Background
Changsha, Hunan, was the birthplace of Huang Xing.
Changsha, Hunan, was the birthplace of Huang Xing.
Son of an educator, Huang passed the shengyuan degree examination in 1892. Instead of pursuing the advanced degree of jirtshi, he enrolled at the Academy of Hunan and Hubei, an institution founded by Zhang Zhidong for a practical education. After his graduation from the academy in 1902, he won an official scholarship for further studies in Japan.
It was in Japan when Huang Xing was converted to revolution. While studying at the Kobun Institute in Tokyo, he cooperated with Yang Du and Yang Shouren to start a monthly, Youxue yibiatt (Overseas Students Translations), on Western political ideas. In 1903 he joined the Anti-Russia Volunteer Army (JuE yiyongjun) a militia formed by Chinese students in Japan to protest the occupation of Manchuria by Russian troops since the Boxer Uprising in 1900. Convinced of the weakness of the Qing regime, he returned with other radicals to China to overthrow the government through propaganda, uprising, and assassination.
In 1903 Huang Xing taught for some months at the Mingde School in Changsha. The next year he founded a revolutionary society, the Huaxing-hui (China Arise Society). But their plot to stage a regional uprising in central China was uncovered by the local authorities before it was carried out. Consequently, Huang Xing fled to Japan. Through the introduction of Miyazaki Torazo, Huang and other Huaxinghui members met with Sun Yat-sen to review the situation in China. They agreed that it was imperative to unify various anti-Manchu groups to overthrow the Qing regime. In 1905 a united revolutionary society, the Tongmenghui (Chinese United League) came into formation.
The organization of the Tongmenghui signified a new stage in the development of the revolutionary movement. The subsequent years witnessed an intensification of subversive activities in China. While Sun Yat-sen actively promoted the revolution through propaganda and fund-raising abroad, Huang Xing and the other leaders organized a series of unsuccessful armed revolts in southern China, including the Guangzhou Uprising on April 27, 1911. In a period of failure and frustration, Zhang Binglin, Song Jiaoren, and others were critical of Sun5s leadership. Huang, however, remained supportive to the party leader.
When the Wuchang mutiny broke out on October 10, 1911, the revolutionary forces were poorly led. Huang Xing hurriedly went to Wuhan to take command. After the fall of Hanyang, he retreated to Shanghai. The next year, Sun Yat-sen returned to become provisional president of the Republic of China, while Huang was appointed minister of war. As a result of the peace negotiations between the Qing government and the revolutionaries, Sun offered the provisional presidency to Yuan Shikai. Huang was at first made resident general at Nanking, and later director general of the Hankow-Canton railways. He resigned from all the positions by January 1913.
The assassination of Song Jiaoren in March 1913 fully exposed the ambition of Yuan Shikai. Under the command of Huang Xing, the revolutionary forces started the Second Revolution to remove him from power. Yuan's superior army easily suppressed the revolution, which sent the revolutionary leaders into exile. In Japan, Huang Xing disagreed with Sun Yat-sen on his terms in reorganizing the revolutionary party. He left China for the United States in 1914 and remained there for almost two years. In June 1916, Huang Xing returned to Shanghai, and reconciled his differences with Sun. On October 31, 1916, he died in Shanghai at the age of forty-two.
Notable Huang's Children:
Huang Yiou, youngest ever member of the Tongmenghui and a prominent leader in the Republic of China
Huang Yizhong, was a Counselor of the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of the Interior in the Republic of China
Huang Zhenhua, was a member of the judicial assembly
Huang Yihuan, known as the "Father of China's Blind" for his contribution towards blind people
