ISSN: 2158-7051 ==================== INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RUSSIAN STUDIES ==================== ISSUE NO. 6 ( 2017/2 ) REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA AND CHINA: 100 YEARS NORBERT FRANCIS * Summary The Russian and Chinese revolutions are closed related in a number of important ways. This year, in the Peoples Republic of China, the 100 th year anniversary of the events of 1917 in Russia will be commemorated officially as an historical antecedent and a political foundation. The further study of this relationship in history is needed to better understand how each revolution unfolded. The future direction that China will take, politically and economically, will to a large extent depend on this understanding. Observers in Hong Kong and Taiwan will be especially attentive to the discussions this year about how the events and outcomes of the last 100 years should be evaluated. Key Words: Russian Revolution, Chinese Revolution, democracy, Constituent Assembly. Introduction This year will be marked in China by the first of three related centennials: the Russian Revolution (1917), followed by those of the May Fourth Movement (1919) and the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (1921). Not only does China’s governing party trace a direct historical continuity to the October 1917 Revolution, it is the largest and most prominent remaining political party to receive this inheritance, now carrying its ideological mantle forward first among all others, so to speak. Worldwide, the celebrations in China will be the most important, for many reasons, to be followed closely by its citizens, and by observers around the world. The following study is meant to serve as a proposal for discussion. Before starting at the beginning, our account should take note of the authoritative history of the May Fourth Movement by Chow Tse-tsung (1960). All of the important tendencies of the Wuchang Uprising and the new 130 International Journal of Russian Studies, No. 6/2 ( July 2017 )