Instalment 43 (1911)
Scene 1: At the Tianjin train station
Yuan Shikai’s large family leaves Tianjin and boards a train to Beijing.
Scene 2: At Cixi’s grave near Beijing
At Cixi’s grave, which is covered with leaves and spider webs, the aged and grayed Li Lianying says his final farewells to Cixi: serving her was his sole life purpose.
Scene 3: At the residence of the Governor General of Guangdong and Guangxi
On April 27, 1911, revolutionaries raid the residence of the Governor General of Guangdong and Guangxi. One hears Sun Yatsen euphorically praising the battle.
Yang Du addresses the members of the local and provincial constitution preparation committees in the assembly hall of the consultative committee for state affairs. Since the Court has dismissed Yuan Shikai, who was, as Yang asserts, also the master mind of the constitutional monarchy, it seems that the parliament will only gather for the first time in nine years from now. The revolutionaries have already staged the tenth rebellion. Thus, Yang states, if the Imperial Court continues to remain passive in the light of the current revolutionary uprising again, chaos may soon break out. He thus proposes that all representatives should request Yuan’s return to Court to lead the drafting of a constitution. Yang thereby hopes to accelerate the changes in the political circumstances, and he thus wants to shorten the period of time which the Prince Regent Zaifeng has laid down for reforms. Suddenly, military police forces enter the hall and arrest Yang by orders of Zaifeng.
Zhang Zhidong and Zaifeng are talking to each other. Meanwhile, the little boy Puyi is sadistically playing with a eunuch, riding on his back and driving him with a whip. (It is an apt picture for the moral decay at Court). Zhang wants to effect Yang Du’s release but Zaifeng brusquely replies that he could also have Yang executed for daring to support a man like Yuan Shikai! The censor Jiang Chunlin joins the two. He hopes to convince Zaifeng to go ahead and kill Yuan. Jiang, though, thinks that the public does not comprehend Zaifeng’s motives for arresting Yang. Thus, Zaifeng should publish the last decree made by the deceased Guangxu emperor which condemns Yuan. This, Jiang believes, will prove that nobody is allowed to come to Yuan’s aid since Yuan has not even been punished appropriately as yet. Jiang believes that Yuan has malicious intentions and strives for building cliques.
When Cixi was still alive, he argues, Yuan feared her, but now that she is dead, he will not be halted by anyone.
Puyi comes running in and the three men have to kneel down in front of the little emperor. Only after a serious request of his father Zaifeng, Puyi finally allows the men to rise again. Zaifeng thinks that old Zhang Zhidong fails to see Yuan’s malicious side because he does not understand current affairs anymore. Only in order to guard Cixi’s face, he, Zaifeng, had made allowances for Zhang. But essentially, Zhang does not play any important role at Court or in the country’s politics anymore. Zhang, who had pointed out that Cixi, on her deathbed, even ordered him to moderate Zaifeng,
is shocked by this blunt and arrogant treatment. Mortified, he sinks onto the ground. Zaifeng haughtily abandons the old dying Zhang.
The assembly members are not willing to speak to Zaifeng. They demand that Yang Du should first be released from prison. When Yang is finally permitted to join the assembly again, they all greet him gladly. Initially, Zaifeng holds a speech in which he praises the opening of this assembly. He claims that the most important aspect during the preparation of the constitution should be the consideration for the country and the avoidance of chaos. The assembly is supposed to provide a forum of discussion where each member’s suggestions should be taken seriously. A parliament, Zaifeng claims, will certainly be set up, but only in nine years time. He defends the time span by stating that of the twelve years which Cixi set down for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, only three years have passed by so far. The consultative committee, in any case, is to be a forerunner of the future parliament. After this markedly empty speech (since Zaifeng clearly does not support a constitution), Yang Du rises and calls for the immediate realisation of the following three points:
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Institution of a parliament
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Proclamation of a constitution
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Re-organisation of the cabinet
Puyi is sitting on the Dragon Throne in a hall. A voice proclaims that the constitution will be prepared and a new cabinet will be instituted. One after another, the “newly” appointed officials kneel in front of the emperor. But all these officials are either members of the Imperial Family or eunuchs, who all held high official posts before the changes as well.
Sun Yatsen is consulting with his two fellow revolutionaries Song Jiaoren and Huang Xing about the further strategy of the revolution. Song proposes two possible plans: a better one and a less good one. The first plan would aim at instigating the Beiyang army to rebel, conquer the Northern provinces and Beijing and proceed from there to take the entire country. The second plan proposes to strengthen the „Tongmenghui“ (Revolutionary Alliance) in the catchment area of the Yangzi (especially taking into account the many students who have returned from abroad and are now stationed with Zhang Zhidong’s troops); to set up an own government in the South and to set out to a Northern Expedition from there. Sun Yatsen is very enthusiastic about the second strategy and commissions Song to start setting up a central hub for the “Tongmenghui” in Wuchang, Hubei province.
Song Jiaoren visits Yuan Shikai (who has officially been sent to his home region for a “foot ailment”) in Zhangde, Henan province. Initially, it is Yang Du who greets Song and takes him through resplendent gardens to meet Yuan who is sitting at the lake fishing. He is dressed like a simple peasant and seems to be living a secluded life surrounded by his concubines and children. Most of his time is spent studying the Guwen guanzhi,
an introduction into classical Chinese literature for students (which again highlights his limited education). Yuan asks Song
to call him „Gongbao“, “the one who protects the Court”! Song mentions that Yuan used to be very active and vigorous as a young man and
that he does not believe that Yuan now really lives a quiet and modest life in his garden. Thus, he calls on Yuan to join them in establishing a new China.
After Song has left, Yang and Yuan are talking about how Yuan treats the revolutionaries.
Yuan explains that he intends to “fatten them like pigs and then have them slaughtered”, i.e., he
intends to support them while they are weak and then instrumentalise them to meet his own ends.
The Governor General of Hubei, Ruicheng, intends to torture three captured revolutionaries in order to learn the date on which the rebellion of the „Tongmenghui“ in Wuchang is scheduled to take place.
Revolutionary troops seize the residence of the Governor of Hubei. Ruicheng successfully escapes onto an English battleship.
Revolutionary troops capture the superintendent of the Wuchang troops, Li Yuanhong, in his residence. He had been hiding underneath a bed. The commander of the revolutionary army Zhang Zhenwu, forces Li to become their military governor. Against his will, Li is made to wear a revolutionary uniform and his queue is chopped off.
In an English newspaper, Sun Yatsen reads about the successful Wuchang rebellion. Beside himself with joy, Sun loudly proclaims the news to the entire café and then decides to return to China immediately. Sun’s assistant, Luo Wen, returns the newspaper, which Sun had simply grabbed from the table next to him, to its owner, the young Chinese journalist Tian Mo. Tian asks him who Sun is, and Luo answers that Sun Yatsen is the Chinese George Washington!
There is great unrest at Court. During an assembly with the Imperial Family members and members of the cabinet, telegrams arrive which report of the uprising in Wuchang and of the death of the Governors of Hubei, Sichuan, Guangzhou and Guangxi. The officials demand the death of the revolutionaries; whereas the Qing Prince Yikuang demands an immediate proclamation of the constitution. Zaifeng tries to calm down the assembly. He commissions Yinchang, who has only recently returned from Germany, to lead the Imperial troops to Hubei. But Yinchang doubts he is capable of such a task.
The soldiers do not follow Yinchang’s orders to depart for Hubei because he has no authority over the soldiers. The officer of the 1st army and one of Yuan Shikai’s followers, Feng Guozhang, demands Yinchang’s dismissal and orders the troops to dissolve – an order which is immediately carried out.
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