January 1, 1912: The Republic of China Is Established

Sun Yat-sen

January 1, 1912: The Republic of China is proclaimed, ending the 1911 Revolution and the last imperial dynasty of China, the Qing Dynasty.

The Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or the Hsinhai Revolution, ended the monarchy after 2,132 years, and 276 years of the Qing Dynasty.

That dynasty had struggled for a long time to reform the government and resist foreign aggression, but the program of reforms after the Boxer Rebellion of 1899-1901 was opposed by conservatives in the Qing court, as conservatives tend to do, as too radical, and by reformers, as reformers tend to do, as too slow. Several factions, including underground anti-Qing groups, revolutionaries in exile, reformers who wanted to save the monarchy by modernizing it, and activists across the country debated how or whether to overthrow the Qing dynasty.

The flash-point came on October 10, 1911, with the Wuchang Uprising, an armed rebellion among members of the New Army. Similar revolts then broke out spontaneously around the country, and revolutionaries in all provinces of the country renounced the Qing dynasty. On November 1, 1911, the Qing court appointed Yuan Shikai, leader of the powerful Beiyang Army, as Prime Minister, and he began negotiations with the revolutionaries.

On January 1, 1912, the National Assembly declared the establishment of the Republic of China, with Dr. Sun Yat-sen, a 45-year-old physician and leader of the Tongmegnhui (United League), as President. A brief civil war between the North and the South ended in compromise: Sun would resign in favor of Yuan Shikai, who would become President of the new national government, if Yuan could secure the abdication of the Qing emperor. The edict of abdication of the 6-year-old Xuantong Emperor was promulgated on February 12. Yuan was sworn in as president on March 10.

The revolution is named Xinhai because it occurred in 1911, the year of the Xinhai (辛亥) stem-branch in the sexagenary cycle of the traditional Chinese calendar. Since the Communist revolution of 1949, both the mainland People's Republic of China and Taiwan, the Republic of China, celebrate the 1911 Revolution. Dr. Sun, who lived until 1925, is considered "The Father of the Nation" by Taiwan.

Emperor Puyi, monarch at age 2, overthrown at 5, lived on until 1967. The abolished throne passed to his brother, Pujie, who lived until 1994. With some irony, he married a member of the Japanese Imperial family. He had 2 daughters, 1 of whom is Aisin-Gioro Husheng. She married a Japanese nobleman, and is now known as Kosei Fukunaga. She has 2 daughters and 3 sons, the eldest of whom would inherit the throne.

Therefore, in the astronomically unlikely event that the Chinese monarchy is restored, the current Emperor of China would be a man who is three-quarters Japanese, and goes by the name Tsuneaki Fukunaga. I can't find a photograph of him.

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January 1, 1912 was a Monday. On this day, Kim Philby, British intelligence officer turned traitor for the Soviet Union, was born in in Ambala, British India. He died in 1988.

Baseball was out of season. This was before college football began regularly playing "bowl games" on New Year's Day. Professional basketball barely existed. And while there were 2 professional hockey leagues in Canada, the National Hockey Association in the east and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association in the west, neither played any games. So there were no scores on this historic day.