Abolition of the Imperial examination
After the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901) by the Eight-Nation Alliance of foreign powers in China, the Qing government led by the Empress Cixi began to implement the reforms that had been advocated by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao in the Hundred Days' Reform. Among the changes, the one with the greatest influence was the abolition of the imperial examination on September 2, 1905. The government built 60,000 modern colleges between 1905 and 1911. After the abolition of the imperial exams, traditional Chinese literati found they could no longer get government posts by merely succeeding in the examination, drastically changing the political environment.
Empress Cixi
Constitutionalism campaign
The Qing government announced an outline of the Constitutionalism campaign on September 1, 1906. Constitutionalists with high social status from each province urged the government to form a cabinet. The Qing government complied but showed little willingness to give access to power to anyone outside of the dynasty.
In May 1911, the prime minister of the newly formed cabinet was announced to be Prince Qing. Moreover, 9 of the 13 members of the cabinet were Manchu, while 7 of them were from the imperial family. All of this came as a disappointment to the constitutionalists. As a result, constitutionalists from different provinces changed their tack, supporting revolution instead of constitutionalism in a campaign to save the nation.
