由於辛亥革命在中華民國建國史上的開創意義，向來是民國史研究中的顯學。然而，如果換個角度觀察辛亥革命，暫時不將革命視為指涉清楚的專有名詞而更接近於一個意義尚待填補的空洞符號，辛亥革命期間無數親歷此一革命的庶民百姓都從自身的角度參與、理解與詮釋這場革命，他們真正在意的，與其說是國家興亡及民族大義不如說是個人如何在這變動時局中謀取個人成就的最大可能與利益。對於許多當時的人來就革命的劇烈變動與不確定性提供了一個在原先政治與禮教秩序森嚴的環境裡，所不敢想像與實踐的機會，於是許多善於掌握時勢的投機人士，將混亂的社會狀況戲劇化，使之成為一場價值顛倒的嘉年華會。本文嘗試從嘉年華會（Carnival）的角度重新看待辛亥革命。有關此一議題的靈感來自於俄國學者巴赫汀（Mikhail Bakhtin）對文藝復興時期作家拉伯雷（F. Rabelais）的創作與中世紀民間文化關連性的研究。希望透過以往少為人所關注的報刊資料及圖像史料，藉由辛亥革命期間許多看似八卦事件的社會新聞案例、重新檢視在清末民初的時代變局下，許多打著革命旗幟、卻難以歸類的時尚男女，如何利用辛亥革命所提供千載難逢的機會作為個人的表演舞臺，也許一舉成功、名利雙收，抑或當眾被人拆穿西洋鏡落荒而逃。藉此重新審視辛亥革命期間屬於革命的豐富意涵。辛亥革命期間許多末在歷史留名的男男女女，藉由剪辮等身體形式的衝撞、妓女以身報國的「愛國」演出，表達對既有權威的醜化、嘲弄與顛覆，營造了一種嘻笑怒罵的時代氛圍，藉由對身體形式的誇張與扭曲，展現一種以張揚身體的笑為核心的力量，而這股力量一直被後來的研究者所忽視。在清末民初的變動時代裡傳統的社會地位與身分階級已不足恃，時髦男女藉此展現，如何在新權威尚未建立之前，舊勢力還未完全崩解之際，以身體為戰場來挑釁統治權威或表示對禮教束縛及道德規範的不滿。相較於五四以後感時憂國、涕淚縱橫所主導的時代精神，辛亥革命時期的革命黨人、熱情男女與新派分子，他們選擇向舊傳統與舊勢力開戰的武器、除了義正辭嚴、慷慨激昂的革命聲調外，更多的是藉由剪辮變裝的顛覆舉措、聲淚俱下的賑災愛國行為、以嘻笑怒罵、掛羊頭賣狗肉的方式顛覆傳統的倫理與道德價值。這股來自於張揚身體的笑聲力量，促使我們重估中國傳統中以幽默看待生命的能力。弔詭的是，辛亥革命期間所流露的陣陣笑聲，其源頭可能是中國傳統文化中的喜劇風格，而未必是西方的政治理論或革命學說，這股來自於身體的笑聲，在1920年代後的革命浪潮中，再也難得聽聞。但這並不影響我們重新檢視譏諷與張揚的笑聲在辛亥革命中所孕育的文化意義。而清末民初的中國，也因著這些男女求新求變的身體展現，變得生動鮮活許多。

The great significance of the 1911 Revolution in the history of modem China has long been a main focus in the minds of many historians. But, if we try to see the term ”the 1911 Revolution”not from its usual reference but from a totally different perspective, we can immediately find in it as something vacuum wailing to be filled with many sorts of new meanings. This is especially true when we think of hundreds and thousands of ordinary people unknowingly engaged in the great process of this revolution. Certainly, they had their own understandings and interpretations about this historical and historic process. What they really cared perhaps was not how a big nation was to be born, but how individuals could survive and benefit from the gigantic changes. To most people of the time, the drastic changes and the underlying uncertainties had given them a chance to examine the traditional political order and social conventions as well as to learn to take advantages of the chaos. In a word, it was a carnival in a chaotic situation with subvertive values in a changing time. This outlook is what the present paper tries to accomplish through examining the 1911 Revolution as a ”carnival”. The idea came from the Russian scholar Mikhail Bakhtin in his work on the relationship between the writings of the Renaissance writer F. Rabelais and the folk culture of the middle ages.With this view in mind, the present author would like to dig into the newspaper stories of many men and women-which have been largely overlooked by mainstream historians, so as to examine how these people-unlike the revolutionaries-held the flags of revolution just for the sake of presenting their own respective shows on the stage of the revolution. Some had been very successful both in fame and fortune with their respective shows indeed; yet others were forced to leave the stage with shame and disgrace. In here we could find more meanings revealed in the revolution than the original largely political one.We could see, at that time, that many men and women, with their long pigtails cut short, re-emerged in different forms- prostitutes for example-to make all sorts of contributions to the emerging nation. Their performances, often disguised and distorted, and in forms of caricature, or derision, or subversion of traditional authorities, did create an aura of laughter and sarcasm, mockeries and curses of the time. During the time, when traditional social systems and values were not fully discarded, and new values had not yet been completely established, young men and women used their bodies as instruments to challenge conventional values and ethical codes.Compared to the time of the May Fourth (1919), the 1911 Revolution was a time where young men and women appeared to have no decency. Instead of using more serious and vehement language, they chose to use their new appearances, tears, laughter and curses to achieve the purpose of radically overthrowing traditions. From their laughter, we could not only come to understand how the general public dealt with such a hard time, but also explore the relationship between the laughter and traditional Chinese comedies. Instead of following western theories on politics and revolution, we could look at the revolution in this new angle and endeavor to discover how humorous and subversive Chinese could be in a time of drastic change. Such laughter was rarely found again even in the revolutions of the 1920s.In a word, we have found that the new men and women of the late Ching period that there was a manifestation of a vigorous new life, and an element necessary for individual survival through a hard time.