Commemorating the 110th Anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution————
Yunnan Provincial Museum Xinhai Revolution Cultural Relics Collection
Tan Ligang Yunnan Provincial Museum Courtesy photo: Yunnan Provincial Museum
The Xinhai Revolution, which broke out in 1911, overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty, ended the absolute monarchy that had ruled China for thousands of years, spread the concept of democracy and republicanism, and promoted the social changes in modern China with great shock and profound influence. Although due to the constraints of the historical process and social conditions, the Xinhai Revolution did not change the social nature of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in old China, did not change the miserable situation of the Chinese people, and did not complete the historical task of realizing national independence and people's liberation, it created the modern national democratic revolution, greatly promoted the ideological emancipation of the Chinese nation, opened the floodgates of China's progressive trend, and explored the road for the development and progress of the Chinese nation. After the Xinhai Revolution, the accumulation of democratic and republican consciousness has greatly promoted the unprecedented rise of the patriotic spirit of the Chinese nation. The Xinhai Revolution not only summoned the arrival of the New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement, but also opened the way for the spread of Marxism in China to a certain extent.
On the eve of the Xinhai Revolution, the Hekou Uprising and the Yongchang Uprising led by the League broke out in Yunnan in 1908, which, although unsuccessful, laid a good foundation for the Xinhai Yunnan Uprising. On October 10, 1910, the Wuchang Uprising broke out, Yunnan, after Hunan, Shaanxi, Shanxi and other provinces, took the lead in responding in the southwest, launched the Tengyue Uprising on October 27, the establishment of the Western Yunnan Military Governor's Palace, October 30 Kunming "Chongjiu Uprising" successful, the establishment of the Yunnan Military Governor's Palace, ending the Qing Dynasty's rule in Yunnan, solidarity with Wuchang, and promoting the independence of Guizhou, Sichuan and some provinces. A number of cultural relics of the Xinhai Revolution treasured by the Yunnan Provincial Museum have witnessed this period of turbulent history. Today, we select some cultural relics of the Xinhai Revolution for a brief introduction, look back at history through cultural relics, and commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution.
Wuchang Uprising Medal
A badge is a special symbol used to indicate status, occupation, honor, or to commemorate something. It is generally divided into badges, medals, commemorative medals, gift medals, etc. After the Xinhai Revolution, in order to commemorate the Xinhai Revolution, a number of commemorative medals were made from the central to the local level.
In October 1912, on the first anniversary of the Wuchang Uprising, the Hubei Governor's Office produced and issued the "Wuchang Uprising Commemorative Medal". The shape of the medal basically refers to the Iron-Blooded Eighteen-Star Flag. The front of the medal is divided into two layers: the inner and outer circles. The outer circle is surrounded by a golden spike, with the five characters "Wuhan Commemorative Medal" written on it; the inner circle is a white background, and the center is dominated by the intersection of the Eighteen Star Flag (left) and the Five Color Flag (right). The main motif on the back of the medal is a relief bust of Li Yuanhong, highlighting his leadership position in the Wuchang Uprising, and above the head is the English signature of "Li Yuanhong".
In the Xinhai Revolution commemorative medal, it is more common to cross the eighteen-star flag (or nineteen-star flag) and the five-color flag as the main pattern, they have different shapes and text content, some place the five-color flag on the left side of the medal, the eighteen-star flag on the right side, and some are the opposite. In addition, similar patterns are not uncommon in other cultural relics, such as the two general Li Hongxiang sabers in the Yunnan Provincial Museum, and there are also eighteen-star flags and five-color flags in the seams in the handle of the sword. The Eighteen-Star Flag (or Nineteen-Star Flag) appears in the same frame with the five-color flag at a high frequency, mainly because both flags were symbols of the revolution and the Republic of China at that time.
Five-color flag
The five-color flag originated from the alliance meeting to discuss the future Chinese national flag, "some people proposed to use five colors to conform to the habits in Chinese history", with white, blue, black, red, and yellow corresponding to gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, representing the five elements always said, alluding to the Qing Dynasty and replacing it. With the rapid advancement of the Xinhai Revolution, the five-color flag was given the meaning of "republic of the five ethnic groups". On December 2, 1911, the revolutionary army captured Nanjing, and on December 4, the governors of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, as well as the representatives of the provinces who stayed in Shanghai, held a provincial congress at the Jiangsu Education Association in Shanghai, and the meeting resolved: "Taking the meaning of the republic of the five ethnic groups, it is decided to take the five colors as the national flag, red, yellow, blue, white, and black, symbolizing Han, Manchuria, Mongolia, Hui, and Tibet."
On January 1, 1912, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China was established in Nanjing. On the 10th, the provincial congresses (acting as the provisional Senate) passed the bill with the five-color flag as the national flag, and submitted it to the provisional president Sun Yat-sen to promulgate and implement it.
On May 10, 1912, the Provisional Senate passed a resolution to use the five-color flag as its flag. Since then, the Provisional Senate has passed a resolution to use the Blue Sky and White Sun Flag as the naval flag and the Nineteen Star Flag as the army flag. On June 11, Yuan Shikai issued an interim presidential decree promulgating and implementing the provisional Senate's resolution "with the five-color flag as the national flag".
It is worth noting that when the "Wuchang Uprising Commemorative Medal" appeared, the national flag dispute had come to an end, but the Eighteen-Star Flag still had a lofty status in the hearts of some revolutionaries. As we all know, in our traditional culture, there is a habit of respecting the left and respecting the left. The Wuchang Uprising Medal places the Eighteen-Star Flag to the left of the flag, highlighting its position, indicating that the ideas of the revolutionaries were still being integrated at this time.
Dress of officers of the Forces nouvelles
During the Xinhai Revolution, the new army formed by the Qing government later developed into a revolutionary force that could not be ignored. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing army lost one after another in foreign wars, forcing the Qing government to realize that it must adopt Western law, create a new army, and comprehensively learn from the West in terms of the quality of officers and men, military equipment, and training methods. In 1902, Yunnan began to train the new army, and in 1909, the new army in Yunnan was organized into a town (division), which was designated as the nineteenth town of the provisional army. After several years of hard work, the new-style army that was formed into an army has indeed made great progress compared with the past, and most of the officers have received military academy education, especially the students who studied in Japan, and have returned to Yunnan after graduation, such as Li Gengen, Li Hongxiang, Xie Ruyi, Tang Jiyao, Zhao Fuxiang, Yu Enyang, Zhang Kairu, deng Tai, and so on. They were influenced by the revolutionary trend, and many of them joined the League while studying abroad. Their appointments in Yunnan laid the foundation for the New Army in Yunnan to spread revolutionary ideas.
In addition to the improvement of the quality of officers and men, the equipment of the new army has also been greatly improved, including the replacement of military uniforms. Take the Yunnan Provincial Museum's "Li Hongxiang New Army Officer's Dress" as an example, which refers to the German military uniform design, using a mid-length jacket with a standing collar, a single-breasted placket, and 7 flat round buttons. The collar badge is embellished with a golden flying python, and the flying python holds a blue bead, resembling a dragon play bead, and the edge of the neckline is wrapped in a golden edge. The armbands are braided with coiled flowers, and the cuffs are embellished with a gold thread and a red line (representing infantry). Judging by the collar badge and armband, this dress should belong to the middle third level "co-counselor". The reasons are as follows: first, the color of the orb on the collar badge of the new army dress is "superior holding red beads, medium holding blue beads, and inferior holding white beads"; second, the gold line on the edge of the collar badge, three first-level three, second-level two-way, and third-level one; third, the expression method of the armband refers to the collar badge, and the cuffs are interspersed with one to three gold threads to distinguish the three levels. This set of new military uniforms comprehensively imitates the Western army in terms of color, logo, and style, and has made useful explorations in the modernization of military uniforms. The new army in Western-style uniforms has a new look, and even led the fashion of the times, and some local people have taken it as fashion to wear Western-style military uniforms, so that the new armies everywhere have to post notices to strictly prohibit people from wearing military uniforms.
According to the rank and position setting of the new army at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the middle third-rank "assistant leader" officer was generally appointed as a "pipe belt" (battalion commander), combined with Li Hongxiang's life, this dress is likely to be issued before and after Li Hongxiang was appointed as the pipe belt of the 37th 73rd battalion of the 37th 73rd standard of the 19th town of the new army.
In May of the third year of Xuan reunification (1911), Li Hongxiang was appointed as the third battalion pipe belt of the Seventy-three Standards. On October 30, 1911, just as Li Hongxiang's troops were distributing weapons at the North Campus to prepare for the uprising, Tang Yuanliang, the officer on duty of the Beiyang Department, discovered it. Seeing that the situation was revealed, the soldiers shot and killed Tang Yuanliang. Li Hongxiang immediately summoned the whole camp to swear an uprising. The Seventy-three Biao "Biao Tong" (regimental commander) led the guards to suppress it, and Li Hongxiang led his troops to bravely face the blow. Subsequently, the revolutionary army swarmed into the city and besieged the patrol team of the Wuhuashan Ordnance Bureau in Kunming, and the governor of Yunnan, Li Jingxi, quickly mobilized his troops and fought with Li Hongxiang's troops for several hours in the yellow river lane. At 3 o'clock that night, Cai Yi led a brigade into the city and shelled the Governor's Office and the Ordnance Bureau. At 12:00 noon on the 31st, the revolutionary army occupied the whole city. Two days later, the Yunnan Military Governor's Office was established, with Cai Yi as the Governor and Li Hongxiang as the commander of the provincial garrison.
10 yuan public bond of the military government of the Republic of China
50 yuan public bond of the military government of the Republic of China
Junta public bonds
Public debt is a kind of debt formed by the government to obtain income in the form of credit to its own residents and units or from abroad. In 1894, the Qing government held an "interest merchant loan" to meet the military expenses of the Sino-Japanese War, which can be regarded as the origin of China's modern domestic public bonds. On October 10, 1911, after the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, Hunan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Yunnan and other places raised the banner of uprising and declared "independence" from the Qing government. After the establishment of revolutionary regimes in various places, military expenditure increased sharply, and at the same time, it lacked the support of the central government, so it generally fell into a financial crisis. According to statistics, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, Yunnan Province "earned more than three million yuan per year, and about six million yuan per year", and the deficiencies were made up by the imperial court through the allocation of salary to Yunnan and the two silver of the provinces, but there was still a shortage of more than one million every year, and the fiscal deficit was serious. After the Xinhai Revolution, Yunnan was unable to allocate funds due to the sudden suspension of "the independence of the provinces, and the central government was unable to allocate funds ... Aiding Shu, Aiding Qian, and Aiding Tibet, successively sending out teachers, providing a huge supply, and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars", the finances were suddenly in trouble. In order to defuse the financial crisis, the local revolutionary governments adopted various fiscal measures, including the issuance of domestic bonds. Within a year of the Wuchang uprising, a number of local government bonds were issued in Hubei, Gansu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shaanxi, and Yunnan.
The Yunnan Provincial Museum collects the "Republic of China Military Government Bond Ticket" issued by the Shanghai Shanghai Military Governor's Office. On November 4, 1911, Shanghai was restored. On November 14, due to financial support, the Shanghai Military Governor's Office decided to raise public bonds. "Republic of China Military Government Public Debt Bills", mainly used for military expenditure. There are four kinds of public bonds: 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 50 yuan and 100 yuan, and the Yunnan Provincial Museum has two kinds of 50 yuan and 10 yuan. "Republic of China Military Government Bond Bills", 500,000 yuan bills, 250,000 10 yuan bills, 50,000 500 yuan bonds, 25,000 100 yuan bonds, a total of 10 million yuan. The face of the ticket is printed with the four numbers of Heaven, Earth, Xuan and Huang to distinguish the distance of the repayment period. Each yang is 2.5 million yuan; the repayment period is 6 years, and it is repaid in 4 times in the order of heaven, earth, Xuan and Huang, and each time it is repaid 2.5 million yuan. Interest on government bonds is progressive, increasing year by year. The annual interest rate for the first year is seven percent, and the annual interest rate for the second year is eight percent... By the sixth year it is one cent and two cents. The 10 yuan and 50 yuan bonds are blue and red respectively to show the difference, and the lower left covers Chen Qimei, the governor of the Shanghai Shanghai Military Governor's Office, Li Pingshu, the chief of civil affairs, and Zhu Baosan, the chief financial officer, printed the letter. The back of the ticket is in English, and the payment is signed in English by Chen Qimei, Li Pingshu and Zhu Bao.
After the establishment of the Nanjing Provisional Government, it believed that the issuance of bonds by local governments would hinder unification and demanded that Hubei, Shanghai and other places stop issuing them. On February 28, 1912, Provisional President Sun Yat-sen again ordered that "Shanghai public bond bills should be stopped immediately." Since then, the junta public debt has withdrawn from the stage of history.
General Li Hongxiang sabre
Li Hongxiang was a veteran of the Xinhai Revolution in Yunnan and was Zhu De's teacher when he was lecturing on martial arts in the Yunnan Army. The sabre of General Li Hongxiang, which is treasured in the Yunnan Provincial Museum, has a very distinctive "Nine Star Flag" on it. After the Wuchang Uprising, there was a situation in which multiple national flags were used simultaneously in various places, "the three provinces of Hubei, Hunan and Gansu used eighteen star flags, Guangdong, Guizhou, Fujian, Yunnan, and Qianshu provinces used the blue sky and white sun tricolor flags, and Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and other provinces used more five-color flags." The Eighteen-Star Banner was originally the banner of the Revolutionary Group Communists Association, which was mainly organized by the Hubei Revolutionaries. In 1907, Jiao Dafeng, Liu Gong, Sun Wu and a number of other members of the Japanese League organized the Gongjin Association and agreed to use the Eighteen Star Flag as the flag. The full name of the Eighteen-Star Banner is the Iron-Blooded Eighteen-Star Banner, "with a big red cloth as the background, nine black sharp angles radiate from the middle, and each sharp angle has a yellow round star at both the inner and outer ends, and a total of eighteen inside and outside nine to represent the unity of the people of the eighteen provinces and the revolutionary spirit of iron blood." On October 10, 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out. Subsequently, the Hubei military government was established, and the military government used the Eighteen Star Flag. As the flag of the first righteousness, the Eighteen-Star Banner has a very wide influence and has also been hung and used by revolutionary rebel armies in many places. During the Tengyue Uprising in Yunnan, the revolutionary army "took the nine stars as the banner and the Yellow Emperor as the chronicle", and the "nine star flag" here is actually the eighteen-star flag.
Commendation Order of the Governor's Office of the Military Governor of Yunnan
Among the cultural relics of the Xinhai Revolution collected by the Yunnan Provincial Museum, there is a "Commendation Order of the Yunnan Military Governor's Office" issued in March 1912 and stamped by the Yunnan Military Governor's Office. The strange thing is that this commendation order has the names of Liu Yu and Liu Yu. In the main text of the commendation order, "Liu Yu please give the title of lieutenant of the same vice colonel", but at the end of the text, it is specified that "the right letter is given to the title of lieutenant of the same vice colonel Liu Yu". The traditional characters "虞" and "虏" are written in similar ways, and we guess that it may be caused by the writer's clerical error. So is it a miswritten "虞", or a miswritten "虏"? Look closely at the text of the award order, and there is a small text on the left side of it, which is blurred, but the answer is hidden in the faintly visible text. This text is liu mingde, the time is December 18, 1981, check the collection information of the cultural relics, Liu Mingde is the cultural relics donor, the donation time is also consistent, this text should be the donor's explanation. It mentions that "the original text was mistaken for Yu, the last article has been changed, and the Yu character in the main text has not been corrected in time", resulting in a misunderstanding. At the same time, Liu Mingde said that during the Xinhai Revolution, he had used the names "Sha Qianjiao" and "Liu Yu", so there is no doubt that the recipient of the award is also a donor, Liu Mingde (that is, Liu Yu).
In October 1911, in the process of the restoration of Longling, Liu Mingde played a key role. After the success of the Xinhai Revolution, Liu Mingde served in Longling County for a long time, so he resigned his post and returned to his hometown to teach. He participated in the Tang Dynasty in Tengchong in 1926. In 1981, Liu Mingde, who was over 90 years old, donated this precious commendation order to the Yunnan Provincial Museum.
Sun Yat-sen inscribed a banner for Jizu Mountain
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, the Illusory Cloud Master Sanshang Dali Binchuan Jizu Mountain was stationed in Xihong Dharma. During this period, Master Xuanyun became acquainted with Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Xuyun believed that the world of unity and the doctrine of freedom, equality, and unity advocated by Sun Yat-sen were consistent with the purpose of Buddhism, and if they could be implemented, they would become a paradise world on earth.
The meeting between Master Xuanyun and Sun Yat-sen began in 1912. According to Xuyun's own account, "After the Xinhai Revolution, the Shanghai Buddhist Association adopted a new system of rules, slightly contradicted the various parties, traveled north to Shanghai, and interceded with The Princes of Zen and Yekai, and met with Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Nanjing to discuss the revision of the constitution." This passage is from the section "1911 , Xuanun 3rd Year , Xinhai , Seventy-two Years old " in the "Self-Narration of the Old Monk of the Void Cloud". It was thought that this meeting was held in 1911 (the year of Xinhai), but in fact, Sun Yat-sen devoted his life to revolution, was long wanted by the Qing government for a reward, and had to go into exile. At the time of the Wuchang Uprising, Sun Yat-sen was collecting funds for the revolution in Denver, Colorado, and when he heard the news of the uprising, he prepared to return to China. On November 2, 1911, Sun Yat-sen left the United States, passed through Britain, France and other places, and arrived in Hong Kong on December 21 and Shanghai on the 25th. On the 29th, the provincial representatives elected Sun Yat-sen as the provisional president of the Republic of China. On New Year's Day 1912, Sun Yat-sen left Shanghai to take up his post in Nanjing. Looking at Sun Yat-sen's itinerary during this period, as Xuyun remembers correctly, then his meeting with Sun Yat-sen in Nanjing should have occurred after Sun Yat-sen took office as interim president, that is, between January and February 1912 (at this time it was still the lunar new year). After the birth of the Republic of China, although the government announced the use of the Gregorian calendar, it was obvious that folk traditions could not be eliminated in a short period of time.
In 1913, The Jing'an Temple in Shanghai held a memorial meeting for the founding of the Chinese Buddhist Association and the sending of Zen masters. The Chinese Buddhist Association is the first autonomous organization in the history of Chinese Buddhism. This time, Xuyun appealed for the future and destiny of Buddhism in Shanghai, and was supported by the response and support of Buddhist colleagues such as Master Zhen Xian and Master Taixu, as well as a large number of people of insight such as Sun Yat-sen, Liang Qichao, Zhang Taiyan, and Cai Yuanpei. During this period, Sun Yat-sen met with Xuyun and inscribed the ink treasure "Drinking Light like a gift", which is now stored in the Yunnan Provincial Museum. "Drinking Light" is the name of the Buddhist Arhat, and it is said that more than 2,000 years ago, shakyamuni's eldest disciple drank the light of TheA leaf and kept the Buddha's clothes into the first gate of The Jizu Mountain, laying the foundation for its lofty position in the Buddhist world.
Sun Yat-sen's calligraphy is standardized, the rules are clean, and the strokes are meticulous. Shao Yuanchong, an elder of Xinhai and then president of the Republic of China Daily, commented on Sun Yat-sen's calligraphy, saying: "The premier did not try To learn books in Linchi in his life, but the pen was heavy, the fetal breath was deep, and there were no scrawled practitioners. His manuscript, "Sun WenWen Said", is a book of tens of thousands of words, all handwritten by the prime minister, word for word." In the inscription "Drinking Light Like Light", this calligraphy style is vividly reflected, reflecting Sun Yat-sen's rationality and calmness as a politician.
epilogue
The history of the Xinhai Revolution is an important part of the history of the Chinese revolution. These cultural relics of the Xinhai Revolution treasured by the Yunnan Provincial Museum are records and testimonies of the Xinhai Revolution and preserve the collective memory of this period of history. Through these cultural relics, we have observed the vicissitudes and great changes in the land of China over the past hundred years or so - 6 years after the Xinhai Revolution, the October Revolution in Russia broke out, which brought Marxism-Leninism to China; 8 years after the Xinhai Revolution, the May Fourth Movement broke out, making ideological and organizational preparations for the founding of the Communist Party of China; 10 years after the Xinhai Revolution, in 1921, the Communist Party of China was founded. General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the conference celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, pointing out: "The emergence of the Communist Party in China is a groundbreaking event, which has profoundly changed the direction and process of the development of the Chinese nation after modern times, profoundly changed the future and destiny of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, and profoundly changed the trend and pattern of world development. As soon as the Communist Party of China was born, it established itself as its original mission to seek happiness for the Chinese the people, and to seek rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. Over the past one hundred years, the Communist Party of China has united and led the Chinese people to carry out all the struggles, all the sacrifices, all the creations, which boil down to one theme: to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. ”
Over the past one hundred years, the Communist Party of China has inherited the cause of the Xinhai Revolution, united and led the Chinese people, written the most magnificent epic in the history of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, ushered in a great leap from standing up and getting rich to becoming strong, and realized the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation into an irreversible historical process! The great road, the great cause created, and the great achievements made in the past hundred years will surely be recorded in the annals of the development of the Chinese nation and the history of the development of human civilization!