affected the Chinese economy in 3 ways: 1) Westerners introduced modern transportation and communications 2) They started to export goods to other countries 3) The Chinese become involved in the World Economy These changes benefited China in that it became a modern countries These changes hurt China because much of the money made wen to foreign countries When WWI breaks out, Europeans will be more focused on the war This allows China to rule and control themselves

D. China’s Changing Culture In 1800, China had been very traditional Farmers, villages, traditional roles By 1900, China is a different place, especially culturally Europeans introduced western literature, music, paintings, and ideas Many urban, middle-class Chinese people embraced these ideas