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THE IgII REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN r5 I

Moving the Revolution Beyond Politics: the rgrr Revolution and the Common Man

On the evening of the thirteenth day of the eleventh month of the Xinhai year, r January r9rz, SunYatsen, newly elected president of the Repub- lic of China, stepped down on to the platform of Nanjing Station to greet the assembled dignitaries. Then, in a change to earlier plans, he continued directly by train to the branch station near the government buildings. It was already late and he was determined to take office that evening. The thousands of troops who had gathered to welcome him marched back to their barracks through the dark and drizzling rain, along narrow streets hung with flags and lanterns and packed with onlookers who had gathered to see the president. Bypassing the silent Flc. r. The western-style crowds, Sun and his party arrived at the huge government compound pavilion in which Sun that had previously been the offices of the imperial regional adminis- Yatsen's inauguration place tration. There they were welcomed by a select band of national and took provincial leaders who had gathered to attend the formal inauguration Sozrce: Photograph, 1994. of the new president. Once inside the compound the party moved away from the main the world and promote world peace. A representative of the armed administrative buildings, through the gardens to a recently constructed forces made a speech, to which Sun replied, and the ceremony ended gun Western-style pavilion (Fig. r). The room where the ceremony was to with shouts of 'Long live China's republic!', applause, music and a take place was full of men dressed for the most part in frock-coats and salute.l top hats or military uniforms, their hair cropped in the Vestern style. Many years later one of the provincial representatives recalled how Those present included representatives from each of the provinces that after the ceremony it was so late that a group of the representatives had joined the revolution, plus officers from the revolutionary armies. could not find any transport and had to walk back to their lodgings. As The ceremony began with a short speech by one of the represenratives they walked through the deserted streets one of their number pointed of the provinces, welcoming Sun's election and inviting him to swear out what a momentous occasion this was and they shouted and danced the oath of office. Sun raised his left hand and swore to overthrow the in the streets) so that the sleeping people were woken and, wrapping dreaming Qing empire, consolidate the new republic and work for the prosperity their clothes around them, peered out of their doors, never of the country. The representative continued with a formal eulogy of that these raucous young men were representatives of the highest body Sun which referred to the invasion of the country by Manchu tribes- in the land.2 Young dancing alone in the deserted streets: written men almost 3oo years earlier, the egalitarian political systems of France revolutionaries and America, and the need to restore China, fix a new calendar and in the People's Republic of China in the r96os these memoirs pick on create racial equality. He ended by warning the new president against a vivid image of the rgrr revolution as an elite event almost entirely trying to usurp the throne. Sun then sealed his manifesto which was divorced from the masses of the population. The British consul put read aloud, declaring his intention to unite the country politically, finan- forward a similar view in his report to the ambassador where he dis- cially and militarily under a republican government, and thus raise misses the crowds that had gathered to welcome Sun and says that the China to its rightful position of equality with the civilized countries of inauguration ceremonies IFF-

16 THE rgrr REVOLUTTON AND THE COMMON MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN r7 \fere arranged by the military authorities, the people of Nanking who, as I have stood to attention, their guns raised. Li and the officers took off their mentioned before, are anything but satisfied with their experience up to date hats, prostrated themselves and kowtowed four times' while a prayer government, of revolutionary taking no part, nor apparently any interest, was read that told of the persecution of the Han by the Manchus and therein. l called on theYellow Emperor to assist the participants in the establish- ment of a republic. Li then poured a libation and the soldiers lowered That this is correct is a precept of Chinese Marxist historiography which their guns. Standing in front of the altar he swore an oath to kill his classifies the events of rgrr as a bourgeois revolution.While theWestern enemies, restore China's ancient ways and establish a republic. Finally secondary literature has tended to place less emphasis on the role of the soldiers raised their guns and shouted'TenThousandYears!'three the bourgeoisie as such it has gone along with the idea that the revolu- times and the ceremony was over.5 tion was an elite affair. But just how true is it? \7hen six months later Yuan Shikai took office as provisional presi- dent of the Republic of China, the Qing had fallen, and attention was focused on giving the state legitimacy as a modern nation state. Where An Elite Affair? the inauguration was to take place was a matter of hot debate in the It is certainly true that the ceremony of Sun Yatsen's inauguration was newspapers and serious negotiations between the major political organized and performed by members of the political elite, as one would players. Eventually a military mutiny gave Yuan the excuse he needed expect for such an occasion. Moreover it aimed at presenting a new to remain in Beijing, rather than travelling to Nanjing, so the ceremony image of China as a modern state, an image drawn fromWestern norms. took place in Beijing, with SunYatsen sending an envoy.The ceremony The ceremony was performed on a dare that was significant in the solar was held in the Foreign Ministry and about a hundred people attended. calendar and not in the traditional lunar calendar. The parricipants wore Apart from the Nanjing delegation, participants included representa- frock-coats and had short hair; Sun raised his left hand as he swore, tives sent by Li Yuanhong and the provincial military governors, civil a gesture that recalls the inauguration of an American president; and servants from the Beijing government, military officers of both the indeed the whole structure of the event is clearly modelled on cere- regular army and the Qing banner troops, police chiefs, local officials, monies for the inauguration of the president in foreign countries with one member of the gentry from each province, two members each of republican traditions, rather than on Chinese precedents.a However, the Manchu, Mongol, Muslim and Tibetan gentry' and two members Sun Yatsen was not the only leader of the new republic to be inaugu- of the General Chamber of Commerce. All the foreign consuls had been rated in that first year of the revolution. The occasions on which Li invited, but the diplomatic community did not attend. This hesitancy Yuanhong andYuan Shikai first assumed the formal trappings of power was ignored by the Chinese newspapers whose reporters observed the initially seem to provide a contrast to the images presented by Sun presence of some foreign journalists and reported confidently that the Yatsen and his entourage. Each of these ceremonies reflects the politi- British and American ambassadors had been present. Most of those cal situation in which it took place. attending wore frock-coats or uniform, but touches of interest were pro- LiYuanhong made a major sacrifice to Heaven, Earth and theYellow vided by two lamas in yellow robes, officers wearing the colourful old- Emperor just one week after the start of the Wuchang Uprising. This style military uniform and a group of staff from the Justice Ministry all was the first occasion on which a claim was made for the national legiti- of whom still wore their queues. macy of the revolutionary government. A wide earthen platform was When everyone was present Yuan entered from a side door, bowed constructed on the military parade ground near the government offices. to the participants and read his oath. The ceremony focused on him Before it was a fire for the sacrificial offerings, on it an altar for incense, personally, but he lacked Sun's personal charisma, and while the formal wine and an ox) which were to be offered according to the traditional newspaper accounts note simply that he looked'sturdy', G. E. Morri- procedures. Below the platform stood the whole army in formation. A son who was present as the correspondent of the London Times corn- band played the first verse of a military anthem. Li, dressed in military ments cruelly thatYuan'came in wobbling like a duck, looking fat and uniform, led his generals and commanding officers on to the platform. unhealthy, in Marshal's uniform, the loose flesh of his neck hanging He went to the altar and offered the incense, ox and wine, then returned down over his collar'.6 The oath he swore was brief and quite unlike the to his place and knelt, as did all his officers, while the soldiers below oaths sworn earlier by Li Yuanhong and Sun Yatsen. It omitted all r8 THE rgrr REVoLUTToN AND THE COMMON MAN THE IgII REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 19 reference to the Manchu oppression of the Han or to supernatural them for a new context. According to Han Chinese mythology, the support for the Republic. Instead China was described as a unified Yellow Emperor was the first emperor of the people. To the revolution- nation of five races, thus embracing the non-Han areas ruled by the aries he was a symbol of the Han, as opposed to their Manchu rulers. Qing empire, andYuan swore to develop the Republic, sweep away rhe By sacrificing to the Yellow Emperor, Heaven and Earth, Li Yuanhong disadvantages attached to absolute monarchy, observe the laws of the laid claim to a national significance for the uprising, but chose a constitution, and build a rich and powerful nation. Then, as an addi- symbol of the nation, the Yellow Emperor, that excluded the non-Han tion to the previously announced programme, the text of the oath was peoples of the Qing empire. The text of the prayer, which accused the presented to Cai Yuanpei to be taken to the national assembly in Manchus of countless crimes against the Han, made this significance Nanjing. Cai Yuanpei, as Sun Yatsen's envoy, made a speech congratu- explicit.e Moreover, although the sacrifice appears at first to be entirely latingYuan, to whichYuan replied with formal modesty. As mentioned traditional, the tradition has been drawn from its context and reused above, the ceremony had been a point of dispute between the revolu- with an entirely different aim. Li's oath to kill the Manchus, restore tionaries in Nanjing andYuan. Its details were printed at length in the China's ancient ways and found a republic seems to suggest that the newspapers, so that readers across the country were informed as to the restoration of China's ancient ways could be equated with the estab- relative positions of the two parties displayed in this manoeuvre. lishment of a Han dominated republic. All these elements provide an The ceremony continued with a formal representation of the impor- image of the new republic as a revival of ancient practices, which of tance of the non-Han races in the new Republic, when two lamas pre- course it was not. sented Yuan with a silk cloth, a traditional gift among the Buddhist Yuan Shikai's inauguration, on the other hand, presented China as peoples of Central Asia. Then ro the sound of music the participants a modern nation state, contrasted with, and yet rightfully equal to, the advanced in their groups and bowed to Yuan. Foreigners and journal- other countries of the world. This has subsequently become such a uni- ists who were present, but seated behind the president rather than facing versally accepted view and so central to China's self-identity that it is him, did not take part in this. Yuan was being congratulated by men hard to imagine the freshness it still had in r9rr. In order to define itself who were seen as representatives of each of the elements that made up against the other nation states of the world, China, so its revolutionary the country. The bowing completed the formal ceremony andYuan then leaders felt, must adopt the forms in which that definition was cus- ordered the peonies that had been used to decorate the room to be dis- tomarily expressed; it must, for example, have a national flag the same tributed to everyone present while the crowd moved to another room shape as other national flags but with a different design' Moreover, in for refreshments.T order to display the modernity that was an essential feature of the equa- Because of the differences in the political contexts) and with them tion, China must adopt the customs that were universal among other the preoccupations of the organizers, the inaugurations of LiYuanhong modern nations. Like Li Yuanhong's sacrifice, Yuan Shikai's inaugura- andYuan shikai were very different events.rwhile LiYuanhong used the tion attempted to define the country to be created by the new Repub- traditional symbols of empire,Yuan Shikai operated within the symboric lic. But unlike LiYuanhong,Yuan Shikai was primarily concerned with framework of a modern republican state. Li Yuanhong's sacrifice took defining China as a nation state in a world of nation states. Thus while place in the first days of the uprising and illustrates the preoccupation Li defined the Republic in opposition to the Manchus' Yuan set up of the revolutionaries at that moment with identifying their state and an opposition between Chinese whatever their race, Han, Manchu, giving it legitimacy as against the Qing government. In this ceremony Mongolian, Tibetan or Muslim, who take part in the bowing, and the the Republic is conceived as the restorarion of Han rule after the foreigners who are there to observe. Thus the ceremony excluded for- oppression of the foreign Manchu Qing rulers. This is marked by the eigners, yet the presence of a foreign audience was vital. For it was the use of the words 'Glorious Restorarion' (guangt'u: literally this refers to foreigners'acceptance of the Chinese Republic as a modern nation state the restoration of a Han government), by the prayer to the Yellow possessing all of the territory of the Qing empire that would ward off Emperor, and by the singing of a military anrhem calling on the Han the much feared foreign takeover. Moreover, Yuan's prestige domesti- to rise and destroy the Manchus.8 Li's ceremony invests the revolution cally was also dependent on demonstrating this foreign acceptance. with these symbols of traditional patriotism, but it also reinterprets Hence the formal, foreign atmosphere of the event) the uniforms and ,,F

20 THE rgrr REVOLUTTON AND THE COMMON MAN THE IgII REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 2T frock-coats and foreign presence, which enabled a foreign journalist to Yuanhong, by contrast) was a most reluctant revolutionary, dragged describe the yellow robes of the Buddhist lamas as 'the one touch of from the subordinate's house where he took shelter when the revolu- Orientalism'.ro tion broke out, and refusing to eat or sleep for two days, while his erst- However, the ceremonies that marked the inaugurations of Sun while subordinate officers urged him to take charge of the rebellion. Yatsen, Li Yuanhong and Yuan Shikai also shared certain features. It is According to one memoir he finally capitulated with the words, by understanding those features thar we begin ro see how the cere- young people need not be so agitated again; I have made up my mind to monies had the potential to reach beyond the narrow circle of the po- You help you and that is that.You say I must cut offmy queue; I have already issued litical elite who framed them. In order to do this it is importanr to a circular in the camp, ordering officers and soldiers who wish to cut their understand that the national ceremonies were reflected in the myriad queues to do so. I will cut mine off tomorrow and that is that.r3 of smaller-scale ceremonies with which the Republic was inaugurated in provincial and county towns across the country. For example in For Li Yuanhong cutting his queue meant publicly taking the revolu- \7uzhou, a large town on the Guangdong-Guangxi border, about 2,ooo tionary side and breaking with the Qing, so all those about him took men cut their queues the night independence was announced. The fol- rhe matter very seriously. By the timeYuan Shikai took office the situa- lowing day more than r4,ooo people gathered for a meeting which tion had changed so far that it was notYuan's short hair that provoked included speeches, a gun salute, the raising of a flag, a eulogy ending comment but the queues of the staff of the Justice Ministry, which with 'Long live the Republic of China!', followed by loud applause, were seen by the southern press as symbolic of the Beijing government's shouting and fire crackers. All the shops hung out white flags inscribed close links with the Qing. Short hair was a central feature not only of with the words 'The Republic of China'.rr Although other smaller-scale the national ceremonies but also of many local ceremonies as at ceremonies varied in many respects, there was nevertheless a certain Wuzhou. unity in the symbols used. In almost all the events flags are reported as With the short hair went$Testern-style dress and a new etiquette.The a central feature, sometimes the white flag of the revolution but mostly participants at LiYuanhong's sacrifice to Heaven, Earth and theYellow one of the many 'national flags'. Men had their hair cropped short and Emperor woreSfestern-style modern military uniform (even though this often men who still wore the queue were not allowed to participate. meant that they had to remove their hats before kowtowing!). So too Decorations and lanterns were other common features. The various the majority of participants at the inaugurations of SunYatsen andYuan \Western-style activities in which people participated during the celebrations were also Shikai wore dress, but on these occasions a new etiquette similar: men processed through the town holding flags and singing went with the new costume: the representatives of the country bowed songs) meetings were held at which speeches were made, flags raised, to the new leader who responded in the same fashion. queues cut, and which ended with the audience shouting in chorus \Testern models were used to illustrate the significance of the present, 'Long live the Republic!' or'Long live the president!'r2 but were also one of the major means by which the revolutionaries An examination of the three national inaugurations and a compari- manipulated the construction of events into histories, and the adoption son with these local ceremonies suggests that several of these features of the solar calendar is a good example of this. Sun Yatsen was deter- are constantly used. It is these symbols which emerged in the first days mined to be inaugurated on a date significant by the solar rather than of the revolution as representations of the new state, that were later to the lunar calendar, even at the expense of performing the ceremonies become central to popular understanding of the Republic. late at night the moment he arrived from Shanghai. This was partly because the solar calendar was popular among reformers, many of whom had had a great deal of contact with foreign countries. In addi- Symbols of the Republic tion it had traditionally been the prerogative of a new dynasty to alter Short hair for men was one of the first symbols to emerge since, as we the calendar, and for each new emperor to commence the numbering shall see, the queue had been a Manchu innovation. All three of years from the beginning of his reign. Initially the revolutionaries had of the men being inaugurated to high office had already cut off their retained the lunar calendar but renumbered the years from the puta- queues before the ceremony. In keeping with his many years as a tive date of birth of the mythical Yellow Emperor. This dating system declared revolutionary Sun Yatsen had long worn his hair short. Li was used for many of the local ceremonies that marked the birth of the IF_

22 THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 23 Republic, such as the ceremonies held by the Fujian provincial gov- attended by 8,ooo troops and perhaps Iorooo onlookers, seated accord- ernment which included the reading aloud of the new governor's letter ing to their occupations: gentry, students) merchants and the various of appointment which was dated by the newYellow Emperor dates.la ffoops. The journalist reporting the ceremony said that it really gave By taking office on r January of the solar calendar and changing the a magnificent spectacle of the revival of the Han.15 tiyuan, provincial year name to the FirstYear of the Republic, SunYatsen was simuhane- capital of Shanxi, celebrated with a lantern procession and a meeting ously claiming modernizing credentials and traditional legitimacy for aftended by tens of thousands, where speeches were made by the gentry, his party. But Sun could also have chosen to use the solar calendar for and also by representatives of newspapers, the military, students, police its potential historical effect. At the time it was performed, Sun's inau- and women. The procession was held on the lantern festival according guration was a minor evenr in a political situation dominated by the to the lunar calendar, thus guaranteeing a large turn-out.r6 In Fujian ongoing negotiations between the revolutionaries, the Qing court and on the day of the establishment of the new provincial government' Yuan Shikai. What made it importanr was the switch ro rhe solar cal- members of the Fujian branch of the Chinese League (Tbngmenghui) endar. In taking office on r January, and subsequently ordering the use holding flags and the seal of office marched through the streets to the of the solar calendarr Sun was consciously using his political authority governor's offices, in a procession that included a military band, student to affect how history was seen. To write the history of the revolution troops, representatives of various local groups and members of the according to the solar calendar is to distort it, to rewrite it, but it also Chinese League, all wearing white armbands and badges.lt In Baoding, shows how contemporary actors were involved in that rewriting. Zhili, the celebration was organized by members of the military and the The inauguration ceremonies also made statements about the terri- police, students, merchants and gentry. It included a procession by all tory to which the new republic laid claim. Both SunYatsen's andYuan these groups through the town: past the temple of the city god and in Shikai's inaugurations gave a major role to representatives of each of and out of the town gates.tt None of these ceremonies includes a cat- the eighteen provinces of China proper. In the case of Yuan Shikai,s egory of farmers, but this would seem merely to indicate the primarily inauguration there was also a role for the non-Han regions of the north- urban nature of the inauguration ceremonies since farmers were west when lamas representing those regions presented their traditional included as a group at other early Republican ceremonies. Celebrations gift of silk. The flags that were to be seen in abundance on each of these were sometimes organized by native place associations such as the occasions also had implications for the territorial claims of the new Guangdong Sojourners Association in Tianiin, and at a popular level republic. In the case of LiYuanhong's sacrifice the flag displayed showed groups perceived as causing trouble by their revolutionary activities simply the word for the Han people. The ceremonies for Sun yatsen's were often identified by their region of origin: Cantonese in Shanghai' inauguration used a variery of different flags, while finally Yuan Shikai Zhejiang troops in Nanjing. Nevertheless' unlike the major national used only the Five Colour flag which represenred the five races of the inaugurations, processions at the local level were seldom if ever orga- Republic. For local ceremonies flags were hung from shops and houses, nized according to geographical affiliation. It was by the joining of occu- carried in processions and displayed round the stages, platforms and pational groups that local ceremonies represented the citizens of the altars of ceremonial spaces. The designs varied grearly but the idea that new state. the nation could be symbolized by a flag which one honoured was \fomen are occasionally listed among the occupational groups par- clearly widespread. ticipating, although the fact that where even small numbers of women As well as acting as provincial represenratives, people participated are present their presence is noted implies that for the great majority of in these celebrations as members of occupational social groups. Thus celebrations of the Republic only men were present. Hardly surpris- the audience for Yuan Shikai's inauguration included members of ingly, women are most often found mentioned in the crowds of on- the Chamber of Commerce. Provincial and lower-level processions and lookers who watch processions or other events. Also where very large meetings were organized into groups of gentrymen, students and teach- numbers of participants are present at a ceremony women are some- ers, merchants, artisans, soldiers, officials, newspapermen, policemen, times mentioned as being included.le F{owever, where numbers are and occasionally women. In Jiangxi the military governor, Ma Yubao, given the women are only a very small percentage of the total: at held sacrifices to Heaven and Earth in Jiujiang. The ceremony was Anqing, of r,ooo people present at a meeting to celebrateYuan Shikai's lFv

24 THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTTON AND THE COMMON MAN 25 inauguration and the Qing abdication only forty were women; of Foreign Devil' who has been a feature of the country town where Ah another thousand who gathered for a meeting in shanghai the number Q lives for some time before the outbreak of the revolution. The son of was just twenty.20The only way in which women are mentioned as major a member of the local elite, he has studied at a foreign school in the figures in these meetings is when they offer their jewellery to be sold city and then spent half a year in Japan. He has short hair (though he for the revolutionary forces.2r on one occasion in Shanghai men and wears a false queue), walks with straight legs and carries a walking stick. women were seated separately, the women occupying some kind of When Ah Q wants to talk to this man he decides to address him as 'Mr balcony, and this 'gave a very republican atmosphere,.22 There are also Foreigner'.25 A similar point is made by ZhouYueran in his autobiog- mentions of separate women's ceremonies attended by the pupils of raphy when describing a meeting with the British-trained lawyer wu girls' schools: in Tianjin zoo people took part in a women's lantern pro- Tingfang in the rgoos. writing in the rg4os Zhou imagines his reader cession and meeting organized by four girls' schools, and in Zhujing, a to be curious as to why Wu Tingfang was wearing a long gown rather small town near Shanghai, a separate women's meeting attended by the than\(/estern-style clothes. He explains, girls' schools was held the day after the main celebrations.23 Although only a few women took part in the celebrations the fact that they did That was the Qing dynasty! After students returned from studying abroad officials did this and even those who didn't so suggests that, in contrast to earlier times, it was now possible to con- of course those who became officials still grew their queues. Otherwise ordinary people would look ceive of women as citizens. Moreover, the presence of women in the become askance at them and if they didn't call them 'Revolutionaries' then they audience of large events and the separate celebrations held for school- would mock them as 'slaves of the Foreigners'. People always want to have girls indicate that women could also be the object of the didactic face.lffho is wilting to be a slave of the foreigners? People always want to live. messages of these ceremonies. participants As and as observers at the \flho is willing to be a revolutionary when revolutionaries are being harshly opening ceremonies of the republic, women inserted themselves along- arrested?26 side the largely male occupational groups. They were thus part of occa- sions that were central to determining future popular understandings The role the revolution played was not so much as to encourage the of that republic. Like short hair, \western dress, the solar calendar and adoption of Western customs as to transform them from symbols of the use of flags, the presence of women became one of the symbols the outsider to symbols of the establishment, from a denial of Chinese through which the Republic was undersrood. ethnicity to a symbol of Chinese nationality. At the national level the paradox that identity was now being defined was admitted, but at the local level it led to Invert'ing Ethnicity by'foreign' customs not obvious dissatisfaction. In Guilin, independence celebrations with what was the message addressed to the participants in alr these cere- lanterns and flags were interrupted when a schoolchildren's lantern pro- monies? When we look at Li Yuanhong's sacrifice it would be easy to cession was fired on by mutinous troops. The children fled' house- say that the elements of which it was composed were simply part of holders barred their doors, and the street was left littered with the chinese tradition, whereas in fact they are clearly an invented tradition. abandoned lanterns. The slogans of the mutiny were, we are told, when we look carefully at the way in which tradition was used we find 'Restore the Han and oppose the foreigners!'and'Kill the monk-heads!' that by making apparently foreign elements such as dress, hairstyle The latter refers to supporters of the revolution who had cut off their and the solar calendar an essential part of china's national identity as queues and, as was the common practice, shaved the entire head, expressed in these and other ceremonies, the builders of the revolution leaving them looking like Buddhist monks." The new hairstyles were created the paradox that that identity was being defined precisely by the seen as closely tied to the new republic and at the same time singled adherence to practices and customs that had previously defined what out as being un-Chinese. In Chengdu the activities of the new govern- was not Chinese.2a ment prompted fears, hotly denied but nevertheless reported in the local The adoption of certain \Western customs was part of a long process press, that the military governor had become a Catholic and that exces- of the redefinition of national identity which was already well under way sive imitation of foreign practices foreboded foreign intervention. The by rgrr and continues today. Lu Xun inTheTiue Story of Ah e(A e rumour was that the cutting off of queues, unbinding of feet and pro- zheng zhuan), a satire on the rgrr revolution, describes the.Imitation hibition of opium would soon be followed by a ban on the burning of IFF- z6 THE rgrr REVoLUTToN AND THE coMMoN MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 27 incense and the worship of spirits and ancestors. The design of the new him. Groups of soldiers marched through the city singing victory songs flag too was foreign and ominous. Finally, since the words 'solar' and at the top of their voices, while others armed with shears cut off the 'foreign' are homonyms in Chinese, 'solar calendar' was taken as queue of anyone unfortunate enough to meet them. Everywhere the 'foreign calendar'and people were saying that the change to the foreign new Five Colour national flag was hung, though the effect was some- calendar and the requirement to cut off queues were signs that China what amateur with newly made flags of all different sizes' hung hori- was about to submit to the foreigners.2s The fears indicate just how zontally or vertically as the owner fancied. In the north of the city some much the symbols of the new republic had the potential to affect the houses still hung the white flag, the symbol of clean government that identity of ordinary people. the revolutionaries had first adopted, though local gentry organizers ordered everyone to hand the national Five Colour Flag to illustrate unity.3o All this indicates a considerable degree of popular involvement Participation in what had at first appeared to be a ceremony totally dominated by the But how far were ordinary people aware of what was going on? Par- upper political elite' ticipation in ceremonies and the processions that accompanied most of Some hint of participation by the general public in local ceremonies them is hard to gauge. Most of the newspaper accounts concentrate can be found by looking at the popular mood that inspired them. Rituals on the ceremony itself. Moreover, rather than describing the ceremony to mark the inauguration of the new system took place across the as it took place they tend to give the prescriptive text according to which country on a variety of different occasions' During the early days many it was performed.Thus for SunYatsen's inauguration the Shenbao news- of these were marked by fear. People in central and southern China paper's account begins by telling us who took part, goes on to state that could hardly help but remember the violence of the Thiping rebellion there were decorations, estimate the size of the crowd outside the build- less than fifty years earlier when towns were razed and a chance remark ing, and then give the order of proceedings ('r. Play military music. z. could mean death.3r Even though during the rgrr revolution there was Representative's report. 3" The president's speech' and so on), and little actual fighting in many areas, and local dignitaries would formally finally the text of the oath.2e This is typical of all newspaper accounts welcome the arriving soldiers, people continued to be afraid. A good of ritual at this time: the author writes as an insider, almost never as an example is the town of Nantong, near Shanghai. When Shanghai fell to onlooker. Newspaper journalists were members of China's elite, as were the revolutionaries local people feared the arrival of revolutionary troops a large proportion of their readers, and so it is hardly surprising that and several thousand people gathered in the city and begged the officials they tended to report the aspects of events in which elite ideas were and gentry to protect them. So the various occupational organizations dominant. Historical accounts and even memoirs often concentrate on announced the city's independence from the Qing government. As this the same features of the ceremony and frequently use identical wording. was being formalized, news came that a ship sent by the Shanghai rev- 'Western reporters sometimes describe events from a spectator's point olutionaries had arrived in the harbour. The Artisans' and Merchants' of view, but the authors were outsiders and their accounts tend to Physical Exercise Group and the staff of all the occupational organiza- emphasize anti-foreign elements. Consequently for many events there tions formed a procession and went out to welcome the revolutionar- exists only the briefest information as to the popular context in which ies. All along the road people had hung white flags inscribed with the they took place. words' Glorious restoration'r'Raise the Han'or'Long live the Repub- However, in the case of Sun's inauguration we are fortunate in that lic'. Everyone, young and old, men and women, wore a white armband a Manchurian newspaper, the Shengjing Times (Shengjing shibao), had to show their enthusiasm for the revolution, and as the procession a reporter in Nanjing who wrote a couple of descriptive articles about passed they applauded loudly.32 Although a newspaper description of events surrounding the ceremonies and from these and other scattered the event claims that the enthusiasm with which Nantong people took references there emerges a sense of popular involvement. Preparations part in the ceremonies showed that they were not afraid, it is clear from for Sun's inauguration had begun several days previously with a plan other accounts that the original gathering of people in the city centre for merchants to cut their queues off for the occasion. Families set up was inspired by fear of the arrival of the revolutionaries. Nor were such altars along Sun's route from the station so that they could welcome reacdons restricted to the elite; in one lowerYangzi town it was reported V

28 THE rgrr REVOLUTToN AND THE coMMoN MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 29 that even the pavement sellers of vegetables had set up small white A neutral public response is perhaps also indicated by the way that flags.33 Setting up white flags out of fear as in cases like this hardly sug- in north China ceremonies spread through the bureaucratic network, the early gests enthusiasm, but it does imply that ordinary people were partici- fatha'1. than through the rumour and fear that drove them in pating in creating and spreading the symbols of the revolution. days of the revolution. At the beginning of I9I2 the government of Later on as the revolution progressed it became clear that the major- Fengtian (modern Liaoning) province in Manchuria was strong in its ity of the population was safe from violence. After this, fear is usually support of the Qing. However after the abdication of the emperor the absent from the descriptions of the ceremonies, but so is any indication provincial government began to hold formal ceremonies to mark the of popular emotion. This may be simply a question of the interests of lnauguration of the Republic. The Five Colour flag was raised at a the writers who recorded the events. Nevertheless it seems likely that rneeting in the provincial capital attended by officials, gentry) mer- some ceremonies were driven by certain local groups to express their chants) students and soldiers. The provincial governor also transmitted own agendas. In Jiaxing near Shanghai, celebrarions which were orders to local towns at prefectural and county level that the flag should attended by women as well as men included the presentation of rewards be hung by officials and shopkeepers. Ten towns in the province are of pigs, sheep, chicken, eggs and rice to the revolutionary volunteers. reported in the local newspaper to have received this order and No one still wearing a queue was permitted ro enter the building where responded to it. In Tieling most people were said not really to have the celebrations took place, and a proclamation was issued urging all understood that a republic had been proclaimed until on the Lantern men to remove their queues within five days. Troops paraded through Festival shops and houses hung the Five Colour flag which produced ,new the streets to the Confucian Temple where they heard speeches which the atmosphere' of the Republic. One report says that the origi- narrated the local events as part of a national revolution and proposed nal order specified that it was to be transmitted both to neighbouring honours for local men who had died for rhe Ming dynasty.3a Clearly in areas and to those places that could not be reached by post or telegram' this case the ceremonies reflect the new dominance of a group of The celebrations coincided with the (lunar) New Year and Lantern revolutionary enrhusiasts. Festival, which would in any case have drawn people from the coun- Since on the whole the groups which were dominant in these cere- tryside to the towns. In one small town it was claimed that country monies were those taking the reins of power, it is possible that at people came several tens of li to see the national flag decorations.36 This this later stage in the revolution the ceremonies were organized by the story and the wide extent of the celebrations indicate that even where new authorities without necessarily a great deal of popular involvement. celebrations were organized by an unenthusiastic local government they In Fuzhou the ceremonies held by the provincial government followed could evoke a certain amount of public interest and enthusiasm. closely the pattern of the inauguration of Sun Yatsen. Members of the There are also descriptions that indicate that at least in some areas new government marched in procession to the new governor's offices the general public was involved, and that the popular mood was one of where the representative of the provincial branch of the Chinese celebration rather than fear. In Sichuan apparently the celebrations League read aloud a formal document appointing the new governor. spread with such vigour that the governor thought of banning them. \When Military music was played while the governor was presented with a flag a telegram arrived in Chengdu announcing that a central gov- and then the seal of office. Finally he read aloud his oath of office. Like ernment had been established and had elected SunYatsen as president, the oath of SunYatsen at his inauguration this attributes the success of the Sichuan government and the provincial police office ordered cele- the revolution to divine intervention by the Yellow Emperor on behalf brations and decided to hold a ceremony. They told all merchants to of the Han. It was addressed to Heaven, Earth, the ancestors, the people hang flags and light lanterns for three days. After the ceremony there of China and the people of Fujian. People lined the flag-bedecked was a feast for participants, but in addition to this, streets to watch and applaud and there was a great noise of fire All the government bureaux did the same, and the public organizations, neigh- crackers as the procession passed, but that is all we know.35The greater bourhood groups and native place associations followed on an even grander security of the revolution by this stage made it less necessary for scale. They laid on operas with music and feasting, and at the larger banquets reporters to emphasize public signs of support. At the same time the more than a hundred people were present, while at the smallest there public, now reassured of its safery may not have felt the same need to were never fewer than ten for the meal. Beijing opera, Sichuan opera, shadow demonstrate support. plays and storltellers were making a clamorous noise everylvhere, and actors I;r-

30 THE rgrr REvoLUTToN AND THE COMMON MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 3r and cooks did not get a day's rest. During this period the police wished to then have a role in deciding which elements of the new culture they will opera, ban the but they were prevented from doing so because the governor accept, but they are seldom seen as initiators.3e The popular enthusi- had given his permission. opium-taking and gambling also flourished as a asrn for revolutionary lantern processions has already suggested that in result of this.37 China in rgrr this was not entirely the case, and it can also be shown that for a short period in rgrr and tgtz the lower classes in China were Another example of popular participarion and an atmosphere of cel- the initiators of a campaign of queue cutting that swept the country and ebration can be seen in the lanterns which took part in a procession in made short hair one of the maior symbols of the republican citizen. Tianjin to mark the start of the republic. To the western mind the term The cutting of queues was a central feature of the festivities that lantern procession conjures up images of a procession of people carry- began the Republic, as in Ningxiang, a remote town in the mountains ing flaming torches, or perhaps scarlet paper globes hanging from sticks. of western Shanxi, where a member of the local self-government asso- In fact chinese lanterns were far more diverse and representational than ciadon invited his comrades to hold a meeting to celebrate the this image allows for. children's lanrerns might take the shape of a fish, Republic in the Temple of theYellow Emperor. The meeting, which was a butterfly or a cart) and in the great lantern processions in the big cities attended by several hundred members of the gentry, students, artisans, the lanterns approximated more nearly to whar we might think of as merchants, members of local organizations and policemen, began with floats or tableaux vivants. Such lanterns often bore a didactic message the organizer cutting off his queue, an act which was immediately imi- and this could be adapted to revolutionary ends. A fascinating descrip- tated by some forty other participants'4o And yet queue cutting could tion of the lanterns on display when Tianjin celebrated the establish- also often be an unwanted intrusion. To understand this we must look ment of the republic includes various revolutionary tableaux among first at the reasons why Chinese men wore the queue' other lanterns with more traditional messages, and others designed The queue was originally the hairstyle of the Manchu tribesmen simply to entertain. In one a man represented Liang Manchu Bi, a before they invaded China. As they moved down into China they official who had been assassinated by revolutionaries, while a second imposed it on those they conquered as a sign of surrender. Then as the man threw a bomb at him from the side. Another was a tableau of a conquest was confirmed in 1645 a decree was issued, ordering the entire soldier arresting the man who had tried to assassinare president yuan adult male population to adopt this hairstyle on pain of death. The Shikai. Yet another consisted of a man wearing a har one half of which decree was strictly enforced and its enforcement became a focus for was Western in style while the other half was the shape of the old- resistance in the south. 4r In his book Sozlslealers Philip Kuhn argues fashioned hat of a Qing official with its distinctive red button. on the that during the Qianlong period the 'ethnic' tension between Han hat was written'The transition between old and new'.38 By preparing and Manchu was still very much alive, that the emperor and his court such lanterns and taking part in the procession with them individuals were aware of this and that the queue was a crucial symbol of Manchu could convey a message about the nature of the revolution to a large dominance. He claims that even at the lowest levels of society, audience. while the context was an officially sponsored celebration the wandering beggars, monks and villagers were aware of the political messages could and did vary with the individuals or groups who had symbolism of the queue and that if a man's queue was cut off he would designed each of the lanterns. be seen as displaying symbolic defiance of the Qi.tg.n' More than a cenrury later when the republican revolution broke out this awareness persisted among certain groups of society, but over time it had become Cutting Queue considerably more complex and confused. Radical revolutionaries of Studies of the spread of national culrure in other parts of the world, the late Qing cut off their queues or allowed the hair on the front of \Weber's ranging from Eugen Peasants into Frenchmen to John the head to grow long as a symbol of their defiance of the Manchus and Pemberton's On the Subject of 'Jaaa', have often argued that the ele- as a link with the Ming loyalists, whose heirs they claimed to be. In ments that made up the national culture were created among the gov- this some of them followed the Taiping rebels who had allowed their erning elite of the dominant part of the country, and then spread to the hair to grow. But many more of those who changed their hairsryle lower classes and other regions. The lower classes and the peasantry during the first decade of the twentieth century were simply adopting IFF-_

32 THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN THE r9rr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 33 \Western the prevailing styles. Some, like British-trained lawyer Wu Be it known that from the Three Dlrrasties to the former Ming was all a time Tingfang, were officials of the Qing government.43 Nor was short hair when men tied up their hair and wore caps.\When you see this in an opera per- confined to Han Chinese; Manchu students at government-run mili- formance you will immediately realise that plaiting the hair dates only from the passes the change.aT tary academies also cut their queues to conform with theirWestern-style tirne when the Qing emperor entered the and enforced uniforms.aa Similarly when the governor of Guangdong province ordered the The arguments for and against queue cutting can be well illustrated population to cut their queues, the announcement included the infor- by a pamphlet entitled One Hundred Discussions of Queue Cutting (Jianfa madon that bai tan chujl , published in Shanghai in the summer of I 9 I I . This is not in any way an explicitly anti-Manchu work; indeed it reprints a memo- The old custom of our country was always to bind the hair up in a bun. In the rial from rVu Tingfang on the subject, urging the emperor to permit time of [the kingdoms ofl \J7u andYue there were men who shaved their heads men to cut their queues and claiming that after 300 years of the dynasty and men who cut their hair, but I have never heard that there was anyone who the Chinese would love the emperor whether or nor they had queues. plaited his hair. Plaiting the hair is not the ritual of our country.nt Reasons given for cutting the queue include claims that it is unhygienic, such as \Watson argue that to be Chinese was to dangerous for students doing military exercises, dangerous in factories, Anthropologists James observe Chinese customs and ritual practices.4e The queue had become expensive and a waste of time. However the most frequently repeated part of Chinese custom and yet it was defined as the antithesis of what reason in this and most other sources is that foreigners laugh at it and a it meant to be a citizen of the Republic. Moreover the abandonment of call it a pig-tail. The pamphlet also gives examples of some of the argu- the queue was supported by a large number of ordinary people. How ments against queue cutting. One of these was made by lobbyists for did this come to be? the silk industry who claimed that if men cut off their queues they would Given the queue's Manchu associations, well known at least to the also change to \Western-style clothes made of wool rather than silk. leaders of the revolution, it is easy to see how the cutting of the queue However the major argument against the cutting of queues is that to do could be chosen as the badge of the revolutionary troops. One of the so is to imitate the foreigners. Another arricle criticizes the kind of first reports to emerge from Wuhan after the revolution broke out person who the moment anyone brings up rhe subject of cutting queues described how trained soldiers who had joined the revolution were becomes all fiery and says fiercely: having their queues cut off, !7hen we cut our queues, isn't that precisely following the foreigners?! \7hy should we men of a great and mighty country only want to follow foreign the object being of course to forestall any possibility of their reverting to the countries?a5 Imperialists, the queueless heads affording an easy means of identification.50 (Fig. 2) Entwined in these arguments is the claim that the queue is part of a national sense of identity. For large numbers of people the queue had Throughout the fighting the queue or lack of it was used by both come to be part of what defined them as Chinese. Thus an obscure sides as a means of identifiiing their own troops and supporters. In diarist in Shanxi province comments on the appointment of a Nanjing Zhang Xun, on hearing the news of the Wuchang uprising, Japanese-educated teacher to a local school: had the city gates closed and executed everyone without a queue.5t ln Fengtian far to the north ZhangZuolin did the same and made his point He has not only switched to wearing foreign clothes, but has also cut off his clear by hanging rows of queueless heads from the city wall.52 In queue, although he is a Chinese, he has almost become a barbarian.ao Shandong province near the town of \Wendeng villagers resisted the Moreover, after the revolution when queue cutting became government revolutionary soldiers. Those who were captured had their queues cut policy, promoters of queue cutting seem to have found repeated expla- off. Some of these then fell into the hands of another party of villagers nations of the Manchu origins of the queue necessary, implying that and were taken for supporters of the revolutionaries, and many were many people would not otherwise have known. So for example a procla- killed.53 mation by the county government urging queue cutting in Shandong At first short hair was almost entirely confined to men actively begins, involved in the fighting, as is illustrated by requests for the government lF--

34 THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 35 government rnent wanted to ban these men but at the same time the itself was the source of the order urging queue cutting.56 Although' as was often the case, the authorities disapproved of the threats and rowdy behaviour, it was hard for them to ban people from enforcing what was in fact government policy. On another occasion in Suzhou the police were sent in by local officials to investigate rowdy soldiers who had been cutting queues) but the next day the soldiers stood at the door of a tea- house and cut the queues of all who passed by, paying no attention to the objections of the civil authorities.When an angry crowd surrounded the soldiers and beat them up, other soldiers began to gather and a brawl began.5t Resistance such as it was came at a local or individual level. A few weeks later some young men of the 'Picked Combat Force of Braves' were forcibly cutting queues, when another group of young men calling themselves the'Jiangsu Defence Battalion Braves' dressed up with long oily queues and went out in the streets. rwhen they were accosted by the queue cutters they drew their knives and in the result- ing brawl one person nearly died.58 \Wuxi Ftc. z. Queueless revolutionary soldiers Similar scenes were repeated throughout Jiangsu. In when sol- Sozrce: Edwin J. Dingle, China\ Reaolutiou, tgrt-tgrz: a Histoical and Political Record o;f the CiuillVar (New diers went out on the streets cutting queues Ir000 were cut in a day. In York: McBride, Nast and Co, rgrz), facing p. 53. Zhenjiang soldiers temporarily stationed in the town went out on the to provide documents to other men who had cut their queues certifi/- streets cutting queues. Crowds gathered to laugh at the sight of the ing that they were neither revolutionaries nor deserters.5a As the revo- victims who wailed and begged to be let off. In this way more than lutionary forces advanced so did the cutting of queues. Troops that 1,000 queues were cut in an evening. The following day the soldiers deserted to the revolution had their queues cut to prevent them chang- went to the quayside and no one escaped. The men from northern ing sides again. Other men gambled on the ultimate victory of the revo- Jiangsu wept and fell to their knees beseeching the soldiers. Eventually lutionary forces and cut their queues to demonstrate their support.55 a man was injured and the situation deteriorated.5e In Baoying, a lVhen in late November an imperial edict permitted the cutting of remote county town in northern Jiangsu, the civil authorities did queues this gamble became somewhat less risky. The actions of Zhang not implement the provincial order to cut queues until in February Xun and Zhang Zuolin showed that it was still not risk-free. For those soldiers passed through and acted forcibly. They even went into who had cut their queues off safety lay in increasing their own numbers. shops and cut the queues there. In the chaos that followed 700 or 800 An epidemic of forced queue cutting spread through the eastern queues were cut and someone was injured. The local defence force provinces. was sent out and calmed things down a bit, but from then on country In a country town near Suzhou two men wearing Western suits and people did not dare enter the town and business was much affected.60 gangs young men are the holding white flags rode into the town one day in the autumn of l9l I . In these scenes soldiers, bandits or of They ordered merchants to cut off their queues and threatened them initiators and they act against the wishes of the higher civil or military with execution if they failed to comply. The people were very frightened authorities. but then someone recognized the men as bandits and reported them to Individuals whose queues were cut' whether voluntarily or forcibly, the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce. Vhen the military government were at a profound level participating in a symbolic change that would heard, it sent cavalry, but the men fled. A few days later they reappeared, affect both their perception of themselves in relation to the state and pressing people to cut off their queues and threatening them with being their perception of the state itself. For many it was clearly a traumatic blown up if they did not do so within three days. The military govern- event. A boy whose queue was cut by his father, a forward-thinking 36 THE rgrr REVoLUTToN AND THE coMMoN MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 37 policy. is reported inYantai, Shandong' student, recalls that for two or three days he and his brother cried and know of the A similar situation didn't dare go out, fearing that they would be laughed at.6r Where the *t the Chamber of Commerce responded to the refusal of the mili- victim had his queue cut forcibly by soldiers in public amidst the jeers tarv"t. eoveffior to punish those responsible for cutting the queue of a formal of onlookers it could also be very humiliating. One country rrader, who rc:^aiiglocal banker by calling a week-long strike'67 On occasion as in had the misfortune to enter Hangzhou and have his queue forcibly opposition might even come from within the civil authorities, removed, was so mocked by his wife on his return from the city that he F.ngfrr"ng, Fengtian, where the head of the local assembly wanted to committed suicide by swallowing opium.62 Many others were, as shown ,u"liurt"-bly employees who cut their queues'68 above, killed or injured resisting the queue cutters. For men in places Other people simply avoided the scene of the action. Queue cutting like Baoying, otherwise apparently untouched by the revolurion, the loss began in the towns. It is hardly surprising that gangs of soldiers roaming of a queue might be the only way in which rhe revolurion directly the streets with rifles and shears caused people to panic. In Yantai the affected them. In such places it was often the first way in which the British consul rePorted that, revolutionary forces made their rule felt. This is well illustrated by an remained closed, the streets were deserted, the coolies working cargo anecdote concerning events in the town of Xujiahui near Shanghai. All shops the fled on to the lighters and sampans and took refuge in the open Recently recruited soldiers were roaming around the city and villages on ietties roadstead, country people bringing in supplies threw down their bundles and cutting queues.When they came to Xujiahui four countrymen came out ran back to their villages, while numbers of the townsfolk took to the hills where to welcome them. of these men wore queues All and one of the soldiers they remained till nightfall'6e seized the opportunity to rush up and cut off one of the welcoming group's queues. The other three men fled, yelling for help, with the sol- The news spread from the frightened townsfolk to the country people diers in pursuit. The villagers gathered, assuming the soldiers were who were then often afraid to go into the town.7o An old man remi- robbers, and beat them up. The soldiers then called in the main forces niscing about his childhood in Feng county on the Jiangsu-Henan and the incident nearly led to a pitched battle.63 border recalls how when the country people heard of queue cutting in These men forcibly cutting queues were not the student believers the county town they were too frightened to go there, as the town gate in radical reform and lfesternization that might be imagined. Often was guarded by soldiers and police each with a knife to cut off the no more is known about them than that they were soldiers or young queues of anyone who passed through. The village storekeeper had to men. \When more is known it is usually that they are outsiders. We go into town) so he rolled his queue up and hid it under his hat, but he have already seen that in the case of Baoying the soldiers who cut was discovered by the soldiers and in the ensuing struggle part of his queues were only temporarily stationed in the town and were ear got cut off. He then went home and told everyone that if they did opposed by the local defence forces. The same was rrue in Suzhou, not cut their queues their ears would be cut off.71 All this was bad for Zhenjiang and Guiyang.uu In Shanghai both Chinese and foreign trade: in Hangzhou it was reported that areas of the city which spe- sources repeatedly allege that the crowds or groups cutting queues were cialized in trade with the surrounding villages were especially affected. Cantonese.65 Sixty-two shops in these areas petitioned the government to extend the Resistance when it occurred was often led by members of the elite. time limit for queue cutting by ten days so that the usually busy period In Hukou on the Yangzi during the celebrations of Sun's taking office, before NewYear would nor be affected.T2 several dozen soldiers started cutting off queues. The victims held their If many people avoided the queue cutters for fear of personal humili- newly shorn heads and wailed or cursed the soldiers. A member of the ation, others objected on the grounds that the new short style of hair local gentry who had his queue cut off angrily called in the county mag- seemed to imitate foreigners rather than restore the ancient Han prac- istrate who agreed to give the culprits 400 strokes. The magistrate only tice. In Guilin men began to comb their hair like the Ming characters realized his mistake when one of the military officers got wind of what from the local opera.?3 In Chengdu, which had recently been the scene was going on and came down to explain that queue cutting was a new of strong anti-foreign feeling, this kind of behaviour was even more national policy.66 Here is an example of the national policy declared by common and was reported in detail by the nervous British officials sta- rWhen both Sun Yatsen and Li Yuanhong being implemented privately by sol- tioned there. the city first fell to the revolutionaries the consul diers, totally outside the control of the civil authorities who do nor even commented on the soldiers who flocked into the city: IFT

38 THE rgrr REvoLUTToN AND THE COMMON MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 39 The picturesque appearance of these fantastically dressed braves and bandits, and highly localized. A British military officer travelling by road who principal crowded the thoroughfares, was heightened by the new sryle of through western China in the summer of l9l2 reported that in dressing the hair in a top-knot adorned with silver ornaments; this coiffure was Gansu, between the provincial capital Lanzhou and the Sichuan adopted in opposition to the queue cutting movement, the underlying idea border town of Bikou, no one had cut his queue, in Bikou itself many being that while the wearers are no longer slaves of the Manchus, they have no of the men had done so, while in Sichuan only some poorer country- desire to ape the foreigner by cutting off their hair.Ta folk retained their queues. In southern Shaanxi queues were cut in rowns where soldiers had recently passed through. When he then con- The governor of Sichuan issued repeated proclamations insisting that tinued his iourney, travelling 358 miles by road from Chengdu to queue cutting had nothing to do with foreigners, and discouraging Ningyuan in the far south-west of Sichuan province, he reported people from dressing their hair in so-called Han styles. The arguments seeing only two queues the whole way.77 Sichuan, with its strong were that to grow the hair long would make the revolutionaries look, revolutionary movement, may have been the province in which the not like the Han, but like theThiping who had been defeated and would smallest number of men retained their queues, but a similar degree of thus bring ill luck on the cause. Long hair would also be inconvenient compliance is reported in some other areas, notably Hainan'78 Where for contacts with other countries. Finally Sichuan could not stand alone compliance was strictly enforced the effect gradually spread outward against the world trend rowards short hair, or against the practice of all from townsmen to villagers, though elderly men who seldom went the south-eastern provinces of China, which had already opted for short out might be able to avoid the problem altogether.Te Simply ordering hair.75 that queues be cut had far less effect, if any. In Fujian the provincial This concern with staying in line with other provinces indicates government claimed that only 10 to 20 per cent of men had responded the extent to which queue cutting had spread across the country. In to its initial order.8o The only reliable figures I have been able to fact so widespread was it that it is hard to tell to what degree the find for the numbers of queues remaining in an area which did not patterns that emerge simply reflect the areas covered by the avail- undergo immediate military enforcement are for Beijing' There the able newspapers. Having said this, it seems clear that Shanghai was police conducted a detailed survey prior to enforcing the law in 1914 the city most affected and that this then influenced nearby towns in and found that the numbers of those with queues varied from 93 per southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. Other reporrs show that by cent in one district to 39 per cent in another.8l The variation pre- March l9l2 whenYuan Shikai took office, queue cutting had occurred sumably in this case reflects the number of Manchu bannermen, a in almost all the provincial capitals of central and south china and group notably unwilling to remove their queues, living in each also in many prefectural level towns. There are also reports from district.82 north China, but these are mostly of single incidents or reform- More often than trying to guess at overall figures for queue minded students rather than a general movement. Afteryuan Shikai's cutting the sources describe the responses of particular sections of the accession the focus shifts to north China, especially Shandong, Hebei, population. The groups they identifii generally correspond to the occu- Shanxi, Fengtian and Jilin, and to more remote areas such as Hainan pational groups who took part in provincial and local celebrations' Island, westernYunnan, Gansu and the Shaanxi-sichuan border. There tJnfortunately these estimates are often biased towards what the are no reporrs of any occurrences in Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang or writer thought ought to be the case, and can be contradictory. For Mongolia. example the Shengiing Times tells us that in Jilin 'those who have not Much harder to ascertain is the degree to which queue cutring cut their queues are all men from the lower levels of society', while the occurred in each of these areas. Figures are infrequently given and North China Herald reports that two months later when the provincial where they exist they are no more than guesses by informed onlookers. assembly met for the first time most of its members were still wearing They also tend towards optimism, as when the Shenbao reported that the queue.83 Students in almost all parts of the country are said to be in Shanghai 80 to 90 per cent of men had cut their queues, 'from keen to cut their queues, while the gentry and merchants hesitate to do which can be seen that the multitudinous masses of the Han race acr so.8n Occasionally other allegiances played a part: in one town in with one heart'.76 In any case it seems likely that the effects were patchy Manchuria all the local Muslims cut their queues, many during the 40 THE r9rr REVOLUTTON AND THE COMMON MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 4r formal time of washing that preceded prayer, because of a lead given Inrtoking the Ming by two famillies who were trustees of the Muslim academy.85 The only of Sun group other than soldiers persistently recorded as having cut their I began this chapter by looking at rhe inauguration ceremony queues because of their occupation are policemen.su One observer com- yurr"n, and wondering whether we might not perhaps be entitled to see streets at the dead mented of some of the police in Jilin province, that with their 'bald rnore in it than revolutionaries dancing alone in the per- heads and short jackets they have a bit of a new air'.87 The police acted of night.I should like to end by looking at a ceremony SunYatsen as representatives of the state, and especially of the modern state, for formed on 12 February 1912, the dayYuan Shikai took over the office the areas where they were stationed; it was thus both appropriate and of president. For I think that in this we will see more clearly the ways necessary that they should display the most obvious sign of allegiance in which the revolutionary republican project resonated with the to the new Republic.ss -popular themes examined in this chapter. According to the theory which condemned the queue as a Manchu This day which marked the capitulation of North China to the rev- custom women need not have been involved. However there are olutionary cause was to become the anniversary of the Unification of occasional reports of women being affected when the soldiers' enthu- the Republic, a holiday celebrated into the 1920s. Sun Yatsen took siasm took over. This is treated as an example of things getting out advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate the unification and his role of hand. Thus in Hangzhou there were complaints that queue in it by making a formal sacrifice at the tomb of the First Ming Emperor cutting had become so prevalent that even women and children were just outside Nanjing. This emperor was an almosr mythical figure who harassed.8e The only detailed account comes from\Wuchang where sol- had driven out barbarian conquerors, restored Han Chinese rule and diers posted at the city gate are said to have accosted two women and founded a great dynasty. The weather was cold and misty, but never- ordered one of them who was wearing her hair in a plait to cut it theless the area round Sun's residence was crowded from an early hour. off. When she refused saying, 'It is inconvenient for those of us who Troops from each of the provinces lined the route from the presiden- are not men to cut our hair', the soldiers forcibly cut it off and both tial palace up to the tombs. Flags were waving and an army band played women went away wailing.eo However, queue cutting was an event national music. As the cavalcade passed through the ancient Ming in which, though women were occasionally involved, they were palace in the ciry the 'grim walls reverberated to the sounds of the peripheral. Even when in the late 1910s many women did claim the martial music, and the shouts of the people'.e3The cavalcade rode along right to cut off their hair this was treated more as a fashion move the ancient avenues of carved stone figures which guarded the tombs, than a political gesture. It was having unbound feet not short hair to the entrance where massed troops saluted the president.Then amidst that was the symbol of Republican citizenship for women and this music, applause and the sound of fire crackers Sun entered the gate of was a change that of necessity took place gradually in the home, the mausoleum and walked up through the courtyards till eventually he rather than suddenly in the public streets as queue curring so often stood on the roof of the main mausoleum where the sacrificial altars did.et had been set up. There in front of an ancient portrait of the Ming Queue cutting was one of the very few government policies of the emperor were set all the vessels traditionally used for offering sacrifices early Republic that had an impact at a local level on a national scale. to a dead king. The master of ceremonies announced that the president Through it men were marked out as citizens of the new state. As one of the Chinese Republic had come to pay his respects to the founder man from Zhili, who wrote a petition to the government for troops to of the great Chinese dlmasty. Sun and all those present took off their enforce the new custom, claimed, hats and bowed three times to the spirit tablet of the emperor. Pale with emotion Sun looked'as if the historic associations overwhelmed him'.ea There are some people who have cut [their queues], and others who have not. Tbxts were read which drew parallels with and connections between Those who have their hair republican at heart, those who have not cut are cut the acdons of the Ming Founding Emperor and the founders of the their hair are defiant at heart. . . .If we are to establish a Republic as firm as a Republic. Sun turned to face the people and spoke, declaring that now great rock, and as steady as Mount Tai, the policy of cutting queues must be after had again recovered her proph- uniformly implemented. Only then will the ignorant people know that China 260 years the nation freedom, and has been established. Otherwise the ignorant people will suspect us of being esying glory and prosperity for a united free China. The assembled sol- rebels."2 diers cheered and the cheering was taken up successively by the crowds ,Fp'--

42 THE rgrr REVOLUTTON AND THE COMMON MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 43 NOTES r. The description is drawn from Public Record Office: Foreign Office: Embassy and Consular Archives: China: Peking: Legation/Embassy (PRO: FO zz8): FO 228h836, Nanking Tlrz; North China Herald' 6 January rgr2, 3r-2i Xu Shishen, Guofu xuanren linshi da zongtong shilu (A true record of how our National Father was appointed and took office as Provisional President; Zhongguo wenhua fuwu she, 1948), 53; Sun Fuhou, Zhongguo jindai ge zhong jinian shi (A history of the various modern anniversaries of China; Shanghai: Sanmin gongsi, 1929), r-9; Yuan Xiluo,'Linshi da zongtong jiuzhi dianli jianwen' (\7hat I saw and heard at the accession ceremony of the Provisional President), in Zhong' guo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi quanguo weiyuanhui wenshi ziliao yaniiu weyuanhui, Zhongguo Guomindang geming weiyuanhui zhongyang weiy'uanhui 'Tuanjie bao' 'Zhongshan xiansheng yishi' bianjizu (The Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress National Committee Historical Materials Research Committee and the Chinese Nationalist Party Revolutionary Committee Central Committee 'IJnity Newspaper' 'Recollections of Mr SunYatsen' editorial board) (ed.), Zhongshan xian- sheng yishi (Recollections of Mr Sun Yatsen; Beijing: Zhongguo wenshi chubanshe, 1986), 3z-4. Ftc.3. SunYatsen leaving the tomb of the First Ming Emperor z. Ma Lingfu,'Xinhai geming Nanjing linshi zhengfu qinli ji' (Notes on my Source: Frederick McCormick, The Flozuery Republic (Iandon: John Murray, r9i3), facing Nanjing Provisional Govern- p.3r6. personal experience in the rgrr revolution ment), Jiangsu wenshi ziliao xuanji $iangsu Selected Historical Materials) r (t962): t6*28. 3. PRO: FO zz811836, Nanking Tlrz.Foreign observers dismissed the crowds below and then carried miles away by the thousands of troops, ro mingle in this way because despite their numbers they were silent and showed little with the booming of distant guns.e5 sign of enthusiasm for the Republic. See Frederick McCormick' The In the photograph of the Republican leaders leaving rhe mausoleum Flowery Republic (London: John Murray, r9r3), z6o. (Fig. 3) we see rogerher many of rhe features of the new Republic: 4. Joseph\7. Esherick,' Founding a Republic, Electing a President: How Sun Yat-sen Became Eto Shinkichi and Harold Z' Schiffrin (eds.), Sun with his short hair, military uniform and greatcoat, amid flags Guofu'in (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1994), and a brass band, strides towards us between the honour guard of China\ Republican Revolution r47. soldiers who wear \Western-style military uniforms and caps. Behind 5. Hu Shian, Geming shijiaa (A true view of the revolution;\Tuchang: Da Han him, decorated with Five Colour Flags, stands the central feature of bao she, Minlibao, z3 October r9rr, Hu Zushun' Wuchang the picture: ryrz),45-6; 3; the tomb of the Ming Emperor. Like the founders of Kaiguo shilu (A true account of the establishment of the Republic at previous dynasties Sun Yatsen is sacrificing to his predecessors. As a \Tuchang; privately published, 19 48), 6r-2. Han leader he is sacrificing to the founder of the last great Han dynasty. 6. Quoted in Ernest P.Young, The Presidency ofYuan Shih-k'ai: Liberalism and A11 the men taking part have short hair and most wear military caps Dictatorship in Early Republican China (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan above their uniforms. Only in the distance can we see a couple of figures Press, r977),5r. in long gowns and jackets. The Ming is invoked but the leaders stride 7. Shenbao, rz March rgrz, 2; 13 March r9r2, zi North China Herald, t6 out towards the future. Sun Yatsen is shown leaving the political stage March r9tz, 7o6; The Peking Daily News, rr March rgrz quoted in PRO: as he resigns in favour ofYuan Shikai but, with characteristic flamboy- FO zz811816,To F.O. ul3lrgrz; Dagongbao Cfianjin), rr March r9rz,3b1, 13 March r9rz,3a. ance, he places himself at the centre of the stage precisely as he leaves 8. Minlibao, z5 a it. Hu Shian, Geming shijian,45; October rgrr,4.The use of ,F'

44 THE rgrr REVOLUTTON AND THE COMMON MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 45

military anthem is described by Hu Shian. This example is printed in the 28. PRO: FO zz&h838'rzr-5. Minilibao as an example of anthems in use by the revolutionary govern- 29. Shenbao,3 JanuarY r9r2' r.4. ment, The text of the anthem replaces the .Manchu' shibao,g r9r2,4.'lhe reference to queue cutting is from character for with a 30. Shengjing January space as was conventional when printing seditious material. PRO: FO 228h836, Nanking 4/rz. Hu Shian, Geming shijian,45. \fenzhen, rilode huiyi (My recollections; Detroit, 1955), 3. 9. 3r. Cheng Jin ro. North china Herald, 16 March r9rz,7o6. For fears that china was abour Dagongbao (Tianiin),20 November 19rr, z.za-b. See also GuanJingcheng, 32. .Xinhai to be partitioned by the foreign powers see ono Shinji,'A deliberate rumor: Tongzhou guangfu ii' (An account of the rgrr Restoration in National Anxiety in China on the Eve of the Xinhai Revolution,, in Tongzhou), Jiangsu wenshi ziliao xuanji (Jiangsu Selected Historical Shinkichi and Schiffrin China\ Republican Revolution, z5-4o. Materials) 4o (r99t): 143-55. Dagongbao (Tianjin), (Tianiin), zo November r9rr, rr. z December rgrr,2Aa. 33. Dagongbao 3.ra. r9rr, Minlibao, r December rgrr' rz. Jeffrey\Tasserstrom, student Protests inTwentieth-century china:Theview 34. North China Herald, z December 584; 4' (Stanford: press, sheng zhixing weiyuanhui wenhua shiye from Shanghai Stanford University r99r), 75-g. 35. Zhongguo Guomindang Fujian 13. Quoted in Chen Shengxi,'Qing mo min chu de jian bianzi yundong' (The weiyuanhui' 67-9. queue paper z8 February rgr2' March cutting movemenr in the late Qing and early Republic; given 36. Shengjing shibao, z7 February rgr2, rr; 5i 3 at the China Social History Association 5th Annual Conference, Xi'an rgrz,5i 6 March r9L2' 5i 7 March rgr2,5;8 March rgr2,5i 6 April r9rz, responded to 1994),4' 5; Shenbao, z8 February r9r2, 6.The towns reported to have t4. Zhongguo Guomindang Fujian sheng zhixing weiyuanhui wenhua shiye the order were Andong, Dagushan, Fenghuang, Jinzhou, Liaoyang, weiyuanhui (chinese Nationalist Parry Fujian province Executive Suizhong, Tieling, Yingkou,Yizhou and Dadonggou. Sichuan xinhai geming committee culturalrasks committee) (ed.), Fujian xinhai guangt'u shiliao 37. Qin Nan,'Shu xin' (Sichuan in rgrr), reprinted in (Historical materials on the rgrr Restoration of Fujian; Liancheng, shiliao (Historical materials on the rgrr revolution in Sichuan; chengdu; Fujian: Jianguo chuban she, r94o),68. Sichuan renmin chubanshe, r98r), vol. r. 533-68. 15. Shengjing shibao, T January r9rz,4i Minlibao, r7 November rgrr, 4. 38. Shengjing shibao,5 March r9r2' 4. 16. Shenbao, 15 March tgrz, 6. 39. Eugen \/eber, Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernisation of Rural France, lVindus, 17. zhongguo Guomindang Fujian sheng zhixing weiyuanhui wenhua shiye t87o-r9r4 (London: Chatto and 1977); John Pemberton, On the weiyuanhui, 67. Subject of 'Jazta'(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, r994). 18. Dagongbao (Tianjin), z9 February rgr2, z.2ai 3 March rgtz z.rb-z.za. 4o. Shenbao,3 April rgr2,6. 19. Eg. Shenbao, z9 December r9rr, r houfu z; 17 lanuary t9rz,6. 4r. Frederic'Wakeman,'Localism and Loyalism during the Ch'ing Conquest zo. Shenbao, z3 February rgr2,7;4 December r9rr,2.2. of Kiangnan: The Tragedy of Chiang-yin,' in Frederic Vakeman and zr. Shenbaor 4 December rgrrr 2.2. Carolyn Grant (eds.), Conflict and Control in Late Imperial China (Betke- zz. Shenbao, r January r9r2, 2.2. ley: University of California Press, 1979, 43-85. (Cambridge, 23. Dagongbao (Tianjin), z6 February r9rz, 6a1 Shenbao,6 January r9r2, r 42. Philip A. Kuhn, Soulstealers:The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768 houfu 4. MA: Harvard University Press, r99o). 24. Myron L. Cohen, 'Being Chinese: The peripheralization of Tra- 43. \7u Tingfang was Vice-President of the Board of Punishments in ditional Identity,' in Tu !7ei-ming (ed.), The Lfuing Tiee: The Changing Beijing, until in r9o7 he was appointed to be the Chinese minister Meaning of Being Chinese Tbday (Stanford: Stanford lJniversity press, to the United States. For the Qing government's attitude to queue 199D. cutting at this point see Edward J.M. Roads, 'The Assassination of 25. LuXun, Lu Xun quanji (The complere works of Lu Xun; Beijing: Renmin Governor Enming and its Effect on Manchu-Han Relations in Late wenxue chubanshe, 1973), vol. r,372,4o4. Qing China', in Shinkichi and Schiffrin, China's Republican Reztolution, 26. Zhou Yueran. Liushi huiyi (Memoirs at sixty; Shanghai: Taiping shuju, r8. t944), 86. 44. Yiergenjueluo Tongfu, 'Fuzhou guangfu shi Manzu qiying nei de 27. Liu Xinfing,'Xinhai geming dangshi de Guilin'(Guilin at the time of the qingkuang' (The situation in the Manchu banner camp at the time of the rgrr revolution), Guilin wenshi ziliao (Guilin Historical Materials) r (1982): Restoration of Fuzhou), Jiangsu wenshi ziliao xuanji (Jiangsu selected his- 76-8r; Fan Shoucheng,'Xinhai Guilin guangfu shi de qingkuang' (The sit- torical materials) 6: r8t-92. uation in Guilin ar rhe time of the rgrr Restoration), Guilin utenshi ziliao 45. Chunshen ribao she (ed.), Jianfa bai tan chuji (A preliminary collection of (Guilin Historical Materials) r (r982): 67-72. a hundred discussions ofhair cutting; Chunshen ribao, rgrr), r7b. 46 THE rgrr REVOLUTTON AND THE coMMoN MAN THE rgrr REVOLUTION AND THE COMMON MAN 47

46. Liu Dapeng, Thixiangzhai riji (Diary from the chamber to which one rerires shibao, z3 APril rgr2' 5' 68. Shengiing to ponder;Taiyuan: Shanxi renmin chubanshe, r99o), 169. pRO: FO zz8h835' Chefoo 69. 59/rz. 47. Dagongbao (Tianjin), zr May rgr2,3.ta. Lu Chengxi, ''Wo nanwangde Zhongshan xiansheng geming shiji' (The Shenbao, zr November houfu 7o. 48. r9rr, r 3. revolutionary deeds of Mr Sun Yatsen that I shall always remember), 49. James L. STarson, 'The Structure of Chinese Funerary Rites: Elementary (Jiangsu selected historical materials) Jiangsu wenshi ziliao xuanji 7 Q98r Forms, Ritual Sequence, performance,' and the Primacy of in James reprint), 37-45' L. \Watson and Evelyn S. Rawski (eds.), Death Ritual in Late Imperial Cheng Houzhi,'Xinhai geming shiqi Feng xian shehui yi pie'. and Modern China (Berkeley: press, 7r. University of California 1988), 3-r9. Shenbao, z9 JanuarY r9r2' 6' See also his 'Rites or Beliefs? The construction of a unified culture in Fan Shoucheng,'Xinhai Guilin guangfu shi de qingkuang'. Late Imperial 73. China,' in Lowell Dittmer and Samuel S. I(m (eds.), PRO: FO 228h838,4-5. China's press, 74. Quest for National Identity (Ithaca: Cornell University r993), PRO: FO 228h838,224-5,232-3; Shenbao,8 April rgr2' 6. 8o-ro3. 75. Shenbao, z6 December rgtr' 2.3. North 76. 5o. China Herald, z8 October r9rr,2r7. PRO: FO 228h838,3o7-8tFO zz8lfi4r, Hankow 2191r2,3. See also Norrl Yiergunjueluo 5r. Tongfu. China Herald' 25 MaY r9r2' 542. 52. Boyanmandu,'Huiyi xinhai geming' (Recollections of the rgrr revolution), 242. 78. North China Herald, z7 Aptil r9r2' in Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Nei Menggu zizhiqu PRO: FO zz8h8o9, 4rr; FO 22811842,28. people's 79. weiyuanhui wenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui (chinese political go. Zhongguo Guomindang Fujian sheng zhixing weiyuanhui wenhua shiye Consulative Conference Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region Commit- weilrranhui, 167. tee Historical Materials Research Committee) (ed.), Nef Menggu xinhai 8r. No. z Archives: Beiyang zhengfu neiwubu (Beiyang Government geming shiliao (Historical Materials on the rgrr Revolution in Inner Mon- Interior Ministry) (roor): roor.1887' Banli quandao shangmin jianfa golia; Nei Menggu renmin chubanshe, t96z),8o-2. chengjibiao you bayue yi zhi sanshi ri (Table of results for the operation to 53. North China Herald, 16 March r9r2, 7oS. persuade merchants to cut their queues from lst to 3oth August 54. Shengjing shibao, z4January rgr2, 4;5 March rgr2,5. lrst+l)' 55. North China Herald, z5 November r9rr, 5o7.This suggests that the number 82. E.g. No. z Archives: roor.48r5, z Decembet r9r2' Houbu xiaoqixiao Enyu of queues being cut in Shanghai varied with the position of the revoru- cheng (Petition from the Expectant Lieutenant Enyu). tionary armies. 83. Shengiing shibao, 9 March r9r2, 5i North China Herald, 18 May r9rz, Shenbao, 56. rr November r9rr, r houfu z; 18 November r9rr, r houfu 3. 470. 57. Shengiing shibao, 14 January rgtz,4. 8+. E.g. Shengiing shibao, rr January r9t2,5. For students see also: Shengiing 58. Shenbao,9 January rgt2, r houfu 4. shibao,2r December r9rr, 5; PRO: FO 228h837, Tsinanfu t7lr2. For 59. Shenbao,3 February r9rz,6. merchants see also: Shengiing shibao, z6 December rgrr' 7; 6 March 6o. Shenbao, T February r9r2,7. r9r2,5. Cheng 6r. Houzhi,'Xinhai geming shiqi Feng xian shehui yi pie' (A look at 85. Shengjing shibao, r February r9t2, 7. Feng County society ar the rime of the rgrr revolution), Jiangsu wenshi 86. E.g. Shengjing shibao, z6 December r9rr, 7; rr January rgr2' 5; PRO: FO ziliao xuanji (|iangsu selected historical materials) 6; r4t'.9. zzSl 1837,Tsinanfu 461 12, r. 62. Dagongboo (Tianjin), rr December rgrr,2.3a. 87. Shengjing shibao, z3 April r9r2, 5. 63. Chen Boxi, Shanghai yishi daguan (A grand survey of anecdotes of Shang- 88. David Strand, Rickshaw Beiiing: City People and Politics in the rgzos hai; Shanghai: Taidong tushu gongsi, r9r9), p. 194-5" (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), 6S-gl. 64. Shenbao, 19 March rgrz,6;3 February r9rz,6; North China Herald, r 89. Shenbao, 29 January r9r2, 6. June r9rz,614. 9o. Shengiing shibao,24laruary r9r2, 4. 65. North China Herald, zo January r9r2, r72; Shenbao, rz January rgtz, z.z; 9r. The unbinding of women's feet and its relation with queue cutting is r7 January r9rzr 6. described in Chapter z. 66. Shenbao, 3 February r9rz, 6. 92. No. z Archives: roor.4815, rr July r9rz,\WangTingzhang cheng (Petition 6t. PRO: FO zz8l1835, Chefoo 5ghz.For another case of gentry-led opposi- from \fang Tingzhang). tion see FO zz8h837,Tsinanfu z9hz. 93. North China Herald, z4 February r9r2, 5oo. 48 THE rgrr REVoLUTTON AND THE coMMoN MAN 94. North China Herald,5oo. 2 95. I draw heavily on a long description by Lim Boon-keng (Lin \Tenqing) published in th.e North China Herald, z4 February r9r2, 5oo-r. See also Minlibao, 16 February t9r2, r; Shengiing shibao,3 March rgr2, 4. For the The Republican Citizen texts of the addresses see Sun Zhongshan, Sun Zhongshan quanji (Complete works of Sun Yatsen; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, r98z) vol. z, 94-7. When SunYatsen formally adopted the solar calendar in January rgrz it was an action that had the potential to affect the daily lives of the entire population. Over the years the Republic came to affect not oniy people's perception of time, but also the clothes they wore, the way they From being con- lreeted friends, even the way they moved and stood. scious choices of the moment of revolution these were soon being in- culcated in schoolchildren.Through the mundane processes of learning how to behave in every-day life the individual acquired a set of dispo- sitions which made certain actions and responses seem natural. In the new dispositions of the Republic the new Republican ideology was embodied, turned into 'a durable way of standing, speaking, walking and thereby of feeling and thinking'.l Children and adults learned to bow rather than kowtow, then to walk, stand and sit in ways that expressed their new role as Republican citizens.

A Fashion for Republicanism During the spring and summet of tgtz a wave of enthusiasm for the symbols of the Republic swept the country. JinWenzhen, a woman from Anhui, recalls in her memoirs the curious features of the wedding orga- nized for her student husband that year. For the central ceremony of the wedding he wore a Western-style suit and she a costume designed on the pattern of the court dresses of the ancient Han dynasty. The tWestern-style kowtow was omitted in favour of a bow This dramatically modern wedding was held in the rather conservative town ofWuhu, a place where most people were still wearing Qing dynasty costumes for weddings until well into the r93os.' Nevertheless in rgrz the Western- style costume and etiquette reflected genuinely popular fashions. The main elements of this fashion were Western-style suits for men and$Testern-style hats worn with these suits but also with a long gown. Costumes worn in late Qing China had varied according to the gender, class, official status, ethnicity and location of the wearer as well as the time of year.The following description simplifies greatly in order to give the reader some idea of where the new styles fitted in to this great variety of costume. Most Han Chinese men and women wore loose trousers, with a loose jacket over the top.The fabric depended both on the season