Name Meng Caicheng | ||
Meng Caicheng (1859–1928) was one of the leaders of Railway Protection Movement, which contributed to the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution that overthrow the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China.
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Early years
Meng Caicheng was born in Yanting County, Sichuan, China. He passed the Provincial Exam during the reign of Guangxu Emperor, then he was appointed as Director of Mianzhu County Education Department. After several years, he started to work as a professor at Chengdu Governmental Institution and appointed as Supervisor of Gentry Class at the Political-Legal School. He advised students not only to learn specific knowledge but also to be useful to the society. Students were not used to doing gymnastics, so Meng served as an example in the courtyard. He was highly respected and called Mr. Gongfu (literally, Public Father Figure.)
Railway protection movement
In 1905, Sichuan Province established the Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company. However, the company management was beset by corruption and mismanagement and construction effort made little progress. During August 1910, Sichuan Advisory Department started to run official newspaper "Shu Gazette" with the propaganda "Overseeing Administration and Promoting Institutionalism". Meng Caicheng was one of the sponsors of "Shu Gazette", which published articles about important political events and also disclosed the corruption and degeneration of the official class. The newspaper was forced to stop publication in July 1911.
on April 26, 1911, Wang Renwen, the Deputy Governor of Sichuan, presented a memorial to the Bureau of Civil Affairs. In the Memo, Wang reported that "the Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company representative stakeholder Meng Caicheng and others ever advised the Department to notify all the official business to government organs and the public. So they were running Sichuan Railway Monthly to publish all important issues about Sichuan Railway such as finance, accounting, construction and operation."
On May 9, 1911, the Qing authorities ordered the nationalization of all locally controlled railway signed a local agreement with Great Britain, Germany, France and the United States. The nationalization order drew strong opposition across Southern China, especially Sichuan. Pu Dianjun, Meng Caicheng and other influential members of the Sichuan Provincial Assembly organized the Railway Protection League on June 17, and made public speeches against the plan.
On August 2, Zhao Erfeng arrived Chengdu and took the post of the Governor-General of Sichuan. On September 7, Zhao Erfeng had Pu Dianjun, Luo Lun, Yan Kai and other leaders arrested and closed the company. Afterwards, Meng Caicheng asked the Governor Zhao Erfeng to have him arrested as well. As an appointed official by imperial government, Meng Caicheng was prisoned alone at Police Department.
Enraged protestors marched on the Governor-General's office. Zhao Erfeng ordered troops to open fire and dozens of protestors were killed. Bloodshed further inflamed the protestors. Led by Tongmenghui, an armed revolution broke out all over Sichuan Province. On October 5, Zhao Erfeng released Meng Caicheng, Hu Rong and other leaders.
The Qing Court ordered Duan Fang, the Governor-General of Hubei and Hunan to reinforce Sichuan with troops from Hubei, which weakened defenses in Wuhan. On October 10, 1911, revolutionaries in the New Army units that remained in Wuhan launched the Wuchang Uprising. On November 14, Zhao Erfeng released Pu Dianjun from prison and negotiated established Great Han Military Government of Sichuan. On November 27, Sichuan declared independence from the Qing Dynasty Government.
On December 9, 1911, Yin Changheng reorganized Military Government of Sichuan and took up the post of governor. Yin Changheng appointed Meng Caicheng as Magistrate of Ba-An Prefecture to prevent Xizang from declaring independence. After Meng arrived Ba-An, he first established policy to harmonize Han residents and Zang residents. The Zang residents and Han People lived and worked in peace during his administration.
Late years
In 1913, Meng Caicheng returned to Chengdu and worked as the President of Chengdu Capital High School. In 1921, Meng Caicheng was selected as the President of Chongqing Second Lady's Normal School, wherethere, he employed several important communists such as Xiao Chunu, Zhang Wentian and Yun Daiying, and famous professors, governmental officials such as Meng Wentong, Deng Shaoqin, Li Xiaofang, Tang Tiefeng, Yuan Yunsheng, Lu Zuofu etc. He also supported students to participate in "Deyang Wan" Protest March and sponsored representative members to attend the First National Representative Assembly of Kuomingtang, led by Sun Zhongshan.
In 1926, Meng Caicheng retired and returned to his hometown Yanting. The next year, he was appointed as the President of Yanting Lady's School. He died while holding the position.