The overthrow of a dynasty

The beginning of a new era

The beginning of the 20th century saw the Qing Dynasty （请朝） in a shambles. It was weak and corrupt, and conservatives in the government resisted reform. Wars with foreign powers and the Taiping Rebellion （太平天国） had left it weak.

Dr. Sun Yet-sen a Chinese patriot, saw all this and longed for change. His revolutionary writings, including the Three Principles of the People, laid out his hopes for a new and better country. Unfortunately, his attempts to organize a revolution proved ineffectual. But then came the Wuchang Uprising.（武昌起义）

After 1895, the Qing government began training a new modern army in several locations. However, the army officers and soldiers were heavily influenced by Sun's ideas, and many had joined revolutionary organizations. Some had been constructing bombs to use in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty, and one of them accidentally exploded.

When police investigated they discovered name lists of revolutionary organizations with many New Army members. Facing arrest, the army rebelled in Wuchang. The Qing Dynasty failed to respond for two crucial weeks, enabling the rebels to declare a provisional government （临时政府）. Over the next 50 days,  15 of the 24 provinces declared themselves independent of the Qing Dynasty. On Jan. 1, 1912, Sun Yet-sen became the president of the new republic. China's new era had begun.

Grammar Tips：
Wars with foreign powers and the Taiping Rebellion had left China weak.
"left" - direction -Please turn left.
"left" -leave, go away for doing something - Henry left the office an hour ago.
"left" - to cause a result,  to make.  - use "left" in a formal way, when you give a speech or writing.
informal way we can say "cause/make"
*The beautiful music left me speechless.
*The string of bad business decisions left Daniel broke.
Vocabulary Tips：
provisional- temporary, not permanently.临时的，暂时的
*The hotel offered provisional lodging for the accident victims.
*We signed a provisional contract before the formal contract was settled.
ineffectual -没有效果的 effectual-有效果的。
*The government was severely criticized for its slow and ineffectural response to the disaster. 饱受评击。
*The after-school program was proved ineffectual.
shambles - 凌乱，混乱，狼藉不堪。
*The nation's economy was in shambles after the earthquake.陷入混乱
*After the party, the whole house was in total shambles and we spent the whole day cleaning it.
overthrow- remove someone from power. 推翻（政权）某势力。
corrupt- dishonor (mostly refer to money) 腐败，贪污
conservative - very old style, doesn't like to change. 保守派
rebellion - don't like the thing what they want, form a group of people try to change it.叛党
revolutionary - 革命 make change

Chat Room:
patriot (n)-爱国者Chinese patriot
patriotic (adj)-爱国的patriotic song 爱国歌曲
Patriarch (n)- male leader in a big clan, or a oldest male person in a group or organization.
matriarch (n)-female leader in a big clan, or a oldest female person in a female group or organization.

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