Railway Protection Movement (1911)
보로 운동 (1911)
The protest movement of 1911 by the gentry, merchants and peasants of Sichuan and other provinces, many of them shareholders, after the Qing court nationalised the locally financed trunk railways and pledged their operating rights for a foreign bank loan. It turned bloody when the governor-general Zhao Erfeng opened fire in Chengdu in September and grew into the armed rising of the Comrades’ Armies; the diversion of Hubei New Army troops to suppress it helped the Wuchang Uprising succeed.
In depth
Nationalisation: founded in 1905, the Sichuan–Hankou Railway Company sold shares and levied a 3 per cent tax on landowners’ harvests, issuing share certificates, to build 1,238 km of line from Chengdu to Wuhan. Of roughly 11.98 million taels raised by 1911, 77.5 per cent came from that tax, making much of the Sichuan gentry and merchant class shareholders. With construction stalled by corruption and squabbling, the court, pressed by the Boxer indemnity, nationalised the private trunk lines on 9 May under the Minister of Posts and Communications Sheng Xuanhuai and on the 20th signed a £10 million loan with a British, German, French and American consortium.
Resistance in Sichuan: compensation in government bonds rather than silver, and at a far lower rate than elsewhere, made Sichuan’s reaction the strongest. On 17 June Pu Dianjun and other provincial assembly members founded the Railway Protection League; in August more than 10,000 rallied in Chengdu amid student and merchant strikes, and on 1 September the shareholders resolved to withhold taxes. On 7 September Zhao Erfeng arrested the leaders and fired on the crowd, killing 32 in Chengdu. Comrades’ Armies led by the Gelaohui and the Tongmenghui then besieged the city.
Outcome: the court sent Duanfang into Sichuan with Hubei New Army troops, weakening Wuhan’s defences and enabling the Wuchang Uprising of 10 October to succeed. In November Sichuan declared independence under Pu Dianjun, released from prison, and Duanfang and Zhao Erfeng were killed by the revolutionaries. The Sichuan–Hankou line itself remained unbuilt for decades amid political turmoil.