The combined force of popular dissatisfaction with the corrupt Manchu court toward the end of the Ch'ing dynasty and the expanding revolutionary movements led by Sun Yat-sen eventually culminated in the toppling of China's last imperial government.

In the spring of 1910, Sun and the Tung Meng Hui (predecessor of the Kuomintang), resolved to instigate an uprising in Canton, hoping thus to take the capital and province and spread the revolution to the Yangtze River basin area and eventually to the whole nation. Huang Hsing and Chao Sheng, who were charged with planning the uprising, had established some 40 strongholds within Canton to prepare for the attack, which was, for various reasons, repeatedly delayed.

On March 29, 1911, the waiting finally came to an end. On this day, the attack was to be carried out from four different routes, as opposed to the original ten. In the end, however, only troops under Huang Hsing directly attacked the Canton government offices . Unable to overcome the superior numbers of the imperial troops, the revolutionary army was defeated after a protracted battle that claimed the lives of Yu Pei-lun, Fang Sheng-tung, Lin Chueh-min, and more than a hundred others. The remains of 72 of the martyrs killed on this day were recovered and buried on a hill called Huanghuakang outside Canton, and they are thus remembered today as the 72 Revolutionary Martyrs of Huanghuakang." Though the uprising was unsuccessful, it roused the fighting spirit of the people and a served as an important prelude to the eventual victory won during the 1911 Revolution.

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