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policy of railway nationalization that sparked off very strong provincial
resistance.
Numerous Railway Protection Societies were formed in different provinces, and one by one, they declared the provinces independent from Beijing.
The 1911 Revolution and its Aftermath
In Guangdong, the Railway Protection Society was formed in Hong Kong and chaired by Li Yutang, the chairman of the Siyi Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. In a dispatch to the Colonial Office, the Governor noted that since the revolution, the Siyi Chamber had "principally ruled Canton.” It is recorded that in a meeting in the Siyi Chamber of Commerce of Hong Kong, Wu Hanmin was elected as the new Governor-General for Guangdong. Li Yutang, chairman of the Siyi Chamber, as well as that of the Railway Protection society, was appointed as the Provincial Treasurer of Guangdong. His son, his two brothers and his son-in-law also held posts in the Canton Government. They formed themselves into a bank of Canton, but registered it in Hong Kong. Aside from this, the Siyi men formed themselves into a "Thirty-Men Subscription Team”. With certificates granted by the Canton Revolutionary Government, they set up a Subscription Bureau in Hong Kong. One member of this group, a Yang Xian recalled years later that:
the uprising was a success without any single help of a soldier or army... because of the assistance of the Hong Kong merchants... we subscribed, within half a day, an amount of 40,000 and had it transported to Canton immediately. Originally, the Canton government promised to return $2 for any $1 subscribed... but we [with patriotism] adjusted it to $1.50 for $1 only.
To back up the unsecured currency issued through the Bank of Canton by the Canton Revolutionary Government, the Siyi Chamber established a "Canton and Hong Kong Financial Company" to redeem the unsecured currency in August 1912.
Through the Registrar-General of Companies, the Governor warned the Hong Kong merchants of the "financial unsoundness of the scheme"