the conventional historical designation of the uprising of military units in central and southern China during July and August 1913 against the president-dictator Yuan Shih-k’ai and in defense of the republic. The Second Revolution was the end of the Hsinhai Revolution.

After coming to power in 1912, Yuan Shih-k’ai began to establish a military dictatorship. In the spring of 1913 he moved toward open repression of bourgeois republican forces. For example, the Kuomintang candidate for prime minister, Sung Chiao-jen, was assassinated, a large foreign loan was concluded without the consent of parliament, and the reactionary Peiyang Army pulled together in the Yangtze Basin. In response to these actions the left wing of the Kuomintang, led by Sun Yat-sen, urged armies loyal to republican ideals to revolt. On July 12, 1913, the military governor of Kiangsi Province, Li Lieh-chün, declared war on Yuan Shih-k’ai. Revolts soon broke out among the armies quartered in Kiangsi, Anhwei, Fukien, Hunan, Kwangtung, and Szechwan. The Second Revolution was suppressed by the Peiyang troops at the end of August 1913.