The revolution of 1911 ended the imperial system itself, and with it the political order Confucian teaching had served and shaped for two thousand years. The republic that followed blamed the tradition for China's humiliations, and the May Fourth generation raised the cry to smash the Confucian shop. The teaching survived the empire, as books, as family ethics, and as a question China's thinkers kept returning to.
Tagged: Confucianism Imperial Confucianism
The Event
- Date
- 1911 (exact)
- Era
- Modern; Standard periodization of Confucian history
- Location
- China; today China
- Traditions
- Confucianism
- Streams
- Imperial Confucianism
- Key figures
- Sun Yat-sen
Connections
- Imperial examinations abolished; follows_from
Primary Sources
- The proclamations of the 1911 revolution.
Secondary Sources
- Yao, Xinzhong. An Introduction to Confucianism. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
- de Bary, Wm. Theodore, and Irene Bloom, eds. Sources of Chinese Tradition. 2nd ed., Columbia University Press, 1999.
Provenance: HIST-0714; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-27.
Related on This Site
- The Hanging Temple Art Entry
- Daoism and Confucianism Art Tradition
- Dong Zhongshu History Event
- Han imperial academy established History Event
- Imperial examinations abolished History Event
- Ming dynasty History Event
- Qing dynasty History Event
- Yuan examination system adopts Zhu Xi History Event