Modern China — national identity and the First World War
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Question
What ended in February 1912?
Answer
The Qing dynasty, when the child emperor Puyi abdicated and the Republic of China was proclaimed.
Question
What were Sun Yixian's Three Principles of the People?
Answer
Nationalism, democracy, and people's livelihood (economic fairness) — his ideology for a modern Chinese nation.
Question
Why did Yuan Shikai, not Sun Yixian, become president in 1912?
Answer
Yuan controlled the strongest military forces; Sun had no comparable army, so ceding power avoided civil war.
Question
What happened after Yuan Shikai's death in 1916?
Answer
No strong central government replaced him — China fragmented into the warlord era, with regional military leaders fighting for territory.
Question
What is the New Culture Movement?
Answer
A movement from around 1915 attacking Confucian tradition and promoting 'science and democracy' as the path to a modern China.
Question
What was baihua and why did reformers push for it?
Answer
Vernacular, everyday written Chinese; reformers wanted it to replace classical Chinese so ordinary literate people could access new ideas.
Question
What were Japan's Twenty-One Demands (1915)?
Answer
A secret ultimatum demanding sweeping Japanese control over Chinese railways, mines, ports and government appointments; Beijing conceded most of them.
Question
What sparked the May Fourth Movement on 4 May 1919?
Answer
News that the Treaty of Versailles gave Germany's former territory in Shandong to Japan instead of returning it to China.
Question
Compare the Twenty-One Demands and the Versailles decision.
Answer
Both saw foreign powers grant Japan control over Chinese territory/rights; Versailles (1919) sparked much larger mass protest because China had expected an ally reward, not a betrayal.
Question
Who founded the Chinese Communist Party in 1921, and where?
Answer
About a dozen delegates, including Chen Duxiu and Mao Zedong, met secretly in Shanghai with Comintern (Soviet) support.
Question
Why is the CCP's founding in 1921 significant despite its tiny size?
Answer
It shows the direct chain from Qing collapse, warlordism and New Culture ideas through WWI's betrayals to an organised revolutionary alternative.
Question
Judgement: was WWI the main cause of Chinese nationalism by 1921?
Answer
Only partially — internal collapse and New Culture ideas built the foundation; WWI's Twenty-One Demands and Versailles betrayal ignited it into mass action.
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Topic 12.8 hub
Emergence of Modern China (1910–1949)
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