In the early morning of October 10, 1911, an uprising broke out at Wuchang and soon triggered widespread independence movements among the then 18 provinces. The rebellion eventually overthrew the Qin Dynasty and the long-standing monarchy of China. Later, the double-tenth became the national birthday of the Republic of China.

In 1911, people in China were still using the lunar calendar. So, what was the lunar date of that seismic day? It was August 19, the day of the year Xinhai (辛亥). Now the two dates meet again today!

Happy birthday, ROC!

PS. FYI, today is also my lunar birthday!