Shi Jianru Assassination Attempt on Governor De Shou

In 1900, Shi Jianru, a member of the Revive China Society under Sun Yat-sen, orchestrated a plot to assassinate De Shou, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, to support the Huizhou Uprising. Shi rented a house next to De Shou's mansion in Guangzhou and dug a tunnel to place explosives. On October 28, he ignited the fuse, but the explosion only destroyed part of the compound wall due to faulty detonators, leaving De Shou unharmed. Shi was captured after a tip-off, endured severe torture without revealing accomplices, and was beheaded on November 9, 1900. The case exemplifies early revolutionary tactics involving targeted violence against Qing officials.

Shi Jianru was summarily tried by Qing authorities, convicted of treason and sedition, and publicly executed by beheading on November 9, 1900.

The moral and legal legitimacy of political assassination as a revolutionary tactic; the Qing government's summary judicial procedure and use of torture; whether Shi Jianru should be treated as a political prisoner under emerging international norms.

The case galvanized revolutionary morale, with Sun Yat-sen eulogizing Shi as the "second martyr for the Republic." It intensified Qing suppression of revolutionary societies, while Shi's sacrifice became a powerful propaganda symbol for the anti-Qing movement, inspiring subsequent assassination attempts and uprisings that eventually led to the 1911 Revolution.