The

1911 Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC). The revolution was the culmination of a decade ...

spread from

China proper China proper, also called Inner China, are terms used primarily in the West in reference to the traditional "core" regions of China centered in the southeast. The term was first used by Westerners during the Manchu people, Manchu-led Qing dyn ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

, where fighting occurred between

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

loyalists and the

Anti-Qing Anti-Qing sentiment () refers to a sentiment principally held in China against the rule of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty (1644–1912), which was criticized by opponents as being "barbaric". Already hated by the Han Chinese because of the Manchus' ...

Revolutionary Party (反清革命党人). Fighting took place mainly in Yili.

Background

The Han Gelaohui had infiltrated the Qing military in Xinjiang during the

Dungan Revolt (1895–1896) Dungan revolt may refer to: * Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) The Dungan Revolt (1862–1877), also known as the Tongzhi Hui Revolt (, Xiao'erjing: تُ‌جِ خُوِ لُوًا, ) or Hui (Muslim) Minorities War, was a war fought in 19th-centur ...

and allegedly planned to help the Hui rebels before the Hui rebels were crushed. After the success of the

Wuchang Uprising The Wuchang Uprising was an armed rebellion against the ruling Qing dynasty that took place in Wuchang (now Wuchang District of Wuhan) in the Chinese province of Hubei on 10 October 1911, beginning the Xinhai Revolution that successfully overthr ...

, responses came from all over China, in November 1911, twenty four

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

s of the country broke away from the

Qing government The Qing dynasty (1644–1912) was the last imperial dynasty of China. The early Qing emperors adopted the bureaucratic structures and institutions from the preceding Ming dynasty but split rule between the Han and Manchus with some positions als ...

. Seeing this situation, the

Royalist Party The Royalist Party (), officially the Society for Monarchical Constitutionalism (), was a monarchist political party and militant organization active in China during the early Republican Era. Supported by the Empire of Japan, its members sought ...

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

conspired to welcome the

Xuantong Emperor Puyi (7 February 190617 October 1967) was the final emperor of China, reigning as the eleventh monarch of the Qing dynasty from 1908 to 1912. When the Guangxu Emperor died without an heir, Empress Dowager Cixi picked his nephew Puyi, aged tw ...

to move westward, in an attempt to build the capital in Kulun (now

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

) or Altay to cede the northwest, and continue to confront the revolutionary army. When the members of Revolutionary Party in Wuhan learned of this situation, they immediately told their members in Xinjiang, and the 1911 Revolution broke out in Xinjiang on November 28, 1911.

Fighting

The last

Gansu Xinjiang Provincial Governor Gansu is a province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan and Loess plateaus and borders ...

(甘肃新疆巡抚) of Qing Yuan Dahua (袁大化) fled and handed over his resignation to

Yang Zengxin Yang Zengxin (; March 6, 1864 – July 7, 1928) was a Chinese warlord who was the ruler of Xinjiang after the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 and during the Warlord Era until his assassination in 1928. Life Yang Zengxin was born in Mengzi, Yun ...

, because of the resistance and struggle of the people of all ethnic groups in the north and south of the

Tianshan Mountains The Tian Shan, also known as the Tengri Tagh or Tengir-Too, meaning the "Mountains of God/Heaven", is a large system of mountain ranges in Central Asia. The highest peak is Jengish Chokusu at high and located in Kyrgyzstan. Its lowest point is ...

, Yuan "cannot deal with the revolutionaries, hears the wind and loses gall" (穷于应付, 闻风丧胆), and finally had to "flee into the

Shanhai Pass The Shanhai Pass () is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coasta ...

", on the other hand, he did not want to work for the Republic of China. The Ili revolutionaries and the

Gelaohui The Gelaohui, usually translated as the Elder Brothers Society, was a secret society and underground resistance movement against the Qing dynasty. Although it was not associated with Sun Yat-sen's Tongmenghui, they both participated in the Xinh ...

were then suppressed by Yang. Yang appointed

Ma Fuxing Ma Fuxing ( zh, t=馬福興; Ma Fu-hsing in Wade Giles; 1864–1924) was a Hui born in Yunnan, in Qing dynasty China. He was an ex-convict. During Yang Zengxin's reign in Xinjiang, Ma was appointed as a military commander, and then Titai of Ka ...

as military commander of 2,000

Chinese Muslim Islam has been practiced in China since the 7th century CE.. There are an estimated 17–25 million Muslims in China, less than 2 percent of the total population. Though Hui Muslims are the most numerous group, the greatest concentration of Mu ...

troops, to crush Yang's rivals. President

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...

recognized his rule, appointing him Provincial Governor of Xinjiang. The revolutionaries printed new multi-lingual media.

Modern evaluation

Some Chinese

historians A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

believe that the success of the 1911 Revolution in Xinjiang (Yili) completely broke the Qing Emperor's plan of moving westward, and directly promoted the abdication of Xuantong Emperor, which has not yet received much attention in the field of

Chinese historiography Chinese historiography is the study of the techniques and sources used by historians to develop the recorded history of China. Overview of Chinese history The recording of events in Chinese history dates back to the Shang dynasty ( 1600–1046 ...

. The Revolution eradicated the last "life-saving straw" ("救命稻草") of the Qing Dynasty.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1911 Revolution In Xinjiang 1911 Revolution 20th century in Xinjiang 1911 in China 1912 in China

Background

Fighting

Modern evaluation

See also

References