On May 9, 1911 the Qing Government implemented several policies regarding nationalization of the railroads. The government also announced its plan to nationalize the Yuehan Railway and Chunhan Railway, which had been built with private funds. This proposal angered the people of Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, and Guangdong. To protect the railroads from seizure, they launched a movement, which was particularly active in Sichuan.
On June 17, civilian organizations in Sichuan established the "Sichuan Railroad Protection Society" and elected the head of the local assembly, Pu Dianjun, as the president. On September 7, the Qing Governor of Sichuan Zhao Erfeng arrested the leader of the Railroad Protection Society, and shut down the corporation and the Society. The result of this move was a large demonstration at the Governor's office. Governor Zhao ordered soldiers to quell the protest; as a result, 30 civilians were killed.
On September 8, the members of the Society along with the local Ge Lao Hui and Tongmenghui organized an uprising and besieged the provincial capital. On September 25, Wu Yuzhang, Wang Tianjie, and other members of Tongmenghui led another successful uprising in Rong county. Upon realizing that Chengdu was besieged as a result of the mass uprising, the Qing Government became alarmed and immediately ordered Duan Fang to suppress the uprising in the province of Sichuan using New Army units that were stationed in the province of Hubei.
When Duan Fang led Hubei's New Army units into Sichuan in order to suppress the uprisings of the Railroad Movement, Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province, was left virtually defenseless. The revolutionaries decided that this was the perfect opportunity for an uprising.
On September 24, the Literature Society and Gong Jin Hui convened a conference in Wuchang along with 60 representatives from local New Army units.
On October 9, Revolutionaries intent on overthrowing the Qing dynasty had built bombs and one accidentally exploded. Revolutionaries managed to escape, but the documents and banners for the uprising were taken away by the police along with several suspects. Sun Yat-sen himself had no direct part in the uprising and was traveling in the United States at the time in an effort to recruit more support from among overseas Chinese.
After being informed about this incident, the Qing Viceroy of Huguang Duan Zheng ordered a curfew to be imposed on the entire city, so that the police could track down and arrest the revolutionaries. As a result, Jiang Yiwu of the Literature Society decided to launch the uprising that very night.
Squad leader Xiong Bingkun and others decided not to delay the uprising any longer. Around 8 p.m. on October 10, a Squad Leader ordered to check his soldiers' bullets, on finding one soldier had lost 3 bullets, Squad Leader fought with him on the ground, Xiong Binkun took his handgun firing for aid but shot down a lamp, the first shot was fired in Wuchang, a borough of the city of Wuhan.
The Wuchang Uprising had begun.
The entire city of Wuchang was captured by the revolutionaries by the morning of October 11.
In the evening that day, they established a tactical headquarters and announced the establishment of the "Military Government of Hubei of Republic of China."
On October 12, the Revolutionaries Hu Yuzhen, Qiu Wenbin, and others led New Army units into Hanyang, a borough of Wuhan, and captured that borough; the revolutionary Zhao Chenwu led the other New Army units and captured Hankou, another borough of Wuhan. All three of Wuhan's main boroughs were then under the control of the revolutionaries.
