October 10th and the Founding of Modern China

October 10th is the marker of modern China. It is also known as double ten or double tenth day. It all started with the Wuchang Uprising of October 10th of 1911. It was the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution, also known as the Chinese Revolution of 1911, which led to the end of the imperial dynasty of China. ​

Wuchang Uprising was organized by Tongmenghui. Tongmenghui (TMS) 同盟會 translates to Chinese United League, which was an underground resistance movement founded on August 20th, 1905 by Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren, and others in Tokyo, Japan. Sun Yat-sen would later be known as the founder of Modern China while his co-founder, Song Jiaoren became the founder of Kuomintang (KMT), and was assassinated by 1913 after China’s first democratic election.

TMS was founded to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and to have the Chinese rule China again. Qing Dynasty was of the Manchu tribe and Tingmengshui believed that Qing Dynasty was taking democracy away from the Chinese as well as its ineffective leadership. Qing Dynasty had been on a losing streak due to its inability to keep up with western technology. It all started with the First Opium War in 1842 when the Qing imperial court struggled to contain foreign intrusion. Then, it failed to westernize and was again defeated during the Second Opium war of 1860. During the first Sino-Japanese War, China was decisively defeated by Japan and it led to the lack of confidence of the Chinese people in the Qing’s leadership. TMS’s slogan during the time was to expel the Manchus, to revive Chinese society, to establish a Republic, and to distribute land equally among the people. This motivated a lot of people to join. Some will eventually become leaders of China during World War 2 such as Mao Zedong, Chiang Kai-Shek, and Wong, Jingwei. 

Mao Zedong would later become the founder of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) who took over China. 
Chiang Kai-shek became the chairman of KMT and was exiled in Taiwan after World War 2 as he spent most of the military power fighting the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese War, and lost the civil war with the Mao's CCP.
Wang, Jingwei was a part of the KMT but was in a constant argument with Chiang, Kai Shek. Then he joined the CCP and in the later days of the Sino-Japanese War, he joined forces with the Japanese Army and would be known as the traitor in the Sino-Japanese War. 

However, during the time when Sun, Yat-Sen was alive, he was able to unite these strong personalities to the cause of TMS. Xinhai Revolution was a demonstration of the leadership of Sun, Yat-Sen. As Sun, Yat-Sen had thought, most of the Chinese were fed up with the leadership of the Qing dynasty and was able to use that cause to unite Chinese people across different walks of life. The revolution was supported by students and intellectuals who returned from abroad, as well as participants of the revolutionary organizations, overseas Chinese, soldiers of the new army, local gentry, farmers, and others. 
The Xinhai Revolution was not the first revolution attempted to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. However, it was a revolution started at the right time. In 1911, the Qing Dynasty had planned to nationalize local railway development but to transfer control to foreign banks. This triggered a Railway Protection Movement which led to Wuchang Uprising, which led to a series of revolutionary movement and the abdication of the Qing throne and the founding of modern China. ​

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