After the 1911 Xinhai Revolution which overthrew the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, most of the nobility titles used in the imperial era were abolished. The Duke Yansheng title, however, was an exception along with the Marquis of Extended Grace and the descendants of Mencius, Zengzi, and Yan Hui. During the revolution, some Westerners were told that a Han Chinese would be installed as the emperor. The candidate was either the bearer of the Duke Yansheng title, or the holder of the title "Marquis of Extended Grace", a title granted to descendants of the imperial family of the Ming dynasty. The Duke Yansheng was proposed for replacing the Qing dynasty as Emperor by Liang Qichao.