The Zhejiang Longhua Society Study In The Late Qing Dynasty

Zhejiang is one of the important areas in the Revolution of1911.In the process of the Zhejiang1911Revolution, all kinds of society forces played an important role. But among all kinds of the Zhejiang societies, the Longhua Society is the largest and most powerful team, and played an important role in the launch and development of Zhejiang1911Revolution. From the perspective of the Longhua Society, this essay, through the collection, sort-out and interpretation of a great number of documents and materials, has deeply explored the basic situations and the revolutionary functions of the Longhua Society in the late Qing Dynasty from several aspects, such as background, structure, nature, and specific revolutionary activities, etc., trying to understand the roles some local societies in the Zhejiang province have played in the Revolution of1911in a much larger sense.The essay consists of two parts, i.e. introduction and text.The introduction part briefly talks about the origin of this topic and its research significance, covering the literature review of the previous research.The text is divided into five parts.The first part from both national and local perspectives, analyzes thoroughly the historical background of the origin of the Longhua Society. The birth of the Longhua Society in the late Qing Dynasty has its historical significance, which not only relates closely with the revolutionary trend in modern China, but also shows some special local characteristics.The second part divides the development of the societies in the Zhejiang province into three periods, i.e. the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty period, the Taiping period, and the Revolution of1911period. During the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty period, there appeared some societies in the Zhejiang province under the banner of overthrowing Qing Dynasty and restoring Ming Dynasty. Later, as the Qing government consolidated its political power, these societies gradually became inactive. During the Taiping period, these societies became active again with continual scattered uprisings after the Taiping army entered the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. Till the Revolution of1911period, under the organization of the revolutionaries, societies in the Zhejiang province with the Longhua Society as the representative absorbed democratic revolutionary thoughts, and their struggles zeroed in on the corrupt Qing Dynasty, thus changing from the purely uprisings against foreign churches to democratic revolutions.The third part analyzes the inner structures and managerial systems of the Longhua Society. Through the introduction of the activities of the main leaders, it tries to deepen understanding of the inner organizational and managerial systems of the Longhua Society.The fourth part is the focal point of this essay. It mainly discusses the organization of the Longhua Society by the revolutionaries, and the Longhua Society’s coordination with the activities of the revolutionaries in publicizing revolutionary theories, and launching armed revolts, etc., thus creating an advantageous atmosphere for the breakout of the Revolution of1911in the Zhejiang province. From this point, we can also try to explain the important roles local societies had played in the Revolution of1911at that time from the perspective of the Longhua Society as a local society.The fifth part further explores the nature and limitations of the Longhua Society. The Longhua Society is a secret local group with the lower-class farmers as its main part. During the Revolution of1911period, under the organization of some revolutionaries, such as Tao Chengzhang, Xu Xilin, and Qiu Jin, etc., the Longhua Society gradually adopted democratic revolutionary thoughts and took the democratic revolutionary way to fight against imperialism and feudalism. Undoubtedly, with the desultoriness and backwardness of the lower classes, like farmers, the Longhua Society is unquestionably with great limitation.