Republic of China · 1911-1912

1911: the end of imperial China

An accidental bomb blast in Wuhan sparks an army mutiny, and within months more than 2,000 years of rule by emperors is over. Students follow the revolution of 1911, meet Sun Yat-sen and the last emperor, Puyi, and ask what kind of China came next.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1900 to AD 1911
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

An accidental bomb blast in Wuhan sparks an army mutiny, and within months more than 2,000 years of rule by emperors is over. Students follow the revolution of 1911, meet Sun Yat-sen and the last emperor, Puyi, and ask what kind of China came next.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain why many Chinese had turned against the Qing dynasty by 1911.
  • Describe the Wuchang Uprising and the founding of the Republic of China.
  • Explain why Sun Yat-sen handed power to Yuan Shikai.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1900

The last dynasty

Open the map in 1900 and zoom out over the Qing Empire. Find Beijing, Wuhan, Nanjing and Canton. Then look at Mongolia and Tibet on the edges of the empire.

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1914

Breaking away

Drag the slider to 1914. Which regions on the edges of the old empire now appear separately on the map?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1911

The Yangtze cities

Zoom in where the Han River joins the Yangtze. Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang, today together called Wuhan, stand here. Why is a river crossroads a good place for a revolt to spread from?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. The Qing had lost wars to Britain, France and Japan and paid huge sums to foreign powers. How would that weaken an emperor's authority?
  2. The Qing were Manchu rulers of a mostly Han Chinese country. How did revolutionaries use that?
  3. Sun Yat-sen raised money among Chinese communities abroad. Why might people far away support a revolution?
  4. In 1912 China became a republic, but generals soon held the real power. Why is it hard to build a democracy quickly?
  5. The last emperor was only six years old. Who really held power around him?
4

Game round

9 min

Play Qin Shi Huang in Rule History: he became China's first emperor in 221 BC. Puyi, who abdicated in 1912, was its last. Discuss: what had held the empire together for more than 2,000 years, and what broke it?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.