ON October 9, 1911, anti-imperial plotters accidently set off a bomb in the Russian concession of the Yangtze River port of Wuhan.
Next day the shooting started, ignited by ideals of democracy, beginning the Wuchang uprising and signalling the start of the Xinhai Revolution that would finally see the end of the 267-year-old Qing dynasty and 2100 years of continuous imperial rule in China.
Anti-government forces would take Wuhan within two days and similar rag-tag rebellions would break out across the country, the culmination of decades of agitation with little co-ordination of what would happen next.
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