Abstract:

It was an important task to guard against and eliminate traitors in each recovered province during the Revolution of 1911. Due to some hearsay, media reports, the defamation of and people who had ulterior motives, and the fact that treason was a political rather than legal term, the issue of traitors appeared to be disordered in spite of the fact that the range of traitors had been substantially narrowed at that time. As a matter of fact, both the military political power in each province, including Shanghai Military Command, and Nanjing Provisional Government made great efforts to achieve a balance between keeping the stability of political power and building a civilized image. Excessive capturing and slaughtering was effectively avoid thanks to the practice of separating the reconnaissance agency and law enforcement agency, and seriously treating the accusation of traitors. However, in a changeable political climate, it had been frequently witnessed that a former traitor became a founder of the Republic once the standards for treason changed. Causing disharmony among recovered provincial governments and serious divergences between leaders and grass roots, this brought a great challenge to the political ethics of the revolutionary party. keywords: traitors to China, the Revolution of 1911, recovered political powers, Shanghai Military Command

Key words: traitors to China, the Revolution of 1911, recovered political powers, Shanghai Military Command