On April 27, 1911, the famous Guangzhou Uprising (Huanghuagang Uprising) broke out. The rebel army fought bloodily, helplessly outnumbered, and ended in failure.
In this uprising, the remains of 72 martyrs who sacrificed their lives were buried in Huanghuagang, Guangzhou, known as the "Seventy-two Martyrs of Huanghuagang". When I learned about the deeds of the "Huanghuagang Seventy-Two Martyrs", I found that 40 of them were from Guangdong, accounting for the majority.
Seventy-two martyrs of Huanghuagang
Coincidentally, in 1841, in modern history Chinese people spontaneously resisted foreign aggression in the first spontaneous large-scale anti-British struggle against foreign aggression, which came from Sanyuanli on the outskirts of Guangzhou. A group of Cantonese people fought tenaciously against the British army with rudimentary weapons, forcing them to withdraw from Humen.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, which took place during the Xianfeng and Tongzhi periods, was led by Hong Xiuquan, a Native of Guangdong. The founders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Hong Renxuan and Feng Yunshan, were all Cantonese.
The Restoration and Reform Movement, which took place during the Guangxu period, was initiated by two Cantonese people, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, and sent to the Guangxu Emperor. One of the "Six Gentlemen" who was tragically killed by Empress Dowager Cixi after the failure of the Wushu Reform was from Guangdong, and it was Kang Guangren.
The Six Gentlemen of WuShu
As for the backbone forces of the Xingzhong Association and the League, such as Mr. Zhongshan, Chen Shaobai, Lu Haodong, Zheng Shiliang, Feng Free, Shi Jianru, Deng Yinnan, and others, they were all Cantonese.
Why did most of the revolutionary martyrs in the last years of the Qing Dynasty come from Guangdong? This is related to Guangdong's unique geographical location.
Guangdong is located in the Lingnan region, at the southernmost tip of the Chinese mainland (Hainan was also under the jurisdiction of Guangdong before). In ancient times, Guangdong had long summers, short winters, high average temperatures, coupled with the proximity to the sea, and a humid climate, making the vegetation here dense, easy to breed poisonous snakes and miasma viruses, which were not suitable for human habitation. Therefore, when Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, Guangdong still belonged to the area to be developed.
Lingnan area
After the Qin Dynasty, as the advanced technology and culture of the Central Plains gradually entered Guangdong, this area was gradually developed, and the population began to be dense, with agricultural production, fishery production and so on. However, before the Qing Dynasty, Guangdong's economic and social development was very slow. The mountains in the north and the sea in the south encircle Guangdong, forming a relatively closed place. The Central Plains Dynasty often regarded Guangdong as a remote and remote place to degrade officials and distribute prisoners, and the Central Plains culture failed to fully assimilate the Lingnan culture, which instead maintained relative independence.
In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court implemented a policy of sea prohibition. The Qianlong Emperor ordered that from 1757 onwards, the three customs of Fujian Customs, Zhejiang Customs and Jianghai Customs be closed, and only Guangdong Customs would be retained for foreign trade. Western merchants could only conduct business in Guangzhou. This is the famous "one-bite trade". The one-stop trade lasted for nearly 100 years until it was abolished after the Treaty of Nanking entered into force in 1842.
Guangzhou under a mouth of trade
Why did the Qianlong Emperor put "one mouth of trade" in Guangdong instead of the three coastal areas of Fujian, Zhejiang and Shanghai? This is mainly because the Qing Dynasty regarded the West as a "barbarian", and they believed that the heavenly dynasty and the kingdom were rich in land and rich in products, and there was no need to trade with the West at all. If they really could not avoid trade, they should also place the place of trade in an area far away from the capital, so as not to hurt the weathering of the imperial court and the face of the emperor. As a result, Guangdong, far from the capital and adjacent to the sea, has become the most suitable location.
"One port of trade" has made Guangzhou the largest port of China's foreign trade. While Western merchants brought foreign goods, they also brought Western civilization that could not be accessed by other regions. At the same time, When Western missionaries came to China, they often chose Guangdong as their first stop. They carried out missionary activities along the coast of Guangdong, brought Western culture and scientific knowledge to China, and exerted a profound impact on Guangdong intellectuals from various aspects of culture, ideology, economy and social change.
Rong Hong, the first student in modern Chinese history to study in the United States, enrolled in a church school at the age of 7. The reason why Hong Xiuquan founded the cult of God was influenced by the book "Good Words of Persuasion" sent by Christian Liang. In Hong Kong, Hong Renjie met the Swedish Paksa priest Han Shanwen, studied and studied Western culture in depth, and wrote the "New Chapter of Senior Administration", which was the first among modern Chinese intellectuals to put forward the idea of developing capitalism to transform China. When Mr. Nakayama was young, he often traveled to Macau with his parents, came into contact with a large number of Western cultures, and later received a more systematic modern education in the West...
When talking about the changes in modern history, Mr. Lu Simian, a well-known historian, has repeatedly emphasized the special status of Guangdong: "Guangdong is the earliest in China's contacts with outsiders, and Guangdong is also the most important in informing the people of foreign affairs. ”
After coming into contact with Western civilization, Guangdong intellectuals have become representatives of advanced productive forces and advanced thinking, and have had a profound impact on China's modern politics, economy, culture, ideology, and social changes in various ways.
It is not surprising that a large number of benevolent people and revolutionaries have emerged in modern Guangdong.