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Evening Drum and Morning Bell （5）
Tong Meng Hui  |
| CCTV.COM 2002-06-21 14:06:53 |
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November 1904 saw Empress Dowager Cixi’s 70th birthday. As a gesture she pardoned a few men involved in the coup d’etat of 1898, but not including Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao.
A grand birthday ceremony was going on in the Summer Palace. Beijing opera was the main entertainment. The magnificent performance of Yang Xiaolou, Cixi’s favorite actor, won unanimous applause. No one could tell this was a country suffering the woes of war. A film was shown as an exception. Unfortunately, a reel caught fire. The bad omen dampened Cixi’s spirits.
 In Changsha, Hua Xing Hui （Society for the Revival of the Chinese Nation） was actively preparing for an uprising on Cixi’s 70th birthday. Huang Xing had decided to set up this society on his 29th birthday a year ago. It was the biggest revolutionary organization of that time.
In Shanghai, a group of intellectuals in Zhejiang Province organized Guang Fu Hui （Restoration Society）. They raised the slogan “Revive the Han nationality. Restore our lost territories.” Cai Yuanpei, chairman of the Society, once favored violence and assassination to achieve the success of their revolutionary cause.
When Huizhou Uprising failed, Sun Yat－sen continued to expound his revolutionary views abroad. He was full of confidence when he told an American journalist in an interview that while it took Japan 30 years to become rich and strong, China would do that in only 15.
In April 1905, Sun Yat－sen visited Socialist International in Belgium. His revolutionary ideas were undergoing great changes. He adopted the suggestion of Zhu Hezhong, a student studying there, and decided to cultivate revolutionary forces among overseas Chinese students and in New Army.
In Wuhan, the Science Study Group organized by revolutionary party members began to develop forces in New Army. An army the Qing court counted on for its rule became a bed for revolution. Six years later, it fired the first shot to overthrow the Qing reign.
Japan a hundred years ago was the place Chinese youths longed to go. After the Sino－Japanese War of 1894－95, the Qing court learned a lesson from its failure. They began to send students to Japan. In l905, over 10,000 students studied in Japan. They cut their long hair, changed their costumes, wrote books, congregated, popularized revolutionary ideas and set up many kinds of organizations. During the Japan－Russia War, Chinese students in Japan organized movements to resist Russia. These activities cultivated large numbers of patriotic young intellectuals who were inclined to the revolution.
 In July l905, Sun Yat－sen received a warm welcome from the students when he arrived at Japan from Europe. He met with Huang Xing for the first time, which started their cooperation in establishing a republic. On July 30, l905, over 60 people gathered to set up Tong Meng Hui （China Revolutionary League）. Sun Yat－sen was elected director－general. Tong Meng Hui, the first bourgeois revolutionary party of China, took upon the historical task of leading the bourgeois revolution. The high tide of a democratic revolutionary movement was in the advent.
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