The 1911 Revolution, one of the most discussed piece of Chinese history, is very often described as a “bloodless” revolution. The leaders of modern China, succeeding not only the authority to govern China but also the rhetoric in saying that the 1911 revolution is just a transfer of power, authority and is glorious as it did not involve merciless killings. However, Edward J. M. Rhoads, in his book Manchus & Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861 - 1928, presents a more accurate picture of this tumultuous event with terms like “massacre” and “racial slaughters”. Once again, readers are reminded to study history rather than “memorizing” history because what official can be a lie.
Going back to the 1911 revolution, it was a revolution to overthrow the Qing court which was Manchu, as everyone knows. These revolutionaries, including the world-famous Sun Yat-sen, aimed to take the power from the Qing court. The reasons behind this revolution are beyond our discussion today, but basically, they wanted republicanism which gave power back to the people. Anyway, the revolutionaries emphasized that they would not exercise extra killings and the transfer of power would be most peaceful. The official figure for the deaths involved in this revolution was around 1,000 to 2,000. Most Chinese are taught to be proud of this revolution because it overthrew imperialism bloodlessly. However, number of deaths in one garrison can be several times greater than this “1,000 to 2,000”. There are five major battlefields (or let me call it “fields for massacre”): Wuchang, Xi’an, Taiyuan, Zhenjiang and Nanjing. The number of deaths in these garrisons had no relation to the level of resistance. The Manchus in these garrisons were targets of racial hatred and victims of relentless killings.
Wuchang, being the base for revolutionaries, witnessed the first outburst of anti-Manchu violence. When the revolutionaries rallied into Wuchang, their slogan was “slay the Manchu officials and the banner people!” (Shalu Manguan qiren) and their declared goal was to “elevate the Han and exterminate the Manchus” (xing-Han mie-Man). Even the banner soldiers did not resist, they were killed. Bodies of banner people littered the streets in Wuchang. The most terrible thing was that there was witch hunt for surviving Manchus. People who looked different or sounded different were stopped by in the street and they had to be quizzed. They would be asked to pronounce the number 666. If they pronounce it with the Manchu accent, they would be executed right away. The estimated number of deaths of banner people (both soldiers and their dependents) was over 5 hundred for the first three days of the revolt.
The first banner garrison which met a large-scale anti-Manchu violence was Xi’an. Bloodiest encounter between the revolutionaries and the banner people took place here. As it was a banner garrison, enough banner soldiers stationed inside the Manchu City, waiting to defend and resist. They stood up and fought for a whole day, but the revolutionaries managed to breakthrough the next day. When they poured into the Tartar city, they looked upon everyone (even women and little children) as enemies and butchered them relentlessly. Some Manchus knelt down and begged for pardon. When they did, they were shot right away.
Taiyuan, Zhenjiang and Nanjing, also met the wrath of these revolutionaries. Manchus in these cities did not escape slaughter no matter what they did. Some of them resisted forcefully, some begged for pardon, some negotiated to cease fire. However, no matter what they did, they were killed unceasingly. Even women and little children were not pardoned. Dead bodies just littered the streets like piece of garbage.
The horrible doings of the revolutionaries were plenty and I was tired listing them out (Interested readers would find the section “Anti-Manchu Violence” in Chapter 4 The 1911 Revolution useful. Readers with or without imagination, I hope, would also find it terrifying, unacceptable and not-at-all glorious to call ourselves descendants of those revolutionaries. It was also why the official saying would remain to be the bloodless one; Most people just hate the atrocious side of events. This piece of writing just reminds me how “race” or in Chinese we call “zongzu” or “zu” could be a really dangerous idea. By classifying people into groups, it is easier to make claims that we are different from them, we are better, we are superior. Throughout history, this dangerous idea has not extinguished, it is growing because we still hold on the differences. When inflamed by extremists, people lost their mind and they would be able to do something that they won’t dare to do before, like soldiers in the battlefields. They shoot, they kill and they drop bombs because they are told these others’ lives are different from theirs.
It’s time to go back to our issue today. The 1911 revolution was not glorious, was not bloodless at all. Students or the general public should stop thinking about how glorious the way modern China was formed and should start thinking how much we really know about the history of China or even the history of the world and should start thinking how true is the knowledge we had been bestowed. It’s not because I like history, so I recommend people to start their independent research on history or on other subjects. It’s because without an independent research, our mind/ our world-view would be shaped by the officials, by the textbooks. It is thus important to read a little more and to think a little more.
**If there are mistakes, they are solely mine. Recommendations and suggestions are always welcome.
