They marched to the military headquarters and made their demands to the commander. They gave him a choice: be killed, or announce on their behalf that on that day, October 10, he was declaring the city’s independence from the Qing dynasty. He did so, and within days there was a chain reaction as city after city declared independence from the regime. Provincial assemblies, filled with the representatives of the new, politically empowered gentry class, all declared themselves part of a new republic and named Sun Yat-sen as their chosen president.
