Yuan Shikai ( ; Courtesy Wèitíng 慰亭; Pseudonym:
Róng'ān 容庵, also named after birthplace
Yuán Xiàngchéng 袁项城) ( 16 September 1859 – 6 June
1916) was an important Chinese
general and politician famous for his influence during the
late Qing
Dynasty, his role in the events leading up to the abdication of
the last Qing Emperor of China
, his
autocratic rule as the first President of the Republic of
China
, and his short-lived attempt to revive the Chinese
monarchy, with himself as the "Great
Emperor of China".
Early life
Yuan
Shikai was born in the village of Zhangying (張營村), Xiangcheng
county (項城縣), Chenzhou prefecture
(陳州府), Henan
province. Chenzhou is now called
Huaiyang (淮陽). The village of
Zhangying is located immediately north of the
centre of Xiangcheng.
The Yuan family later moved to a hilly area that was easier to
defend, 16 kilometers southeast of Xiangcheng. There the Yuans had
built a fortified village,
Yuanzhai (袁寨村;
literally "the fortified village of the Yuan family"). Yuanzhai is
now located inside
Wangmingkou township
(王明口鄉), on the territory of the county-level city of Xiangcheng.
The large
country estate of the Yuan family there was recently opened to
tourism by the People's Republic of China
.
As a young man he had enjoyed riding, boxing, and entertainment
with friends. Yuan had wanted to pursue a career in civil services,
but had failed twice in
Imperial
examinations. He decided that his entry into politics would
have to be done through the
Huai Army,
where many of his relatives of grand parental and parental
generations served.
Using his father's connections Yuan set foot
in Tengzhou
, Shandong
and sought a
post in the Qing Brigade. Yuan
married first in 1876, to a woman of the Yu family, who bore him a
first son,
Keding (袁克定), in 1878. Yuan
Shikai married 10 wives in his whole life.
Years in Joseon Dynasty Korea
Joseon Dynasty
Korea
in the early
1870s was in the midst of a struggle between isolationists under
the King Gojong's father
(Heungseon Daewongun), and
progressives, led by the queen (Empress Myeongseong), who had wanted to
open trade with continued Chinese overlordship in Korea.
After the
Meiji Restoration Japan
had adopted
a new aggressive foreign policy and as an emerging power, wished to contest Chinese
domination of the peninsula. Under the unequal Treaty
of Ganghwa, which the Koreans signed only with reluctance in
1876, Japan was allowed to send diplomatic missions to Hanseong
, and opened trading posts in Inchon
and Wonsan
.
Amidst an internal power struggle, which resulted in the queen's
exile,
Li Hongzhang, the
Viceroy of Zhili, sent the Qing Brigade,
3,000 strong, into Korea. The regent
Heungseon Daewongun was escorted to
Tianjin, where he would be kept prisoner. Korea's weakness was
apparent, and the
Treaty of
Jemulpo of 1882 gave the Japanese the right to station troops
in Seoul to protect their legation. China's protection alone could
not shield Korea against the rapidly industrialising Japanese
military, and it was obvious that Korea's army could not even deal
with an internal crisis. The king issued a proposal to train 500
troops in the art of modern warfare, and Yuan Shikai was appointed
to lead this task and was to remain in Korea. To the emperor, Li
Hongzhang also recommended Yuan's promotion, and was approved
shortly with Yuan's new rank as
sub-prefect.
In 1885, Yuan was appointed Imperial Resident of Seoul with orders
from the Imperial Throne of China. The position had seemed on the
surface to be similar to that of a Minister or ambassador. In
practice, however, Yuan, being the head official from the
suzerain, had become the supreme adviser on all
Korean government policies. Dissatisfied with its position in
Korea, Japan sought more influence through co-suzerainty with
China.
A
series of forged documents aimed at angering the Chinese was sent
to Yuan Shikai, attempting to make it appear as if the Korean
government had changed its stance towards Chinese protection, and
turned more towards Russia
. Yuan
was outraged yet skeptical, and asked Li Hongzhang for
advice.
In a treaty signed between Japan and China, the two parties agreed
only to send troops into Korea after notifying the other. Although
the Korean government was stable, it was still a protectorate of
China, and forces emerged advocating modernization. Another more
radicalised group, the
Donghak
Society, promoting an early nationalist doctrine based partly
upon
Confucianist and
Taoist principles, rose in rebellion against the
government, which Yuan aimed to protect. Li Hongzhang sent troops
into Korea to protect Seoul and China's interests, and Japan did
the same under the pretext of protecting Japanese trading posts.
Tensions boiled over between Japan and China when Japan refused to
withdraw its forces and placed a blockade of sorts at the
38th Parallel. Li Hongzhang wanted at
all costs to avoid a war with Japan, and attempted this by asking
for international pressure for a Japanese withdrawal. Japan
refused, and war began.
Yuan, now in an ineffective position, was
recalled to Tianjin
in July
1894, at the beginning of the First Sino-Japanese War
(甲午戰爭).
Late Qing Dynasty
Yuan Shikai rose to fame by participating in the
First Sino-Japanese War as the
commander of the Chinese stationary forces in Korea. He avoided the
humiliation of Chinese armies in the war when he was recalled to
Beijing several days before the Chinese
forces were attacked.
As an ally of
Li Hongzhang, Yuan was
appointed the commander of the first
New
army in 1895. The Qing court relied heavily on his army due to
the proximity of its garrison to the capital and its effectiveness.
Of the new armies that were part of the Self-Strengthening
Movement, Yuan's was the best trained and most effective.
The Qing
Court at the time was divided between progressives under the
leadership of the Guangxu Emperor,
and conservatives under the Empress
Dowager Cixi, who had temporarily retreated to the Summer Palace
as a place of "retirement". After Guangxu's
Hundred Days' Reform 1898,
however, Cixi decided that the reforms were too drastic, and wanted
to restore her own regency through a
coup d'état. Plans of the coup spread
early, and the Emperor was very aware of the plot. He asked reform
advocates
Kang Youwei,
Tan Sitong and others to develop a plan to save
him. Yuan's involvement in the coup continues to be a large topic
of historical debate. Tan Sitong reportedly had a talk with Yuan
several days before the coup, asking Yuan to assist the Emperor
against Cixi. Yuan refused a direct answer, but insisted he was
loyal to the Emperor. Meanwhile Manchu General
Ronglu was planning manoeuvres for his army to stage
the coup.
According
to many sources, including the diary of Liang Qichao and a Wen
Bao (文報) article, Yuan Shikai arrived in Tianjin on 20 September 1898, by train. It was
certain that by the evening, Yuan had talked to Ronglu, but what
was revealed to him remains ambiguous. Most historians suggest that
Yuan had told Ronglu of all details of the Reformers' plans, and
asked him to take immediate action.
The plot being exposed, Ronglu's troops
entered the Forbidden
City
at dawn on 21 September, forcing the Emperor into
seclusion in a lake palace.
Making a
political alliance with the Empress Dowager, and becoming a lasting
enemy of the Guangxu Emperor, Yuan left the capital in 1899 for his
new appointment as Governor of Shandong. During his three-year tenure, he ensured
the suppression of
Boxers
(義和團) in the province.
He also left the foundation for a provincial
junior college in Jinan
, adopting
some western ideas of education.
He was
granted the position of Viceroy of
Zhili (直隸總督) and Minister of Beiyang
(北洋通商大臣), where the modern regions of Liaoning
, Hebei
, and
Shandong provinces now are, on 25 June 1902. Gaining
the regard of foreigners when he helped to crush the
Boxer Rebellion, he successfully obtained
numerous loans to expand his
Beiyang
Army into the
most powerful army in
China. He created a 1,000-strong police force to keep order in
Tianjin, the first of its kind in Chinese history, after the
Boxer Protocol had forbidden troops
to be staged within a close proximity of Tianjin. Yuan was also
involved in the transfer of Railway control from
Sheng Xuanhuai (盛宣怀). Railways became a large
part of his revenue. Yuan played an active role in late-Qing
political reforms, including the creation of the Ministry of
Education (學部) and Ministry of Police (巡警部). He further advocated
for ethnic equality between Manchus and
Han
Chinese.
Retreat and return
The Empress Dowager and the Guangxu Emperor died within a day of
each other in November 1908. Some sources indicate that the will of
the Emperor had specifically ordered that Yuan be executed.
Avoiding execution, in January 1909, Yuan Shikai was relieved of
all his posts by the regent, the
2nd Prince Chun (醇親王).
The official reason
advanced was that he was returning to his home in the village of
Huanshang (洹上村), located in the suburbs of Zhangde prefecture (彰德府), now called the
prefecture-level city of
Anyang
(安陽市),
Henan province, in order to treat a foot
disease.
During his three years of retreat, Yuan kept contact with his close
allies, including
Duan Qirui, who
reported to him regularly about army proceedings. The loyalty of
the Beiyang Army was still undoubtedly behind him. Having this
strategic military situation, Yuan actually held the balance of
power between the revolutionaries and the Qing Court. Both wanted
Yuan on their side. Initially deciding against the possibility of
becoming President of a newly proclaimed Republic, Yuan also
repeatedly declined offers from the Qing Court for his return,
first as the
Viceroy of Huguang,
and then as Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet. Time was on
Yuan's side, and Yuan waited, using his "foot ailment" as a pretext
to his continual refusal. After further pleas by the Qing Court,
Yuan agreed to accept, becoming Prime Minister on 1 November 1911.
Immediately subsequent he asked that
Zaifeng, the Regent, abstain from politics. Zaifeng,
being forced to resign from his regency, made way for Yuan to
compose a newly created, predominantly
Han
Chinese Cabinet of his confidants, consisting of only one
Manchu, who held the position of Minister of Suzerainty.
The Wuchang Uprising and the Republic
The
Wuchang Uprising succeeded on 10
October 1911 in Hubei
province,
before Yuan's official appointment to the post of Prime
Minister. The southern provinces had subsequently declared
their independence from the Qing Court, but neither the northern
provinces nor the Beiyang Army had a clear stance for or against
the rebellion. Both the Qing court and Yuan were fully aware that
the Beiyang Army was the only Qing force powerful enough to quell
the revolutionaries. The court renewed offers for Yuan's return on
27 October, and Yuan eventually left his village for
Beijing on 30 October. To further reward Yuan's
loyalty to the court, the
Empress
Dowager Longyu offered Yuan the noble title Marquis of the
First Rank (一等侯), an honour only previously given to General
Zeng Guofan.
While continuing his
demands, ensuring temporary political stability in Beijing, his
forces captured Hankou and Hanyang in November 1911 in preparation for
attacking Wuchang
, thus forcing the republican revolutionaries to
negotiate.
Abdication of the child emperor
Yuan Shikai sworn in as Provisional
President of the Republic of China, in Peking, 10 March 1912.
The revolutionaries had elected
Sun
Yat-Sen as the first Provisional
President of the Republic of
China, but they were in a weak position militarily, so they
reluctantly compromised with Yuan. Yuan arranged for the abdication
of the child emperor
Puyi (or
Xuantong Emperor), in return for being
granted the position of
President, replacing Sun.
Yuan would not be present when the Abdication edict was issued by
Empress Dowager Longyu, on 12
February 1912.
Sun agreed to Yuan's presidency after
internal bickerings, but asked that the capital be situated in
Nanjing
. Yuan, however, wanted his advantage
geographically.
Cao Kun, one of his
entrusted subordinate Beiyang military commanders, fabricated a
coup d'état in Beijing and Tianjin, apparently under Yuan's orders, to provide an
excuse for Yuan not to leave his sphere of influence in Zhili (present-day Hebei
province). The revolutionaries compromised again, and the
capital of the new republic was established in
Beijing. Yuan Shikai was elected Provisional
President of the Republic of China, by the Nanjing Provisional
Senate, on 14 February 1912, and sworn in on 10 March of that
year.
Democratic elections
In February 1913, democratic elections were held for the
National Assembly
in which the
Chinese Nationalist Party or
the
Kuomintang (
KMT) scored a significant victory.
Song Jiaoren, deputy in the KMT to Sun Yat-sen,
zealously supported a cabinet system and was widely regarded as a
candidate for Prime Minister. Yuan viewed Song as a threat to his
authority and, after Song's
assassination on 20 March 1913 by Ying
Kuicheng, there was speculation in the media that Yuan was
responsible.
Becoming Emperor
Tensions between the Kuomintang and Yuan continued to intensify.
Yuan's crackdown on the Kuomintang began in 1913, beginning with
the suppression and bribery of the KMT members in the two
legislative chambers, followed by an orchestrated collapse of the
KMT from local organizations.
Second revolution
Seeing the situation worsen, Sun Yat-sen fled to Japan and called
for a Second Revolution, this time against Yuan Shikai.
Subsequently, Yuan gradually took over the government, building
from the support base of his military power. He dissolved the
national and provincial assemblies. The House of Representatives
and Senate were replaced by the newly formed "Council of State",
with
Duan Qirui, his trusted Beiyang
lieutenant, as Prime Minister.
The Kuomintang's "Second Revolution" ended in disastrous failure,
as Yuan's military might on all sides decimated the remaining KMT
forces. Provincial governors with KMT loyalties were either bribed,
or willingly submitted to Yuan.
After his victory, Yuan reorganized the provincial governments.
Headed now by Military Governors (都督) instead of civil
governorships, each governor now effectively had control of their
own army. This laid the foundations for the
warlordism that crippled China over the next two
decades.
Japan's twenty-one demands
In 1915, Japan sent a secret ultimatum, known as the
Twenty-One Demands, to Beijing. When word
leaked out that Yuan had agreed to some of the provisions, mass
protests sprang up as well as a boycott of Japanese goods. Western
pressure forced Japan to back down on its demands.
Revival of the monarchy
With his power secure, many of Yuan's supporters, notably
monarchist
Yang Du, advocated for a revival
of the monarchy, asking Yuan to take on the title of Emperor. Yang
reasoned that the Chinese masses had long been used to autocratic
rule, and a Republic had only been effective in a transitional
phase to end Manchu rule. China's situation longed for stability
that only a monarchy would ensure. American political scientist
Frank Johnson Goodnow, as well
as the Imperial Government of Japan, suggested similar ideas. Yuan
held a carefully selected political convention which unanimously
endorsed monarchy on 20 November 1915. By 12 December, he
proclaimed his reign as Emperor of the Chinese Empire (中華帝國大皇帝)
under the
era name of Hongxian (洪憲;
i.e.
Constitutional Abundance) to begin on 1 January
1916.
The Downfall of the monarchy
Once Yuan Shikai openly declared that he was the emperor, he
received a lot of opposition, especially from the revolutionaries
and their leader
Sun Yat-Sen. Sun fled
to Tokyo and set up a base there to overthrow Yuan's monarchy.
Yuan's monarchy was already very unpopular, partly because his sons
were fighting over the "Crown Prince" throne, and his former loyal
subordinates like
Duan Qirui and
Xu Shichang were leaving him one by one to
create their own factions.
Yuan Shikai was also in dire straits and
when 25 December, Yunnan
's military
governor, Cai E, rebelled and several
provinces followed. Seeing his weakness and unpopularity,
foreign powers, including Japan, withdrew their support.
Monarchy abandoned and death
Faced with widespread opposition, Yuan repeatedly delayed the
accession rite to appease his foes. Funding for the ceremony was
cut on 1 March and he abandoned
monarchism on 22 March. This was not enough for
his enemies as they called for his resignation as president. More
provinces rebelled until Yuan died, humiliated, from
uremia on 5 June. His death was announced the
following day.
His remains were moved to his home province
and placed in a mausoleum built to resemble Grant's Tomb
. In 1928, the tomb was looted by
Feng Yuxiang's
Guominjun soldiers during the
Northern Expedition.
He had three sons: Prince
Yuan Keding,
who was handicapped; Prince
Yuan Kewen,
who was said by his father to be a 'fake scholar', and Prince
Yuan Keliang, whom Yuan Shikai called a
"bandit".
Evaluation and legacy
With Yuan's death, China was left without any generally recognized
central authority and the army quickly fragmented into forces of
combating
warlords. For this reason he is
sometimes called the Father of the Warlords.
However, it is not accurate to attribute other characteristics of
warlordism as his preference, since in his career as a military
reformer he had attempted to create a modern army based on the
Japanese model.
Throughout his lifetime, he demonstrated understanding of how staff
work, military education, and regular transfers of officer
personnel came together to make a modern military organisation.
After his return to power in 1911, however, he seemed willing to
sacrifice this ideal in his imperial ambitions, and instead ruled
by a combination of violence and bribery that destroyed the
idealism of the early Republican movement.
In the CCTV Production
Towards
the Republic, Yuan is portrayed through most of his early
years as an able administrator, although a very skilled manipulator
of political situations. His self-proclamation of Emperor was seen
as largely under the influence of external forces, such as his son,
prince
Yuan Keding.
Offspring
Besides his original wife, Yu Zhi (于氏), Yuan also had nine other
concubines. He had a total of 17 sons and 15 daughters.
His two oldest sons were:
Yuan's grandson,
Luke Chia-Liu
Yuan, was a Chinese-American physicist. Another descendant of
Yuan is his great-grandson,
Li-Young
Lee, a Chinese-American writer and poet. Another descendant of
Yuan is his great-granddaughter, Kachuen Yuan Gee, a
Chinese-American librarian.
See also
Footnotes
References
- Chen, Jerome. "Yuan Shih-K'ai; 1859-1916". George Allen &
Unwin Ltd: Liverpool, 1961.
- Spence, Jonathan D. "The New Republic." In "The Search for
Modern China". 282. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999
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