1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,000 . 2 00:00:00,103 --> 00:00:02,324 In the summer of 1911, in the 3 00:00:02,338 --> 00:00:05,176 city of Wuchang, not a single person 4 00:00:05,191 --> 00:00:07,559 had received any order to rise up. 5 00:00:08,015 --> 00:00:11,603 Yet by October, this provincial capital had 6 00:00:11,618 --> 00:00:15,647 set itself ablaze. No commander-in-chief, no battle 7 00:00:15,662 --> 00:00:19,088 plan, not even a single coordinated signal 8 00:00:19,103 --> 00:00:21,824 gun. What loosened the foundations of a 9 00:00:21,838 --> 00:00:24,324 dynasty that had ruled China for more 10 00:00:24,338 --> 00:00:26,235 than two hundred and sixty years was 11 00:00:26,250 --> 00:00:28,926 not a carefully plotted revolt, but a 12 00:00:28,941 --> 00:00:31,176 railway, and an accident. 13 00:00:31,632 --> 00:00:33,706 In this episode, we will not yet 14 00:00:33,721 --> 00:00:35,324 say who finally won. 15 00:00:35,794 --> 00:00:37,912 We will only show how this fuse 16 00:00:37,926 --> 00:00:40,706 was lit. Because once you understand this 17 00:00:40,721 --> 00:00:43,103 fuse, you will see why the upheavals 18 00:00:43,118 --> 00:00:45,691 that followed came so fast, and why 19 00:00:45,706 --> 00:00:46,926 they cost so much. 20 00:00:47,412 --> 00:00:49,765 The fall of a dynasty is never 21 00:00:49,779 --> 00:00:51,574 a matter of a single night. 22 00:00:52,044 --> 00:00:55,015 It begins by loosening, one by one, 23 00:00:55,574 --> 00:00:57,823 the nails in the everyday lives of 24 00:00:57,838 --> 00:01:01,000 countless ordinary people. In the teahouses of 25 00:01:01,015 --> 00:01:03,132 Wuchang, on the heated brick beds of 26 00:01:03,147 --> 00:01:05,809 the barracks, throughout those years there were 27 00:01:05,824 --> 00:01:08,132 always people talking in hushed voices: 28 00:01:08,926 --> 00:01:10,324 what can be done about the way 29 00:01:10,338 --> 00:01:13,088 things are? The court could not hear such 30 00:01:13,103 --> 00:01:15,882 talk, yet it carried more force than 31 00:01:15,897 --> 00:01:19,485 any imperial edict. Which railway, which piece 32 00:01:19,500 --> 00:01:21,824 of paper, finally lit this fuse? 33 00:01:22,246 --> 00:01:24,304 In the next section, we begin with 34 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:24,996 a road. 35 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:25,440 . 36 00:01:25,528 --> 00:01:27,896 The story begins with a railway. 37 00:01:28,366 --> 00:01:30,749 The late-Qing government wanted to build two 38 00:01:30,764 --> 00:01:35,116 trunk lines: the Sichuan-Hankou, from Chengdu to 39 00:01:35,131 --> 00:01:39,161 Hankou, and the Canton-Hankou, from Guangzhou to 40 00:01:39,175 --> 00:01:41,925 Wuchang. The government had no money of 41 00:01:41,940 --> 00:01:43,837 its own, so it let the people 42 00:01:43,852 --> 00:01:45,675 along the route buy shares. 43 00:01:46,146 --> 00:01:48,337 In Sichuan this was called the land-rent 44 00:01:48,352 --> 00:01:52,793 shares, apportioned by acreage; Hunan, Hubei and 45 00:01:52,808 --> 00:01:55,102 Guangdong each had their own methods. 46 00:01:55,587 --> 00:01:59,308 The Sichuan-Hankou railway's popular subscriptions amounted, 47 00:01:59,925 --> 00:02:02,028 according to fiscal records of the late 48 00:02:02,043 --> 00:02:05,249 Qing, to roughly fourteen million taels of 49 00:02:05,264 --> 00:02:08,866 silver — saved coin by coin by countless 50 00:02:08,881 --> 00:02:12,587 farming households. In May 1911, the Minister of 51 00:02:12,602 --> 00:02:16,837 Posts and Communications, Sheng Xuanhuai, announced that 52 00:02:16,852 --> 00:02:19,896 both lines would be nationalized; only a 53 00:02:19,911 --> 00:02:21,911 small portion of the people's shares would 54 00:02:21,925 --> 00:02:24,631 be repaid, and a shortfall of about 55 00:02:24,646 --> 00:02:26,852 three million taels would simply not be 56 00:02:26,866 --> 00:02:30,219 acknowledged. At the same time, the ministry 57 00:02:30,234 --> 00:02:32,822 borrowed six million pounds from the four-nation 58 00:02:32,837 --> 00:02:36,616 banking consortium of Britain, France, Germany and 59 00:02:36,631 --> 00:02:39,411 the United States, to redeem the railways. 60 00:02:39,881 --> 00:02:41,925 On one side they took the people's 61 00:02:41,940 --> 00:02:45,146 hard-earned money; on the other they borrowed 62 00:02:45,161 --> 00:02:48,808 from foreigners. Any literate villager could work 63 00:02:48,822 --> 00:02:52,234 out that arithmetic. More galling still: 64 00:02:52,602 --> 00:02:55,146 once the railway rights were taken back, 65 00:02:55,469 --> 00:02:57,219 the work of building the line was 66 00:02:57,234 --> 00:02:59,852 handed to foreigners. From the day the 67 00:02:59,866 --> 00:03:02,969 railway rights were seized, a deeper thought 68 00:03:02,984 --> 00:03:05,881 spread among the people: does this court 69 00:03:05,896 --> 00:03:07,940 still act for the Chinese at all? 70 00:03:08,411 --> 00:03:12,514 Beyond Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei and Guangdong were 71 00:03:12,528 --> 00:03:15,131 drawn in as well, only with differing 72 00:03:15,146 --> 00:03:19,043 degrees of fury; along the Canton-Hankou line, 73 00:03:19,602 --> 00:03:22,969 Guangdong's merchants and gentry reacted just as 74 00:03:22,984 --> 00:03:26,513 sharply. Sheng Xuanhuai was the architect of 75 00:03:26,528 --> 00:03:29,734 this scheme. He thought official management plus 76 00:03:29,749 --> 00:03:31,719 foreign loans would get the line built 77 00:03:31,734 --> 00:03:34,484 faster, but he failed to foresee that 78 00:03:34,499 --> 00:03:36,514 what was taken was not only railway 79 00:03:36,528 --> 00:03:39,352 rights, but the last shred of millions 80 00:03:39,366 --> 00:03:41,102 of people's faith in the court. 81 00:03:41,587 --> 00:03:43,602 This was not the anger of any 82 00:03:43,616 --> 00:03:46,637 one man. It was an entire society's 83 00:03:46,652 --> 00:03:48,946 collapse of trust in a regime. 84 00:03:49,425 --> 00:03:52,352 As for the land-rent shares, nominally apportioned 85 00:03:52,366 --> 00:03:55,352 by acreage, what they actually collected was 86 00:03:55,366 --> 00:03:57,366 the food money of the lowest farming 87 00:03:57,381 --> 00:04:00,896 households. In the Sichuan-Hankou share register, 88 00:04:01,205 --> 00:04:03,822 the overwhelming majority were small holders who 89 00:04:03,837 --> 00:04:05,425 could not produce more than a few 90 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:07,911 taels; they had never in their lives 91 00:04:07,925 --> 00:04:10,337 seen a train, yet paid into this 92 00:04:10,352 --> 00:04:11,822 line year after year. 93 00:04:12,293 --> 00:04:14,411 When Sheng Xuanhuai ran this scheme, 94 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:16,499 he reckoned in terms of the national 95 00:04:16,514 --> 00:04:20,322 treasury: official management for unified dispatch, 96 00:04:20,352 --> 00:04:22,337 foreign loans delivered in one go, 97 00:04:22,366 --> 00:04:23,793 the line built faster. 98 00:04:24,264 --> 00:04:25,896 What he did not reckon was another 99 00:04:25,911 --> 00:04:28,352 ledger — that the court reached into its 100 00:04:28,366 --> 00:04:30,514 own people's pockets and then turned to 101 00:04:30,528 --> 00:04:33,793 borrow from outsiders; once that news reached 102 00:04:33,808 --> 00:04:36,072 the villages, it did more than any 103 00:04:36,087 --> 00:04:40,205 revolutionary pamphlet. When the May 1911 edict came 104 00:04:40,219 --> 00:04:44,528 down, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei and Guangdong nearly 105 00:04:44,543 --> 00:04:48,719 exploded at once. Provincial assemblies, chambers of 106 00:04:48,734 --> 00:04:51,484 commerce and schools held meeting after meeting; 107 00:04:51,896 --> 00:04:54,646 even the usually steady gentry-merchants could not 108 00:04:54,661 --> 00:04:57,161 sit still, because what was taken was 109 00:04:57,175 --> 00:04:59,219 not some distant state affair but the 110 00:04:59,234 --> 00:05:01,264 banknotes in their own cabinets. 111 00:05:01,734 --> 00:05:03,881 In those years the Chinese still dressed 112 00:05:03,896 --> 00:05:06,396 by an old code: men in long 113 00:05:06,411 --> 00:05:09,087 gowns and magua jackets, a queue trailing 114 00:05:09,102 --> 00:05:11,940 down the back; officials in rank badges 115 00:05:11,955 --> 00:05:14,543 and coronets, the embroidered square on the 116 00:05:14,558 --> 00:05:17,116 chest depicting birds or beasts that betrayed 117 00:05:17,131 --> 00:05:19,940 their rank at a glance; villagers in 118 00:05:19,955 --> 00:05:22,778 short tunics and straw sandals, a cloth 119 00:05:22,793 --> 00:05:25,440 wrapped around the head; women in jacket 120 00:05:25,455 --> 00:05:27,852 and skirt, their feet bound small, 121 00:05:28,058 --> 00:05:29,852 needing support to walk far. 122 00:05:30,337 --> 00:05:32,264 The money in circulation was also a 123 00:05:32,278 --> 00:05:35,396 jumble: large sums in silver ingots, 124 00:05:35,587 --> 00:05:37,808 graded by fineness and weighed on differing 125 00:05:37,822 --> 00:05:41,808 scales, often discounted; daily trade in copper 126 00:05:41,822 --> 00:05:44,190 cash, strung coin by coin on a 127 00:05:44,205 --> 00:05:47,205 cord, a thousand cash making a string; 128 00:05:47,572 --> 00:05:49,308 and at the treaty ports the silver 129 00:05:49,322 --> 00:05:53,616 dollar grew popular. Silver ingots, copper cash 130 00:05:53,631 --> 00:05:56,234 and silver dollars running side by side 131 00:05:56,616 --> 00:05:58,661 itself a portrait of that era. 132 00:05:59,146 --> 00:06:00,940 When the court reaches into its own 133 00:06:00,955 --> 00:06:03,249 people's pockets and then turns to borrow 134 00:06:03,264 --> 00:06:06,175 from outsiders, the avalanche begins here 135 00:06:06,543 --> 00:06:08,469 but what truly carried the spark to 136 00:06:08,484 --> 00:06:10,993 Wuchang still lies ahead. 137 00:06:11,424 --> 00:06:11,424 . 138 00:06:11,512 --> 00:06:14,365 The fiercest reaction came from Sichuan. 139 00:06:14,836 --> 00:06:18,159 In the summer of 1911, Chengdu formed 140 00:06:18,174 --> 00:06:21,850 the Railway Protection Society; gentry like Luo 141 00:06:21,865 --> 00:06:24,145 Lun and Pu Dianjun stepped forward, 142 00:06:24,792 --> 00:06:27,468 hundreds of thousands signed, and they knelt 143 00:06:27,483 --> 00:06:29,703 before the governor's yamen to petition. 144 00:06:30,174 --> 00:06:32,395 What they wanted at first was simple: 145 00:06:33,012 --> 00:06:34,983 give back the share money we pooled 146 00:06:34,998 --> 00:06:38,909 ourselves. The society also published a newspaper, 147 00:06:39,424 --> 00:06:42,027 reading the court's proclamations aloud to the 148 00:06:42,042 --> 00:06:45,056 villagers line by line; the more they 149 00:06:45,071 --> 00:06:47,071 read, the hotter the anger. 150 00:06:47,542 --> 00:06:50,248 What the petition brought was a massacre. 151 00:06:50,718 --> 00:06:52,277 On the seventh day of the ninth 152 00:06:52,292 --> 00:06:55,600 month, Sichuan governor Zhao Erfeng, under the 153 00:06:55,615 --> 00:06:57,395 pretext of coming to the yamen to 154 00:06:57,409 --> 00:07:00,909 discuss affairs, lured and arrested Pu Dianjun, 155 00:07:01,203 --> 00:07:03,674 Luo Lun, Deng Xiaoke, Yan Kai, 156 00:07:03,924 --> 00:07:05,453 Zhang Lan and others. 157 00:07:05,924 --> 00:07:08,395 As the news spread, one man from 158 00:07:08,483 --> 00:07:11,571 each Chengdu household poured out, tens of 159 00:07:11,586 --> 00:07:14,336 thousands surging toward the yamen demanding the 160 00:07:14,350 --> 00:07:17,174 prisoners' release. In their hands they held 161 00:07:17,189 --> 00:07:20,012 tablets of the Guangxu Emperor; in their 162 00:07:20,027 --> 00:07:22,100 raised hands a stick of incense 163 00:07:22,439 --> 00:07:24,365 the clearest signal of that era: 164 00:07:25,086 --> 00:07:27,821 these were petitioning civilians, not rebels in 165 00:07:27,836 --> 00:07:30,350 revolt. The crowd pressed to the gate, 166 00:07:30,939 --> 00:07:32,924 and Zhao Erfeng ordered his troops to 167 00:07:32,939 --> 00:07:35,115 open fire and charged the lines on 168 00:07:35,130 --> 00:07:38,453 horseback — this was a massacre of unarmed 169 00:07:38,468 --> 00:07:40,880 civilians who had come holding tablets to 170 00:07:40,895 --> 00:07:44,439 petition. According to Xinhai accounts from Sichuan 171 00:07:44,453 --> 00:07:47,527 and Hubei, thirty-two dead were registered on 172 00:07:47,542 --> 00:07:50,159 the spot, the wounded beyond count; 173 00:07:50,939 --> 00:07:53,542 among the dead was a thirteen-year-old child 174 00:07:53,556 --> 00:07:55,527 who fell still clutching a tablet. 175 00:07:55,998 --> 00:07:59,350 After the massacre, Zhao Erfeng ordered that 176 00:07:59,365 --> 00:08:01,850 no bodies be collected for three days. 177 00:08:02,268 --> 00:08:04,989 It was summer, and the rains came 178 00:08:05,003 --> 00:08:08,100 without cease. This was the Chengdu Blood 179 00:08:08,115 --> 00:08:11,306 Case — a massacre of peaceful petitioners. 180 00:08:11,748 --> 00:08:13,909 People of the time gave Zhao Erfeng 181 00:08:13,924 --> 00:08:16,350 a nickname: Zhao the Butcher. 182 00:08:16,939 --> 00:08:18,718 He gave the order to fire; 183 00:08:18,762 --> 00:08:22,115 his troops pulled the triggers; the three-day 184 00:08:22,130 --> 00:08:24,350 ban on collecting the dead was also 185 00:08:24,365 --> 00:08:27,027 his command. To whose account this is 186 00:08:27,042 --> 00:08:30,586 charged, the historical records state plainly. 187 00:08:31,071 --> 00:08:33,895 Before the firing, these were petitioners holding 188 00:08:33,909 --> 00:08:37,056 tablets and incense; after the firing, 189 00:08:37,086 --> 00:08:39,159 no one in Sichuan went to petition 190 00:08:39,174 --> 00:08:42,056 again. Men like Pu Dianjun and Luo 191 00:08:42,071 --> 00:08:44,189 Lun who stepped forward were gentry the 192 00:08:44,203 --> 00:08:47,233 court itself had tolerated; that even they 193 00:08:47,248 --> 00:08:49,939 were arrested showed that discontent had already 194 00:08:49,953 --> 00:08:51,850 outgrown the bounds of petition. 195 00:08:52,321 --> 00:08:55,086 After the Blood Case, volunteer armies rose 196 00:08:55,100 --> 00:08:58,189 in every county; Qin Zaigeng and Hou 197 00:08:58,203 --> 00:09:00,645 Baozhai led men to besiege Chengdu, 198 00:09:01,012 --> 00:09:02,792 and within seven or eight days a 199 00:09:02,806 --> 00:09:04,924 hundred thousand or two gathered beneath the 200 00:09:04,939 --> 00:09:08,733 walls. Long Mingjian, Zhu Guochen and Cao 201 00:09:08,748 --> 00:09:11,542 Du wrote on wooden slips, Zhao Erfeng 202 00:09:11,556 --> 00:09:14,806 first arrested Pu and Luo, then pacifies 203 00:09:14,821 --> 00:09:18,365 Sichuan — comrades everywhere rise quickly to save 204 00:09:18,380 --> 00:09:20,895 yourselves, coated them in tung oil, 205 00:09:21,350 --> 00:09:23,365 wrapped them in oiled paper and cast 206 00:09:23,380 --> 00:09:25,659 them into the Jin River — these were 207 00:09:25,674 --> 00:09:28,159 the water telegraphs, by which the lower 208 00:09:28,174 --> 00:09:30,865 counties learned the provincial capital had erupted. 209 00:09:31,336 --> 00:09:33,306 On the twenty-fifth day of the ninth 210 00:09:33,321 --> 00:09:36,983 month, Tongmenghui members Wu Yuzhang and Wang 211 00:09:36,998 --> 00:09:40,777 Tianjie declared Rong County independent — the first 212 00:09:40,792 --> 00:09:43,600 county regime established by the Tongmenghui. 213 00:09:44,056 --> 00:09:47,689 The Qing court urgently transferred the Hubei New Army 214 00:09:47,703 --> 00:09:50,542 into Sichuan. This move would later be 215 00:09:50,556 --> 00:09:53,497 raised again and again: the best fighters 216 00:09:53,512 --> 00:09:55,424 in Wuchang had been drawn away, 217 00:09:55,792 --> 00:09:57,424 and those left in the city were 218 00:09:57,439 --> 00:09:59,983 mostly recruits who had never seen battle. 219 00:10:00,439 --> 00:10:03,115 The best fighters of Hubei were transferred 220 00:10:03,130 --> 00:10:06,306 away. What remained in Wuchang were recruits 221 00:10:06,321 --> 00:10:08,600 who had never seen battle, yet had 222 00:10:08,615 --> 00:10:11,012 long since made contact in secret 223 00:10:11,380 --> 00:10:13,233 the spark for the next episode is 224 00:10:13,248 --> 00:10:14,792 buried in this very step. 225 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:15,240 . 226 00:10:15,343 --> 00:10:17,931 What was drawn away was the longest-trained, 227 00:10:18,255 --> 00:10:21,225 best-equipped contingent of the Hubei New Army; 228 00:10:21,711 --> 00:10:24,416 yet among those who stayed, many had 229 00:10:24,431 --> 00:10:26,887 secretly joined revolutionary groups. 230 00:10:27,328 --> 00:10:29,461 This brings us to Zhang Zhidong. 231 00:10:29,931 --> 00:10:32,887 His New Policies in Hubei — training a 232 00:10:32,902 --> 00:10:36,666 new army, founding schools, opening factories 233 00:10:37,064 --> 00:10:39,784 inadvertently planted another seed in Wuchang. 234 00:10:40,269 --> 00:10:42,049 The new army he trained had an 235 00:10:42,064 --> 00:10:45,799 abnormally high literacy rate; many soldiers were 236 00:10:45,814 --> 00:10:48,549 farm boys who could read, some even 237 00:10:48,564 --> 00:10:52,534 xiucai degree-holders. These men could read newspapers 238 00:10:52,549 --> 00:10:55,328 and take in new books; their disappointment 239 00:10:55,343 --> 00:10:57,564 with the court came earlier and ran 240 00:10:57,578 --> 00:11:00,328 deeper than others'. The schools and new 241 00:11:00,343 --> 00:11:02,813 army Zhang Zhidong founded in Hubei were 242 00:11:02,828 --> 00:11:04,564 meant to give the court a usable 243 00:11:04,578 --> 00:11:07,446 force, yet they placed literate men and 244 00:11:07,461 --> 00:11:10,505 rifles under the same roof — a consequence 245 00:11:10,519 --> 00:11:13,166 he never foresaw. At the time Wuchang 246 00:11:13,181 --> 00:11:17,019 had two main revolutionary organizations: the Literary 247 00:11:17,034 --> 00:11:20,269 Society, its core mostly junior officers and 248 00:11:20,284 --> 00:11:22,696 soldiers of the new army; and the 249 00:11:22,711 --> 00:11:26,269 Gongjin Association, with broader outside contacts. 250 00:11:26,740 --> 00:11:29,122 In their daily rounds they made contact 251 00:11:29,137 --> 00:11:32,093 through barracks, teahouses and schools. 252 00:11:32,578 --> 00:11:34,711 Walk into Wuchang today and you can 253 00:11:34,725 --> 00:11:37,887 still touch those traces: the Chu Wang 254 00:11:37,902 --> 00:11:41,093 Tai arsenal, the city's central storehouse of 255 00:11:41,108 --> 00:11:44,961 guns and ammunition; the old Engineering Battalion 256 00:11:44,975 --> 00:11:46,902 site, by Ziyang Lake. 257 00:11:47,372 --> 00:11:49,549 Whoever held Chu Wang Tai held the 258 00:11:49,564 --> 00:11:52,578 whole city's bargaining chip — a point clearer 259 00:11:52,593 --> 00:11:54,784 to people then than to anyone since. 260 00:11:55,269 --> 00:11:57,696 The Hubei New Army was organized into 261 00:11:57,711 --> 00:12:01,196 divisions and brigades, some fifteen thousand men, 262 00:12:01,578 --> 00:12:04,505 and in several battalions the Literary Society's 263 00:12:04,519 --> 00:12:06,740 members made up a considerable share. 264 00:12:07,211 --> 00:12:10,299 Zhang Zhidong's New Policies in Hubei also 265 00:12:10,314 --> 00:12:13,666 included the Hanyang Iron Works, the Hanyang 266 00:12:13,681 --> 00:12:16,519 Arsenal, and a cluster of academies such 267 00:12:16,534 --> 00:12:18,961 as the Lianghu Academy and the Ziqiang 268 00:12:18,975 --> 00:12:22,211 School. The factories made guns, the schools 269 00:12:22,225 --> 00:12:25,034 made men — and neither ended up serving 270 00:12:25,049 --> 00:12:26,902 the purpose the court intended. 271 00:12:27,372 --> 00:12:29,784 The troops stationed in Wuchang were scattered, 272 00:12:30,358 --> 00:12:32,711 while the ammunition was concentrated at Chu 273 00:12:32,725 --> 00:12:35,343 Wang Tai; between the two lay a 274 00:12:35,358 --> 00:12:38,475 distance of a whole night — this geographic 275 00:12:38,490 --> 00:12:40,931 mismatch would later decide the course of 276 00:12:40,946 --> 00:12:43,269 that night. The new army's dress was 277 00:12:43,284 --> 00:12:46,063 utterly unlike the old Green Standard soldier's: 278 00:12:46,608 --> 00:12:48,740 queues cut off, or coiled up inside 279 00:12:48,755 --> 00:12:52,299 the cap; on top, a Western-style standing-collar 280 00:12:52,314 --> 00:12:54,578 uniform with rank badges on shoulder and 281 00:12:54,593 --> 00:12:57,681 collar; on the feet, leather shoes; 282 00:12:57,902 --> 00:12:59,563 at the waist, a leather belt; 283 00:12:59,608 --> 00:13:01,769 and slung on the shoulder, mostly the 284 00:13:01,784 --> 00:13:04,372 Hanyang Make rifle from the Hanyang Arsenal. 285 00:13:04,843 --> 00:13:06,446 Life in the barracks had its own 286 00:13:06,461 --> 00:13:09,799 rules: drill at dawn, roll call at 287 00:13:09,814 --> 00:13:13,078 night, pay at month's end, the silver 288 00:13:13,093 --> 00:13:15,696 arriving on time. In those years a 289 00:13:15,711 --> 00:13:18,034 farm boy who got full meals and 290 00:13:18,049 --> 00:13:20,446 monthly pay already counted as a man 291 00:13:20,461 --> 00:13:23,416 of standing. Off duty their favorite haunt 292 00:13:23,431 --> 00:13:25,828 was the teahouse — a pot of tea 293 00:13:25,843 --> 00:13:28,328 for a few coppers, and news spread 294 00:13:28,343 --> 00:13:31,108 across the table. Chu Wang Tai was 295 00:13:31,122 --> 00:13:33,887 the city's central arsenal, yet the troops 296 00:13:33,902 --> 00:13:35,843 were scattered and the ammunition lay a 297 00:13:35,858 --> 00:13:38,637 whole night away — that distance would later 298 00:13:38,652 --> 00:13:40,313 decide the course of that night. 299 00:13:40,752 --> 00:13:40,752 . 300 00:13:40,870 --> 00:13:44,178 The Literary Society and the Gongjin Association 301 00:13:44,193 --> 00:13:47,399 were not really one family; their minds 302 00:13:47,414 --> 00:13:50,355 even ran differently. Jiang Yiwen of the 303 00:13:50,370 --> 00:13:53,120 Literary Society was silent and pragmatic, 304 00:13:53,149 --> 00:13:55,178 with deep roots among the soldiers, 305 00:13:55,208 --> 00:13:58,384 his words heeded; Sun Wu of the 306 00:13:58,399 --> 00:14:01,164 Gongjin Association was hot-tempered and full of 307 00:14:01,178 --> 00:14:04,061 schemes, with wide outside connections. 308 00:14:04,531 --> 00:14:06,090 Liu Gong put up the money, 309 00:14:06,502 --> 00:14:09,031 Sun Wu worked the outside, Jiang Yiwen 310 00:14:09,046 --> 00:14:11,840 managed the barracks — three men, three sets 311 00:14:11,855 --> 00:14:14,561 of ideas. Men like Ju Zheng and 312 00:14:14,576 --> 00:14:18,370 Liu Gong, some handling documents, some supplies, 313 00:14:18,399 --> 00:14:21,267 all nominally given posts; yet when the 314 00:14:21,281 --> 00:14:23,193 moment of truth came, who would heed 315 00:14:23,208 --> 00:14:25,723 whom, no one below felt sure. 316 00:14:26,208 --> 00:14:28,693 Had the Sichuan upheaval not forced the 317 00:14:28,708 --> 00:14:31,826 situation to a crisis, this hand might 318 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:34,370 never have clasped. They agreed to make 319 00:14:34,384 --> 00:14:37,531 Jiang Yiwen commander-in-chief and Sun Wu military 320 00:14:37,546 --> 00:14:40,899 chief, yet those below understood clearly that 321 00:14:40,914 --> 00:14:43,134 who would heed whom was still unsettled. 322 00:14:43,620 --> 00:14:46,355 This looseness later became a fatal flaw: 323 00:14:46,752 --> 00:14:48,826 the moment a command went astray in 324 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:52,281 transmission, the whole game fell into disorder. 325 00:14:52,767 --> 00:14:55,311 Yet it was precisely this looseness that 326 00:14:55,326 --> 00:14:58,664 made it unlike a conspiracy, more like 327 00:14:58,678 --> 00:15:01,693 the stacked wagers of countless ordinary men. 328 00:15:02,164 --> 00:15:05,414 Two organizations, three sets of minds 329 00:15:05,811 --> 00:15:07,899 a hand that could never have clasped 330 00:15:07,914 --> 00:15:10,517 was forcibly pressed together by an upheaval 331 00:15:10,531 --> 00:15:11,355 far away. 332 00:15:11,784 --> 00:15:11,784 . 333 00:15:11,838 --> 00:15:14,515 Speak of revolution and many think first 334 00:15:14,530 --> 00:15:18,358 of Sun Yat-sen. But before October 1911, 335 00:15:18,843 --> 00:15:21,196 Sun Yat-sen was not in Wuchang, 336 00:15:21,740 --> 00:15:24,196 nor even in the country; he was 337 00:15:24,210 --> 00:15:26,549 abroad, traveling to raise funds. 338 00:15:27,019 --> 00:15:29,372 On the fund-raising there is a matter 339 00:15:29,387 --> 00:15:33,416 later much disputed. Several participants recorded that 340 00:15:33,431 --> 00:15:36,387 before several uprisings Sun promised comrades at 341 00:15:36,402 --> 00:15:39,225 home that arms, ammunition and pay would 342 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,490 be procured from overseas, yet many promises 343 00:15:42,505 --> 00:15:45,107 were never fulfilled, and the front often 344 00:15:45,122 --> 00:15:48,166 faced overwhelming odds, losing men for nothing. 345 00:15:48,637 --> 00:15:55,710 Zhang Taiyan, between 1907 and 1909, publicly criticized the Tongmenghui's 346 00:15:55,725 --> 00:15:59,328 opaque fund-raising; such accounts appear in his 347 00:15:59,343 --> 00:16:01,828 collected works and contemporary letters. 348 00:16:02,313 --> 00:16:04,637 The later break between Sun and Zhang 349 00:16:04,652 --> 00:16:07,431 was sparked, among other things, by how 350 00:16:07,446 --> 00:16:09,343 the money was raised and spent. 351 00:16:09,813 --> 00:16:12,637 From the 1895 Guangzhou uprising to the 352 00:16:12,652 --> 00:16:16,549 1911 Huanghuagang, Sun launched more than ten 353 00:16:16,563 --> 00:16:19,593 uprisings over a dozen years, most failing 354 00:16:19,608 --> 00:16:21,196 before a shot was fired. 355 00:16:21,681 --> 00:16:23,784 The front repeatedly came up empty; 356 00:16:24,284 --> 00:16:27,784 a recurring story: the guns, ammunition and 357 00:16:27,799 --> 00:16:30,446 pay promised before the rising arrived late, 358 00:16:30,799 --> 00:16:32,240 and when the men showed up and 359 00:16:32,255 --> 00:16:35,563 the plot leaked, they found themselves empty-handed. 360 00:16:36,005 --> 00:16:38,916 What Zhang Taiyan cursed was precisely this 361 00:16:38,931 --> 00:16:41,931 disconnect between fundraising and dispatch. 362 00:16:42,402 --> 00:16:45,049 The above accounts come partly from participants' 363 00:16:45,063 --> 00:16:49,078 memoirs and opponents' records; the original sources 364 00:16:49,152 --> 00:16:52,725 await further verification. We present them as 365 00:16:52,740 --> 00:16:54,622 they are, without judgment. 366 00:16:55,108 --> 00:16:57,828 One thing is clear: for those far 367 00:16:57,843 --> 00:17:01,166 overseas, every penny raised bore on the 368 00:17:01,181 --> 00:17:02,902 life and death of the front at 369 00:17:02,916 --> 00:17:05,710 home. And the one who truly charged 370 00:17:05,725 --> 00:17:07,887 the front line, who poured in his 371 00:17:07,902 --> 00:17:09,460 life, was another man. 372 00:17:09,946 --> 00:17:11,813 The man placed at the very front 373 00:17:11,828 --> 00:17:14,696 was not present; the one truly charging 374 00:17:14,710 --> 00:17:17,181 the front was another name — yet this 375 00:17:17,196 --> 00:17:19,490 man, too, was still on his way. 376 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:19,920 . 377 00:17:20,023 --> 00:17:23,111 Huang Xing was among the few revolutionaries 378 00:17:23,126 --> 00:17:25,391 who truly stood on the front line. 379 00:17:25,861 --> 00:17:27,935 In his early years he founded the 380 00:17:27,949 --> 00:17:31,714 Huaxing Society in Hunan, later becoming the 381 00:17:31,729 --> 00:17:34,185 military mainstay of the Tongmenghui. 382 00:17:34,655 --> 00:17:38,126 In 1904 he plotted an uprising in Changsha; 383 00:17:38,788 --> 00:17:41,023 when it leaked he fled, and from 384 00:17:41,038 --> 00:17:43,332 then on staked everything on the front. 385 00:17:43,817 --> 00:17:46,891 Rather than sit and theorize, he chose 386 00:17:46,905 --> 00:17:49,214 again and again to stand before the 387 00:17:49,229 --> 00:17:54,243 guns. On 27 April 1911, at the Huanghuagang battle 388 00:17:54,258 --> 00:17:56,979 in Guangzhou, he led men against the 389 00:17:56,994 --> 00:18:00,302 governor's yamen; his finger was shot off, 390 00:18:00,567 --> 00:18:02,611 yet he kept directing the retreat. 391 00:18:03,082 --> 00:18:05,567 That battle is commonly called the Seventy-Two 392 00:18:05,582 --> 00:18:09,273 Martyrs, though eighty-six are verifiably counted, 393 00:18:09,655 --> 00:18:11,817 many young scholars who went and did 394 00:18:11,832 --> 00:18:14,494 not return. The following year, at the 395 00:18:14,508 --> 00:18:17,861 Yangxia campaign, Huang Xing held the front 396 00:18:17,876 --> 00:18:20,244 at Hanyang and Hankou for over forty 397 00:18:20,258 --> 00:18:24,185 days. In armed uprising, Huang Xing's practical 398 00:18:24,199 --> 00:18:26,538 role was more direct and more forward 399 00:18:26,552 --> 00:18:29,552 than Sun Yat-sen's, who raised funds far 400 00:18:29,567 --> 00:18:33,993 overseas. Yet in October 1911, Huang Xing was 401 00:18:34,008 --> 00:18:36,905 not in Wuchang either; he was still 402 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:39,714 on his way. This fire in Wuchang 403 00:18:39,729 --> 00:18:41,641 was lit by those at the bottom, 404 00:18:42,023 --> 00:18:43,729 at a time when neither of the 405 00:18:43,744 --> 00:18:45,494 two great men was present. 406 00:18:45,964 --> 00:18:48,170 Neither of the two great men was 407 00:18:48,185 --> 00:18:51,258 in Wuchang. Then who lit this fire? 408 00:18:51,699 --> 00:18:54,258 The answer is those whose names never 409 00:18:54,273 --> 00:18:56,038 made it into the textbooks. 410 00:18:56,472 --> 00:18:56,472 . 411 00:18:56,575 --> 00:19:00,972 On 9 October 1911, at Baoshan Lane on the edge 412 00:19:00,987 --> 00:19:03,045 of the Russian concession in Wuhan, 413 00:19:03,663 --> 00:19:06,913 a Gongjin Association hideout ran into trouble. 414 00:19:07,384 --> 00:19:09,781 Sun Wu and Deng Yulin and others 415 00:19:09,796 --> 00:19:12,575 were there rushing the manufacture of explosives 416 00:19:12,590 --> 00:19:15,119 and flags, preparing to rise. 417 00:19:15,604 --> 00:19:19,001 While mixing explosives, Sun Wu set off 418 00:19:19,016 --> 00:19:22,398 an accidental detonation, wounding himself on the 419 00:19:22,413 --> 00:19:25,237 spot and blowing the whole conspiracy into 420 00:19:25,251 --> 00:19:27,619 the open. Others in the hideout, 421 00:19:28,031 --> 00:19:30,869 Deng Yulin among them, scattered to hide 422 00:19:30,884 --> 00:19:33,443 once it happened, but the flags and 423 00:19:33,457 --> 00:19:35,398 seals on site were too late to 424 00:19:35,413 --> 00:19:38,266 clear. Later the arrested Liu Tong, 425 00:19:38,854 --> 00:19:42,943 unable to withstand interrogation, betrayed the hideout 426 00:19:42,957 --> 00:19:45,457 and a number of comrades, making the 427 00:19:45,472 --> 00:19:49,413 search suddenly precise. The Russian concession police 428 00:19:49,428 --> 00:19:51,913 came at the sound, and seized the 429 00:19:51,928 --> 00:19:54,898 uprising's flags and seals, and a name 430 00:19:54,913 --> 00:19:58,501 roster. That roster listed who in Wuchang 431 00:19:58,516 --> 00:20:01,340 had taken part. The police handed the 432 00:20:01,354 --> 00:20:05,296 things to the Huguang governor-general, Rui Cheng. 433 00:20:05,766 --> 00:20:09,178 In an instant, an uprising still hidden 434 00:20:09,193 --> 00:20:11,590 in the shadows became an open hand. 435 00:20:12,060 --> 00:20:14,737 According to records, it was the arrested 436 00:20:14,751 --> 00:20:18,487 Liu Tong who, unable to withstand interrogation, 437 00:20:19,031 --> 00:20:22,134 betrayed the hideout and comrades, making the 438 00:20:22,148 --> 00:20:25,943 search suddenly precise. One explosion blew the 439 00:20:25,957 --> 00:20:29,119 hidden conspiracy into the open; and that 440 00:20:29,134 --> 00:20:31,457 roster would next be delivered into the 441 00:20:31,472 --> 00:20:32,604 governor's hands. 442 00:20:33,048 --> 00:20:33,048 . 443 00:20:33,151 --> 00:20:35,769 Rui Cheng got the roster, and that 444 00:20:35,783 --> 00:20:37,886 night the whole city was placed under 445 00:20:37,901 --> 00:20:41,004 martial law; arrests by name began. 446 00:20:41,474 --> 00:20:43,269 Rui Cheng was a man who, 447 00:20:43,298 --> 00:20:45,974 when trouble came, thought first of saving 448 00:20:45,989 --> 00:20:49,783 himself; normally leaning on the Beiyang clique, 449 00:20:50,166 --> 00:20:51,872 at the critical moment he could not 450 00:20:51,886 --> 00:20:52,945 make up his mind. 451 00:20:53,651 --> 00:20:56,401 He ordered the Wuchang gates closed and 452 00:20:56,416 --> 00:20:58,298 a house-to-house search for those on the 453 00:20:58,313 --> 00:21:01,621 roster; suddenly the whole city lived in 454 00:21:01,636 --> 00:21:03,974 terror. For those on the roster, 455 00:21:04,445 --> 00:21:07,460 only two choices remained: wait to be 456 00:21:07,474 --> 00:21:09,739 arrested, or rise tonight. 457 00:21:10,210 --> 00:21:12,283 This is the cruelest logic of an 458 00:21:12,298 --> 00:21:15,445 uprising: when a secret can no longer 459 00:21:15,460 --> 00:21:17,739 be hidden, not to rise is to 460 00:21:17,754 --> 00:21:21,180 die. A group still hesitating was pushed 461 00:21:21,195 --> 00:21:23,195 by a single roster to the edge 462 00:21:23,210 --> 00:21:25,636 of the cliff. The roster in Rui 463 00:21:25,651 --> 00:21:27,695 Cheng's hands had been compiled by the 464 00:21:27,710 --> 00:21:32,136 revolutionaries themselves — names, native places, units, 465 00:21:32,166 --> 00:21:35,210 all complete — in effect handing the governor, 466 00:21:35,239 --> 00:21:37,592 in one move, everyone in the city 467 00:21:37,607 --> 00:21:38,739 who had taken part. 468 00:21:39,210 --> 00:21:41,298 That night the Wuchang gates were shut 469 00:21:41,313 --> 00:21:44,224 tight; those inside could not get out, 470 00:21:44,710 --> 00:21:46,872 news from outside could not get in. 471 00:21:47,357 --> 00:21:50,092 It is recorded that several battalions issued 472 00:21:50,107 --> 00:21:52,930 cartridges that very night, yet no one 473 00:21:52,945 --> 00:21:54,577 knew whom to fire on. 474 00:21:55,048 --> 00:21:58,166 In official circles, Rui Cheng's first thought 475 00:21:58,180 --> 00:22:01,754 was self-preservation: he pushed the arrest duty 476 00:22:01,769 --> 00:22:04,269 onto subordinates and stayed in the yamen 477 00:22:04,283 --> 00:22:07,607 awaiting Beijing's reply. But however fast the 478 00:22:07,622 --> 00:22:10,857 telegram, it could not outrun the smell 479 00:22:10,872 --> 00:22:13,607 of gunpowder already spreading through the city. 480 00:22:14,092 --> 00:22:16,548 Once the roster reached the governor's hands 481 00:22:16,563 --> 00:22:18,283 and the Wuchang gates were shut, 482 00:22:18,974 --> 00:22:20,695 for those on the list only two 483 00:22:20,710 --> 00:22:24,474 choices remained: wait for death, or rise 484 00:22:24,489 --> 00:22:24,974 tonight. 485 00:22:25,416 --> 00:22:25,416 . 486 00:22:25,519 --> 00:22:27,725 Late on the night of 9 October, 487 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,798 Jiang Yiwen issued the uprising order, 488 00:22:31,372 --> 00:22:33,269 agreeing that a gunshot would be the 489 00:22:33,284 --> 00:22:36,092 signal and all battalions would act together. 490 00:22:36,592 --> 00:22:39,563 But the order, half delivered, was interrupted 491 00:22:39,578 --> 00:22:42,784 by a search; most units never received 492 00:22:42,798 --> 00:22:45,637 it at all. Yang Hongsheng's transport of 493 00:22:45,651 --> 00:22:49,607 explosives was also exposed; Liu Fuxing, 494 00:22:50,151 --> 00:22:51,681 in a panic at the hideout, 495 00:22:52,195 --> 00:22:54,284 threw a bomb to cover his comrades, 496 00:22:54,828 --> 00:22:56,475 yet exposed still more. 497 00:22:56,945 --> 00:22:59,563 The agreed time passed; the gun did 498 00:22:59,578 --> 00:23:02,269 not fire, yet the men were already 499 00:23:02,284 --> 00:23:06,137 alarmed. Jiang Yiwen himself escaped; what he 500 00:23:06,151 --> 00:23:08,239 left behind was a group of junior 501 00:23:08,254 --> 00:23:10,842 officers and soldiers who knew not whether 502 00:23:10,857 --> 00:23:12,519 to advance or retreat. 503 00:23:13,004 --> 00:23:16,313 The plan was in disarray; the uprising 504 00:23:16,328 --> 00:23:18,401 seemed about to die unborn. 505 00:23:18,887 --> 00:23:20,975 Yet the roster was already in the 506 00:23:20,990 --> 00:23:24,284 governor's hands, and time was no longer 507 00:23:24,298 --> 00:23:26,960 on their side. The uprising order was 508 00:23:26,975 --> 00:23:30,269 cut off mid-delivery, most units never received 509 00:23:30,284 --> 00:23:32,475 it — the plan seemed about to die 510 00:23:32,490 --> 00:23:35,034 unborn, yet time was no longer on 511 00:23:35,048 --> 00:23:35,754 their side. 512 00:23:36,192 --> 00:23:36,192 . 513 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:38,442 Those on the roster could no longer 514 00:23:38,457 --> 00:23:41,942 hide. Peng Chufan, a clerk in the 515 00:23:41,957 --> 00:23:45,339 military police, was captured without losing his 516 00:23:45,354 --> 00:23:48,780 composure; according to accounts he denounced his 517 00:23:48,795 --> 00:23:52,795 accusers even before execution — a stubborn, 518 00:23:53,045 --> 00:23:56,648 hardened man. Liu Fuxing, a core member 519 00:23:56,663 --> 00:23:59,148 of the Gongjin Association from Changde in 520 00:23:59,163 --> 00:24:02,957 Hunan, of the fiercest temper, after arrest 521 00:24:02,971 --> 00:24:06,104 spoke openly and never concealed his convictions. 522 00:24:06,589 --> 00:24:09,868 Yang Hongsheng, a Hubei man responsible for 523 00:24:09,883 --> 00:24:13,560 transporting explosives and ammunition, was caught when 524 00:24:13,574 --> 00:24:16,177 the plot failed and under interrogation would 525 00:24:16,192 --> 00:24:19,177 not implicate others. The three were taken 526 00:24:19,192 --> 00:24:22,707 to the Huguang governor's yamen, interrogated through 527 00:24:22,721 --> 00:24:25,883 the night, and before dawn dragged outside 528 00:24:25,898 --> 00:24:27,589 the yamen gate and beheaded. 529 00:24:28,060 --> 00:24:30,280 From arrest to martyrdom was but a 530 00:24:30,295 --> 00:24:33,177 few hours. The order was given by 531 00:24:33,192 --> 00:24:36,648 the Huguang governor-general, Rui Cheng. 532 00:24:37,118 --> 00:24:40,354 In the small hours of 10 October 1911, 533 00:24:40,383 --> 00:24:42,589 the three were killed — these are the 534 00:24:42,604 --> 00:24:45,560 later-called Three Martyrs, Peng, Liu and Yang. 535 00:24:46,045 --> 00:24:48,751 They were no great men; only ordinary 536 00:24:48,766 --> 00:24:50,824 people whose names had been written into 537 00:24:50,839 --> 00:24:53,413 that roster, yet at that moment they 538 00:24:53,427 --> 00:24:55,251 left their lives in Wuchang. 539 00:24:55,721 --> 00:24:57,780 Peng Chufan was in his twenties when 540 00:24:57,795 --> 00:24:59,986 he died, with an aged mother at 541 00:25:00,001 --> 00:25:03,339 home; Liu Fuxing had been married only 542 00:25:03,354 --> 00:25:07,221 recently; Yang Hongsheng left behind a child 543 00:25:07,236 --> 00:25:08,427 just learning to walk. 544 00:25:08,898 --> 00:25:12,001 These details appear in later compilations of 545 00:25:12,016 --> 00:25:15,177 the martyrs' biographies; we record them as 546 00:25:15,192 --> 00:25:16,971 they are, without comment. 547 00:25:17,457 --> 00:25:19,810 That night the governor's yamen followed old 548 00:25:19,824 --> 00:25:23,163 routines: torches on the hall, bailiffs standing 549 00:25:23,177 --> 00:25:25,795 to either side, the interrogation by the 550 00:25:25,810 --> 00:25:27,942 stale formulas of the penal code 551 00:25:28,501 --> 00:25:31,442 first the accomplices, then the instigator. 552 00:25:31,927 --> 00:25:34,295 The townspeople only learned at dawn that 553 00:25:34,310 --> 00:25:36,545 men had been killed outside the yamen; 554 00:25:37,266 --> 00:25:39,104 the bold came to look and saw 555 00:25:39,118 --> 00:25:41,266 three bodies no one dared claim. 556 00:25:41,736 --> 00:25:43,971 A Wuchang morning should have begun with 557 00:25:43,986 --> 00:25:46,265 the stevedores' calls at the docks, 558 00:25:46,810 --> 00:25:48,707 the opening of the teahouses. 559 00:25:49,177 --> 00:25:51,471 That day those sounds were still there, 560 00:25:51,868 --> 00:25:53,942 only the people of the city already 561 00:25:53,957 --> 00:25:55,486 knew something had changed. 562 00:25:55,957 --> 00:25:59,163 Three ordinary men died, yet those still 563 00:25:59,177 --> 00:26:01,721 alive on the roster all understood one 564 00:26:01,736 --> 00:26:04,971 truth: wait any longer and the next 565 00:26:04,986 --> 00:26:07,530 would be oneself. That night, it was 566 00:26:07,545 --> 00:26:08,560 truly coming. 567 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:09,000 . 568 00:26:09,103 --> 00:26:11,750 The blood of three men thoroughly doused 569 00:26:11,765 --> 00:26:14,588 the hesitation. Those still alive on the 570 00:26:14,603 --> 00:26:18,368 roster all understood one truth: wait any 571 00:26:18,382 --> 00:26:20,824 longer and the next would be oneself. 572 00:26:21,294 --> 00:26:24,309 On the night of 10 October, the mood 573 00:26:24,324 --> 00:26:26,574 in Wuchang was like a string pulled 574 00:26:26,588 --> 00:26:29,006 to its limit. In whose hands this 575 00:26:29,021 --> 00:26:31,153 string would snap, we leave for the 576 00:26:31,168 --> 00:26:34,235 next episode. Come to Wuchang today and 577 00:26:34,250 --> 00:26:36,000 you can still touch the traces of 578 00:26:36,015 --> 00:26:38,897 that night on Peng-Liu-Yang Road, at the 579 00:26:38,912 --> 00:26:41,029 Red Building, at Chu Wang Tai. 580 00:26:41,500 --> 00:26:43,676 The Red Building is the former site 581 00:26:43,691 --> 00:26:46,382 of the Wuchang Uprising military government; 582 00:26:47,059 --> 00:26:50,132 the old Engineering Battalion site still stands 583 00:26:50,147 --> 00:26:53,618 by Ziyang Lake. One city, one railway, 584 00:26:53,632 --> 00:26:55,721 three names — they pushed an era to 585 00:26:55,735 --> 00:26:58,412 its turning point. And beyond the turning 586 00:26:58,426 --> 00:27:02,206 point lay longer turmoil, and countless ordinary 587 00:27:02,221 --> 00:27:04,235 people who paid the price for this 588 00:27:04,250 --> 00:27:06,985 revolution. We tell of this fuse not 589 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,559 to glorify any side, but to make 590 00:27:09,574 --> 00:27:12,971 clear: when a regime repeatedly disappoints its 591 00:27:12,985 --> 00:27:15,471 own people, what comes loose is not 592 00:27:15,485 --> 00:27:17,500 only trust but the very base of 593 00:27:17,515 --> 00:27:20,235 the whole order. The price that followed 594 00:27:20,250 --> 00:27:23,338 was, for the most part, silently borne 595 00:27:23,353 --> 00:27:25,309 by the most ordinary people of that 596 00:27:25,324 --> 00:27:25,794 time.