WHO OR WHAT’S BEHIND IT : THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS LEADING TO THE FALL OF THE QING EMPIRE誰主沉浮：王朝覆滅的內外因素
Starting from the commemoration of the centenary of the 1911 Revolution, Guo Weidong's article interrogates "who or what was behind" the fall of the Qing dynasty, shifting the focus from explanations centered solely on external factors to an analysis of the internal collapse of the imperial regime i...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
January 2011
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40037/3285 |
| Summary: | Starting from the commemoration of the centenary of the 1911 Revolution, Guo Weidong's article interrogates "who or what was behind" the fall of the Qing dynasty, shifting the focus from explanations centered solely on external factors to an analysis of the internal collapse of the imperial regime itself. It is argued that the downfall was not merely a fall brought about by revolution, but a process of gradual self-disintegration, in which the political, military, and social mechanisms of Qing power were already in deep crisis before the Wuchang Uprising. Methodologically, the author proposes a critical reading of the dominant historiographical interpretations—the "orthodox view of Sun Yat-sen" and the thesis of a revolution determined primarily by class and ethnic conflicts—confronting them with concrete evidence and with the organizational and relational trajectory of revolutionary agents. The article further maintains that the "accidental" character of the Wuchang Uprising in fact functioned as the trigger of a "historical inevitability" previously installed. As a case study, Sun Yat-sen's connection with Macao is discussed, highlighting the role of local networks in the formation and implementation of revolutionary structures, as well as the internal tensions that affected the movement's cohesion. It concludes that the fall of the Qing results from the interaction between internal structural weaknesses and external organizational dynamics, in which the collapse of the system precedes and conditions revolutionary success. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |