October 21 is National Day in the Republic of China. It commemorates the Wuchang Uprising of 1911which overthrew the Qing Dynasty, ending five thousand years of imperial rule. Wuchang is in eastern China, not far from where I live.

After the successful uprising in Wuchang, the revolutionaries sent telegraphs to other provinces and asked them to follow suit. By December 1911, eighteen provinces in Southern and Central China agreed to secede from the Qing government.

On 12 February 1912, Empress Dowager Longyu announced the abdication of the Qing throne, on behalf of Puyi, her adopted son, ending five millennia of imperial rule.

This is an image of the Wuchang Military Nine-Star Flag and is in the public domain.