China Rep. Fujian (Fukien) Wuchang Uprising 2 Cash - 5 Stripes

REPUBLIC OF CHINA: AE 2 cash. This is an unusual type as a cast coin of Fukien (Fujian) featuring a reverse bearing flags of the Chinese Republic, formed in 1912. These issues tend to be crude and when in AU condition they are quite rough, center hole is round. This 2 Cash piece, of which there are 5 and 6 stripe r. flag varieties, is the 5 stripe variety. Hartill #24.5 (rarity 7); KM #375. There is also a 1 Cash of the same type, scarcer than the 2 Cash, and only found in a six stripe variety.
OB: Fu Jian tong bao; RX: Er Wen (2 Cash).
Fu Jian Tong Bao // Wuchang Uprising and Five-colored flags either side,'er wen' (two cash) above and below central hole, 5 stripes on flag variety. Likely cast only in the year 1912 during the first year of the Republic of China. The historical importance of this short series of cast coins, in an age of struck coins, can not be underestimated.
The Wuchang Uprising was an armed rebellion against the ruling Qing dynasty that took place in Wuchang (now Wuchang District of Wuhan), Hubei, China on 10 October 1911; this was the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution that successfully overthrew China's last imperial dynasty. It was led by elements of the New Army, influenced by revolutionary ideas from Tongmenghui (see below). The uprising and the eventual revolution directly led to the downfall of the Qing dynasty with almost three centuries of imperial rule, and the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC), which commemorates the anniversary of the uprising's starting date of 10 October as the National Day of the Republic of China.
The uprising originated from popular unrest about a railway crisis, and the planning process took advantage of the situation. On 10 October 1911, the New Army stationed in Wuchang launched an assault on the residence of the Viceroy of Huguang. The viceroy, Ruicheng, quickly fled from the residence and the revolutionaries soon took control of the entire city.
The Tongmenghui (or T'ung-meng Hui, variously translated as Chinese United League, United League, Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, Chinese Alliance, United Allegiance Society, 中國同盟會) was a secret society and underground resistance movement founded by Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren, and others in Tokyo, Japan, on 20 August 1905. It was formed from the merger of multiple Chinese revolutionary groups in the late Qing dynasty. In August 1912, the Tongmenghui formed the nucleus of the Kuomintang, the governing political party of the republic. [Wikipedia]
The flags in history and on the coins of this period are many and interesting. The '5 Colored' flag, the one on the right that defines the 5/6 stripe varieties, was the first flag of the Republic of China (1912 - 1928). It was widely flown even before the Republic of China in Shanghai and eastern parts of north China until 1928. The stripe representation (top to bottom): red for Han Chinese, yellow for Manchus, blue for Mongols, white for Hui and black for Tibetans. Later used by the Japanese puppet states of the East Hebei Autonomous Government, the Chinese Provisional Government and Reformed Government of China. It's also found on many of the struck coins of the Republic. The flag on the left is the Flag of the Wuchang uprising (1911 - 1912) and later an army flag of the Republic of China (1911-28). Background is red with a 9 armed black star patten tipped with gold (yellow) dots with a ring of center gold dots and sometimes showing a central gold dot.