Taiwan Today

Blaise Pascal, 17th century French philosopher, once said, "If the nose of Cleopatra had been shorter, the whole face of the earth would have been changed." Cynical as the statement may seem, it does contain some truth since world history does seem like a string of accidents, which, if segregated from their background and the trends of time, are trivial by themselves.

Such an accident was the Revolution of 1911, which, at one bold stroke by a number of desperate soldiers in Wuchang on October 10 forty-nine years ago, succeeded in completely disorganizing the mammoth Manchu Empire and bringing into being the first and biggest republic in Asia, the Republic of China.

It was the best of times for the revolu­tion; it was also the worst time to start it. It was the best time because through the untiring and selfless efforts of the revolutionists under the leadership of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the masses had been fully instructed, and were ready to espouse the revolutionary cause. Foreign treaty powers had taken a tacit neutral attitude towards the revolutionary activities. The names of the revolutionary leaders had become household words for free­dom and modernization and had stricken terror into the hearts of the mandarin. But on the other hand, the many uprisings that Dr. Sun had directed since he dedicated him­self to active revolution had all fizzled out.

As early as October, 1895, the first bold attempt to seize power by force was made in Canton. It was followed by the second upris­ing at Huichow in October, 1900; the third at Chaochow in May, 1907; the fourth again at Huichow in June, 1907; the fifth at Chingchow in September, 1907; the sixth at Chennakuan in December, 1907; the seventh at Chingchow, Lienkang and Shangssu in March, 1908; the eighth at Hokow in April, 1908; and the ninth again at Canton in February, 1910. All were miserable failures resulting in loss of men and ammunition and great loss in morale among Dr. Sun's more faint-hearted followers as well as loss of confidence on the part of the overseas Chinese who gave the financial support.

After the ninth abortive uprising, Dr. Sun became convinced that the failures were mainly due to lack of adequate funds that caused logistic and reinforcement difficulties. He went from Japan to Singapore and thence to Penang, where he called his confederates Huang Hsing, Chao Sheng, Hu Han-min and others to a conference. It was decided that while he was to take a fund-raising tour to Europe and America, Huang and Chao were to return to set up an operational headquarters in Hongkong and once again prepare a major uprising in Canton.

The headquarters was set up in Hongkong In March, 1911, revolutionists in large numbers moved into Canton, disguised as small traders, and settled themselves in various parts of the city. As Canton was heavily guarded by Manchurian troops, arms had to be packed in bags of rice or smuggled in by other clever devices such as hiding them under sedan chairs or in the personal effects of bogus brides in phoney wedding processions. Altogether it was planned to pass 800 rifles, 300 bombs, and 300 swords or daggers by such means under the very nose of the Manchurian guards. On April 8, a meeting was held to fix the date and finalize the strategy of the attack. It was decided to organize 800 men into ten groups, each of which was assigned to attack and take over one Manchurian yam en or arms depot or more. Huang Hsing and Chao Sheng were to lead the first and second groups to attack the most heavily guarded Viceroy's Yamen and the Com­mandant's Headquarters respectively.

On April 13, Huang Hsing arrived at Canton. He found many things in bad shape. First, arms and ammunition did not arrive punctually from Japan and Siam as planned. Secondly, one lot of more than 100 rifles and bullets had been detoured by a spy among the revolutionists to the Manchurian com­mandant, thus alerting the viceroy to reinforce his troops and search the city. As a result, several revolutionary hideouts were uncovered. These incidents moved some of the revolutionaries to suggest postponing the uprising and many of them actually withdrew and went back to Hongkong. But redoubtable Huang Hsing was adamantly determined to carry out the uprising under whatever odds. With his followers reduced to only 170 men, he started the attack on April 7:7.

In the morning of that fateful day, all the men gathered around Huang's house. Each was given a black steel time-piece and an ivory seal. Each had to wear a white armband and black rubber shoes as distinctive marks before they started the attack. At 4 p.m. Huang gave the men a rousing speech and distributed small arms all around. At exactly 5:25 p.m., Huang led one group of 100 men and marched towards the Viceroy's Yamen, killing all the policemen they met on the way.

When they reached the yam en, Viceroy Chang Ming-chi was holding a conference with his subordinates and was taken by surprise. After killing or routing the guards in front of the yam en, Huang and his men went for the viceroy in the main hall. There they encountered the viceroy's bodyguards who killed several comrades but were finally subdued and forced to act as guides in search­ing for the viceroy. Huang personally made the search but the viceroy was nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, a new reinforcement of body­guards had arrived on the scene and were killing many of the comrades. Knowing their exit was blocked, Huang set fire to viceroy's bed and ordered his men to retreat. Firing a gun from either hand, he shot his way out of the yamen. Then he gathered what was left of his men and led them towards the eastern gate where they came face to face with the commandant's troops.

One of Huang's men, Lin Wen, who had been informed that some of the commandant's soldiers were sympathizers with the revolu­tionary cause, went forward to the soldiers and cried loudly, "We are all sons of Han! Let us join hands to recover our land!" He was shot down by the enemy, as were several others. Huang himself had two fingers blasted from his right hand and was wounded in his feet. But he doggedly continued fighting, ordering his men to scatter in three directions. He ordered one group out the northern gate in the hope of receiving reinforcements from the local army who were known for their sympathy with the revolution. He ordered a second group to support those who were attacking the Commandant's Headquar­ters. Taking the rest with himself, he headed for the southern gate.

On the way, they again encountered the Manchurian soldiers. During a skirmish, some of enemy troops who sympathized with the revolution tried to come over to the revolutionary side, but in the medley and excitement of fighting they were unfortunately mowed down by the comrades. Meanwhile, the revolutionists had been cut down in large numbers. When Huang finally fought his way out of the southern gate, he found him­self completely alone. Hiding himself in a small shop, he continued to fire on the pursuing enemy and killed seven or eight more. His hand was bleeding profusely and giving him great pain. After washing it in cold water and roughly binding it, he changed his clothes and ran over to the southern side of a river. There he met a woman comrade Hsu Cheng-han who helped him escape to safety.

Meanwhile, the group that went out of the northern gate ran into a large band of Manchurian troops. Outnumbered, they re­treated into a rice shop, where, barricading themselves behind bags of rice, they continued to fight with the enemy for more than 24 hours until their ammunition was exhaust­ed. The enemy commander set fire to all the nearby houses and forced the comrades to run out of the back doors. Many of them died from wounds after they reached their homes and still more were caught by the enemy and later died bravely for their cause. The loss suffered by this group was the heaviest, but their heroism marked a glorious page in the history of the revolution.

The group that Huang ordered to join those attacking the Commandant's Headquar­ters fared no better than the rest. Fighting as they went, they met a group of comrades engaged with the enemy. They joined forces with their comrades and fought till nine o'clock that night, when their ammunition gave out. Many of them were killed and more than 40 were taken prisoners and the rest were forced to flee. All the prisoners later dieb bravely as martyrs. As most of them were young patriotic scholars, they left many brave words and writings which have since adorned the hall of fame in the memorial museums.

The news of the Canton uprising and its unfortunate but heroic ending soon spread to Hongkong. Chao Sheng and Hu Hang-ming received the news early the next morning and immediately gathered more than 200 men and marched with them towards Canton to reinforce the uprising. But when they ar­rived at Canton the city wall was blocked and they had to return to Hongkong. Chao Sheng remained and found Huang Hsing on the southern side of the river. When they met they cried bitterly in each other's arms. Huang was so commiserated by the failure and sacrifice that he fainted on the spot and insisted on returning to the city to fight sin­gle-handedly and to die a martyr's death. He was finally persuaded by Chao to return to Hongkong, where he was hospitalized. One happy outcome of the tragic affair was the romance that developed between this rugged revolutionary leader and Miss Hsu Cheng-han who later became his wife.

After the fighting was over in Canton, the Manchurian authorities intentionally left all the corpses of the revolutionists on the street until May 1. Out of spite, the local officials first asked the charity organizations to bury them on the "Dog Head Hill." Later the officials changed their minds and ordered the bodies be buried on "Stinking Ridge" out­side the eastern gate. One KMT member Pan Ta-wei kindly offered to look after all 72 bodies. With the assistance of the charity organizations, he buried them at a place called Hung Hua Kang (Red Flower Mound) in a suburb of Canton. The place was later renamed Huang Hua Kan (Yellow Flower Mound), a famous historical spot.

Thus another failure was added to the long list of disastrous revolutionary uprisings. At the time Dr. Sun was in Chicago. He was somewhat disheartened by the news, but was comforted to learn that none of his trusted lieutenants had received any mortal harm. With optimistic perseverance, he went imme­diately to San Francisco to intensify his fund­ raising campaign among the large Chinese community there.

On the domestic front, a new uprising was again planned. The ten unsuccessful revolts were staged in the southernmost provinces of China, far away from the heart of the Manchu government. The revolutionists realized that a killing blow could be made only by a successful uprising in central China.

As a matter of fact, in February, before the Canton uprising was staged, Tan Jen-feng, a white-bearded revolutionary, had been despatched to influence the Manchurian military units and to establish secret agencies in the central provinces. He reported to Huang and others that, in the opinion of the underground workers in these provinces, central China was ripe for revolution and an uprising in Wuchang would start the ball rolling. He asked for more funds to set up more secret agencies there. Huang and Chao supplied him with 2,000 silver dollars and instructed him to proceed.

By that time, the influence of Tung Meng Hui in the Yangtse area had already pen­ etrated into the Manchurian army, especially the New Army stationed in Wuchang and Hankow. There, the local revolutionists had already established two secret agencies, one called Kung Ching Hui under the leadership of Lin Kung, Sun Wu, Teng Yu-ling and others and the other called Wen Shui Hui under Chiang Yu-wu, Liu Fu-chi and others.

In the early spring of 1911, Chu Cheng had arrived from Hongkong to plan an up­rising in Wuchang. He established his head­ quarters in Hankow where, with the assistance of the local agents, he set up more agencies camouflaged as hotels and restaurants, so that the agents could conveniently gather and new recruits could enroll without suspicion. One such restaurant, for example, under the man­agement of Teng Yu-ling, especially took care of the new recruits from the Manchurian army. The names of recruits were recorded in the shop's cash journal and their other personal data were coded into different cash amounts. The flow of new recruits ran high but funds were running low.

The revolutionists had sometimes to raise funds by resorting to more direct but less dignified means. Chu Cheng, for instance, schemed to steal an idol made of gold from a temple, but did not succeed. Luckily com­rade Lin Kung had a better chance. His father was leaving for Peking with 5,000 silver dollars to bribe the corrupt Mandarin for an official appointment. The revolutionists waylaid him and tried to persuade him to contribute the money to the revolutionary cause. Senior Lin was not willing to part with his money but the money was taken over anyhow.

Supplied with new funds, preparation for the uprising was accelerated and, by the middle of September, it began to take shape. A first meeting was called on September 16, at which military appointments were given to Lin Kung and others and three important resolutions were passed: (1) more hotels to be opened in Wuchang; (2) more secluded premises to be rented to manufacture bombs and flags and prepare leaflets and proclama­tions and (3) Chu Cheng to go to Shanghai to procure pistols and to invite Huang Hsing, Soong Chiao-jen and Tan Jen-feng to come to lead the uprising.

At that moment the Manchu government committed one timely political mistake; it proposed the nationalization of all trunk railway lines as a means of securing a big foreign loan from the Five Nation Consortium. This greatly augured the people because many of them held shares in the railroads and the action of the Manchu government was tantamount to confiscation of private prop­erty. Pickets were organized by the people to protect railway properties and the whole country was shaken. The anti-Man­churian movement became so threatening that in Szechuan the viceroy had to order suppression by force, which resulted in the killing of the innocent but greatly promoted the cause of the revolution throughout the country.

On September 24, a meeting was convened in Wuchang to finalize the strategy for the uprising. More than 60 confederates participated.

The date of uprising was set for October 6, the mid-autumn festival.

Chiang Yu-wu, the chief of the Wen Shiu Hui, was to be the commander-in-chief, with Sun Wu as chief of staff, Yang Shih-ji and Yang Yu-yu were to take charge of internal affairs; Yang Hung-sheng to take charge of transportation; and Teng Yu-lin to take charge of communications.

Each brigade commander assisted by two lieutenants would have three units of ten men each under them. A supply of bombs was to be made ready. As a signal, fire would be set to houses, and the revolutionary army would march in units to occupy the arms depots, the Viceroy's Yamen, the strategic spots such as Snake Hill, Turtle Hill, and Wu Sheng Kuan. All fighting men were members of the local New Army.

An accident that very afternoon, howe­ver, exposed the whole plan. Some confeder­ates in the New Army had a farewell dinner party together and, after eating and drinking, became so hilariously noisy that some passing military officers interfered. The men did not wish to quiet down and so a fight ensued. During the commotion one of the men reported to Sun Wu and Teng Yu-lin that the revolution had already started. Teng went to Chiang Yi-wu but Chiang advised them to quiet down since other leaders and the supply of arms had not yet arrived from Shanghai. He reasoned that the brawl would not lead to further investigation by the Manchus since the viceroy was known for his cowardice. True, the viceroy only punished the insubordinate soldiers involved without further in­vestigation. The news of the incident, how­ever, got into the papers and somehow the exact date of the secret uprising was also divulged. The Manchus became suspicious and started a wide search for revolutionists.

On October 9, the Manchu authorities in Hankow declared martial law. The revolu­tionary Hankow Ta Chiang News was closed down and the editor Chou Ta-pei was arrested. On the same day, Sun Wu exploded a bomb by accident in his residence in the Russian Settlement. He was immediately sent to a hospital but the police searched his house and confiscated all the bombs, flags and badges he had made. The police of the Russian Settle­ment notified the Hankow local police and they continued the search. As a result, Lin Kung's family were arrested and a name list of recruits from the army was confiscated. The name list alarmed the Manchus. All city gates were immediately closed and all leaves for soldiers were cancelled. Everybody in the New Army who had any relationship with the revolutionists got jittery. Teng immedi­ately crossed over to Wuchang, where he suggested to Chiang, Lin and others, to start the uprising before the Manchus took any preventive action.

In his capacity as commander-in-chief, Chiang immediately issued orders for action in the night. A number of men started mak­ing bombs which were transported by Yang Hong-seng to the confederates in the army. He was detected by the guards and had to run for his life. Arriving home, he inadver­tently exploded a bomb and hurt his own face. The police heard the explosion, arrested him and took away all the bombs.

Deep in the night, Chiang, Lin and a group of others were together awaiting the uprising to start, but a large batch of police arrived unexpectedly. Lin threw a bomb at the police. While the police were stopped by the explosion, the others tried to escape over the top of the house. But unfortunately the roof caved in, and they were all thrown to the ground. Lin, Chiang, Yang and a member called Peng were all arrested. Only Chiang got away. In the morning, the arrested three were executed in front of the Viceroy's Yamen. All the secret setayos hideouts in Wuchang were thus wipsed out and communication between Wuchang and Hankow was complete­ly disrupted. It seemed that an uprising in Wuchang was nipped in the bud.

On October 10, the Manchu authorities further tightened control over Wuchang. The city gates were closed and all communications with the outside were prohibited. In the army, no one was allowed to leave barracks nor to receive visitors. An atmosphere of impending disaster prevailed. Since the headquarters for the revolutionists had been destroyed, tens of confederates had been arrested and more had fled, every revolutionist was left to his own device. Panic got hold of those in the army when they learned that the Manchus had obtained a name list of the con­federates and that they were to be arrested at the time of roll-call in the night. Teng Yu-ling, who had escaped to Hankow, returned to Wuchang by way of Hangyang. He got in contact with the comrades in the Cannon Corps of the New Army and advised them to start the uprising at the time of roll-call and to occupy the arms depot at nearby Tsu-wang-tai.

The corps leader, Hsiung Ping-kun, told his men to get ready for the uprising. He said they were all doomed whether they re­volted or not; so why not revolt and die as heroes.

Their difficulty then was to get enough bullets as all supplies had been taken away and kept under lock. One man got a few boxes of bullets from his brother, and another pinched a few from his sergeant. Those were the only munitions with which the uprising was started!

In the afternoon, under cover of heavy rain, Hsiung sneaked out to notify the other units of the decision to strike. When he returned, a platoon leader by the name of Tao came to inspect the quarters. As he saw the men were cleaning their rifles he ask, "Are you going to revolt?" One of the men King reply, "Yes, what if we do?" Tao tried to arrest King and they fell on each other in a death struggle. As Tao was very strong King called loudly to his friends for help, "Comrades, why wait any longer?" One man hit Tao on the head with the rifle butt and another fired on him.

This was the bullet that started the revo­lution.

Tao was wounded but he ran out. The commotion soon spread throughout the bar­racks and firing was heard on every side.

It was about 8 o'clock in the evening. All comrades joined in the action and the ammunition room was immediately seized. After cutting all telephone lines, killing uncooperative officers, and setting fire to the barracks, the men all gathered under Hsiung and marched out of the barracks as an orderly fighting unit. They took over the nearby arms depot as arranged, and, as more comrades from other units rallied, they soon had cannon at their disposal.

The mounted troops surrendered after a brief skirmish and together the whole army marched towards the Viceroy's Yamen. The yamen was heavily guarded and the revolutionary army had to bombard it with cannon. Commandant Chang Piao reinforced the guards with machine guns which held the at­tackers at bay long into the night.

The attackers finally moved the cannon to the top of Snake Hill which overlooked the Viceroy's Yamen. From this vantage point the cannon blasted away at the yamen with good results. Viceroy Jui Cheng got panicky. Accompanied by a number of bodyguards he climbed over the back wall and escaped on board a man-of-war.

After the escape of the viceroy, the Manchurian troops were demoralized. Commandant Chang tried to continue fighting, but, knowing the futility of further resistance, he retreated with his remaining troops to Hankow to wait for reinforcements.

Before day broke the yamen had been occupied and the "white sun in blue sky" flag had been raised to welcome a new day and a new age! Within three days the three most strategic cities in the middle Yangtze Valley fell one after another, heralding the birth of the first Republic in Asia.

Dr. Sun was not unaware that the success of this particular uprising, if segregated from its background, was an accident. When he reviewed the Wuchang Revolution he said: "The success at Wuchang was rather unex­pected. The pivot of the success was the escape of the viceroy. If the viceroy had not run away, the commandant would have re­mained with his troops and would not have completely lost control of the military situa­tion. Order could have been restored be­cause at that time most of the soldiers in the New Army who sympathized with the revolu­tion had been transferred by the viceroy to Szechuan and what faithful members remained at Wuchang were only a small number of men in the Engineering Corps. The other units of the New Army were still indifferent to our cause. It was this small group of men, who, in fear of their own lives after the secret had been exposed, made a desperate blow which unexpectly hit the bull's eye. It may be said that God was on our side."