20th Century China History - Yuan ShiKai

20th Century China History - Yuan Shi Kai

I was adopted by the famous General Woo , who defended the Manchus in the Taiping Rebellion . Like my (foster ) father I was always loyal to the Qing ruling dynasty . They say that in the days of my youth I showed a propensity for pleasure-seeking and excelled in physical activity rather than scholarship ' However , nobody could deny my outstanding artfulness in managing people and circumstances . I argue here that my personality can be characterised in a three-fold manner : a practical individual , a modern reformer , and a

traditional politician

My career started in Korea where the Ch 'ing brigade of the Anhwei army was dispatched in 1882 not to let Japanese occupy the territory . Two years later , as China 's resident general , I was a success in controlling the situation in the Korean revolt to maintain the suzerainty of China on the local political scene . My later critics were clever enough to acknowledge me as a great soldier ' but they were wrong ascribing the loss of Korea to my poor diplomatic abilities

What ever good my knack in diplomacy is , it was I who took the difficult assignment to form the Beiyang Army , in 1895 . We recruited German instructors to train the Chinese militia from different provinces in the camp near Tianjin , where they received high salary (though , I think they served not for money but for ideology . Later those soldiers of mine formed a separate military elite ' and the nucleus of the Beiyang warlords

In 1900 , the Boxers started to assassinate Christians and foreigners all over the Chinese provinces . I prohibited murders in Shantung , the province under my command , though my subordinates were not so happy about it . My decision grounded on pure practical understanding of the broader political situation . As a hereditary civil servant , I disobeyed then Tz 'u-his , the empress dowager , who secretly encouraged the Boxer revolt . But the price to pay for closing my eyes on the political intrigues was too high . If not for my ability to keep the trained troops on guard of the foreign civilians , the Allied military forces would not have taken mercy on the province

In the period from July 1901 till 1907 , I headed the New Army under the Manchus request . My mind was after the European-style military forces therefore , as governor-general of Zhili , I replaced the Chinese traditional police forces consisting of lictors and yamen runners with police troops serving under a Head Bureau of Police Affairs (Jingwu zongju . Tianjin was made my police headquarters hosting about twenty-eight hundred men who maintained

In 1907 , when the government turned face to the European republican patterns and started craving for modernisation , I authorised elections for a local council in Tianjin . Let keep silence those who accused me of being just a soldier and not also an astute bureaucrat hearing the voices of the epoch . Then , suddenly , both the representatives of the royal dynasty died in 1908 . People rumoured later that I informed the late Dowager Empress about the revolutionary plans of the late Chinese Emperor , and they were likely to annihilate each other . After those mournful events , the Regent disliked me so much that he was ready to sacrifice the mission of my people trading support from the USA in Chinese operations against Japanese intruding into Manchuria . I argue here that I was a traditional politician in regard of me serving the Qing dynasty and not fishing in dark waters by myself

On November 8 , 1911 , I was elected premier of China by Beijing provisional National Assembly . Three days later , the Qing court ratified National Assembly 's appointment and ed me to form a cabinet . On November 13th , 1911 , I entered Peking with my trained and loyal army to maintain on request of the Prince Regent who pleaded to save the dynasty ' Once again I had to display my traditional political orientation , as well as practical skills

I was to bargain about the large loan on purpose of radical reorganisations to keep a government in operation which could assert its authority ' By the end of 1911 , I had enough finance only to sustain the government for two more weeks , whereas my soldiers received only the half of their payment the previous month . According to my foreign acquaintances , my hair has turned white in a few weeks , and [my] face wears the hunted look of a man who is facing failure

Being practical I was also modern , so far as I approached M . Willard Straight , the USA attachy . I knew who was who in the modern world and did not rely on any local mandarins , who were poorer than church rats Unfortunately , there were affairs that have managed me , and not vice versa . While the Four Group Allies argued about the priority to give a loan to the new government , the New Army revolutionaries marched over the country . On December 29 , 1911 , delegates from sixteen provincial assemblies chose Sun Yat-sen as president of the provisional Republic of China . Meanwhile , the Manchus militia fought with the revolutionaries

I was between the two fires , or , better to say , tried hunting with both the hare and the hounds ' On the one hand , there was the Prince Regent , whom I had to obey as a hereditary official . On the other hand there were the rebels , who were the only real power to stick to under those circumstances . On the request of the Manchu Prince Regent who was weaker than ever , I had to negotiate with the revolutionaries about the republic

The revolutionaries had to placate with financial dependence of China on Western financial support , technological and scientific resources in exchange to win time to adapt the traditional Chinese culture institutions and national conscience to the appropriation of these great gifts ' As Straight wrote , I was expected to conciliate the rival factions which even now exist in the revolutionary camp , how to disband the forces , composed largely of men who have taken arms for gain rather than for patriotic reasons , is not stated

Really , when Sun Yat-sen urged the Republican National Council to endorse me as president of the Republic of China on February 13 this year , I was the only person who could orchestrate the balance of powers What is on my mind now ? First , to soothe down the revolutionaries , I had to give the best posts to Sun 's foreign-educated protygys . Sun Yat-sen knew for sure that I had a leaning towards reform ' and mentioned his acknowledgement of my capability and [ .] great grasp of affairs I have already demonstrated my reformist talents modernising the army Then , I had to demonstrate the aforesaid grasp

No need to tell you how unstable the period was : political and military groups were boiling , nobody new for sure what democracy meant in local settings , and there were more life-and-death questions than answers It was evident that we had to invent some reliable base to build the further national development on , so far as traditional values - Confucianism , the state monarchy and bureaucracy , as well as the common classical language - have been discredited by that period

The system of the civil service examination was abolished . The institute of monarchy was swept aside . It was the age of suspicion and mutual incredulousness : people from the centre blamed of instability those from the provinces , urban communities did not believe the rural ones , and everybody saw how eager the foreigners were to suck all the Chinese juice ' through concessions and loans . Despite all his gigs , Sun Yat-sen was objective enough to call the China of that period sheet of loose sand ' It was not a paradise I had to manage

Too long the country has been deprived of its national pride and independence . By 1911-1912 , the foreigners were everywhere . The best way was to use them as sponsors for our changes , and let them call me a dictator [corrupt and . brutal] surrounding himself as soon as ' he could with some of the most despicable Chinese agents of the old rygime favoured [ .] by foreign financiers [in the lust for] money and power and the means of extravagance and debauchery

This year , the things are really disastrous . China 's foreign debt reaches 900 million taels . The dynasty has gone bankrupt undertaking expensive reforms of the governmental administration , military and educational system . The new regime followed the West in the enchantment with democratic elements of constitution , representative assemblies separation of governmental powers , and political parties . On my side , I was more interested to pacify gentry and to centralize state power having been dissolved after foreign intrusions and imperialistic affairs

For me as President , therefore , the prior task is to obtain the loan from the Four Group Powers in to keep a strong and obedient military resource to establish the right type of government . My fame played to the benefit of the task . I do remember how Dr . Morrison , the then political adviser to the Chinese Government , was trading with Mr Crisp , the head of the firm of C . B . Crisp Co , about the loan to pay for our administration needs this year , in 1912 . We needed it badly in not to depend so greatly on the Four Power Group , not to speak about Russia and Japan with their greed in regard to concessions . Then the last persuasion for the hard nut ' Crisp to lend us ?10 ,000 ,000 was delivered by Morrison in the words about my dictatorial position being the benefit ' of China

I am afraid , though , that we will have to owe the Four Group Allies ?500 ,000 ,000 , at the rate of ?100 ,000 ,000 a year , not to forget about Japan and Russia trying to cut the fattest pieces of our cake in terms of territory , commerce and politics

Now I shall speak about my plans for the future . I really want to establish a no-squeeze policy ' I believe that the modern Chinese state and nation should be centralised . The first step to do is to preserve the capital , thus , the centre of administrative authority , in Peking for the whole period of my office of President

Second , as I have never been a republican , I think about establishing a sort of a military dictatorship . I was often called the strong man a reputed reactionary ' and arbitrary , tyrannical and self-indulgent ' by my contemporaries , and , no doubt , I will be labelled like this by later researchers . My political opponents from the Kuomintang went even further referencing to me as nothing more than [t]he fat bewhiskered general . But even they can not deny that it was I who could build a strong army and placating fighting camps

That is why , in my opinion , there is no need to let those wordy democrats to spend time , effort and money on elections and the qualifications of voters . Let me stay the strong dispenser of law and ' identifying the course of state policy by myself

Consequently , I plan to get rid of those tries to establish popular sovereignty in the form of political parties and representative assemblies ' I watch them reorganising Sun Yat-sen 's Revolutionary Alliance into the Guomindang , or Nationalist Party , to dominate National Assembly after its election in December , 1912 . I know that the trifle show with democratic elections for National /provincial /county assemblies could jeopardise the institute of centralised power I am planning to introduce

Later on , I will force the National Assembly to elect me as president for a long term , better for five years . Then , I will kick the Guomindang from the parliament because they are likely to assume too much political weight . The best solution will be also to dissolve all the assemblies that resemble a boiling pot , so risky and messy ' they are

Finally , I will do my best to consolidate all the state power in the hands of one person , and that person would be I . The best form to centralise power is monarchy , how ever discredited it has become . How about the British or Japanese constitutional model of the Emperor co-existing with the parliament ? Lately , the title of Grand Constitutional Emperor ' has occurred to my mind as the best definition of the political system I want to achieve . Reanimating Confucianism as a state religion , there would be a chance to resurrect also the ideology of monarchism and to get back to traditional values , seeing also to the better economic and education opportunities to provide the nation with wealth and development

Bibliography

Bowman , John S , ed . Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture New York : Columbia University Press , 2000

Cantlie , James , and C . Sheridan Jones . Sun Yat Sen and the Awakening of China . New York : Fleming H . Revell , 1912

Croly , Herbert . Willard Straight . New York : The Macmillan Company , 1924

Eastman , Lloyd E . The May Fourth Movement as a Historical Turning Point : Ecological Exhaustion , Militarization , and Other Causes of China 's Modern Crisis ' In Perspectives on Modern China : Four Anniversaries , edited by Thomas

. Bernstein et al . Armonk , NY : An East Gate Book , 1991 , 123-138

Hyndman , H . M . The Awakening of Asia . New York : Boni and Liveright 1919

Leang-Li , T 'Ang . China in Revolt : How a Civilization Became a Nation London : N . Douglas , 1927

Schoppa , R . Keith . The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History . New York : Columbia University Press , 2000

Tretiiakov , S . The Autobiography of Tan Shih-Hua . New York : Simon Schuster , 1934

Y 'an Shih-k 'ai ' Encyclopzhdia Britannica . 2006 . Encyclopzhdia Britannica Online . 9 Mar . 2006 br

Wakeman , Jr , Frederic . Models of Historical Change : The Chinese State and Society , 1839-1989 ' In Perspectives on Modern China : Four Anniversaries , edited by Thomas

. Bernstein et al . Armonk , NY : An East Gate Book , 1991 , 68-102

James Cantlie and C . Sheridan Jones , Sun Yat Sen and the Awakening of China (New York : Fleming H . Revell , 1912 , 180

Encyclopzhdia Britannica , 2006 , Encyclopzhdia Britannica Online , 9 Mar 2006 , s .v . Y 'an Shih-k 'ai para . 2

Ibid , para . 3

Keith R . Schoppa , The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History (New York : Columbia University Press , 2000 , 36

Cantlie Jones , 191-192

Frederic Wakeman Jr , Models of Historical Change : The Chinese State and Society , 1839-1989 ' in Perspectives on Modern China : Four Anniversaries , ed . Thomas

Bernstein et al (Armonk , NY : An East Gate Book , 1991 , 70

H . M . Hyndman , The Awakening of Asia (New York : Boni and Liveright 1919 , 73

Schoppa , 54 . The author stressed that , After 1912 ten of Yuan 's Beiyang officers would become military provincial governors , and five would become presidents or premiers of China

Wakeman , 78

John S . Bowman (ed , Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture (New York : Columbia University Press , 2000 , 58

Cantlie Jones , 192

Herbert Croly , Willard Straight (New York : The Macmillan Company 1924 , 276

Bowman (ed , 58

Croly , 415

Croly , 422

Croly , 427

Cantlie Jones , 191

Cantlie Jones , 124

Croly , 425-426

Croly , 434

Bowman (ed , 59

Cantlie Jones , 136

Cantlie Jones , 124

Schoppa , 57

Schoppa , 57-58 . See also Hyndman , 85

Schoppa , 58

Hyndman , 95

Lloyd E . Eastman , The May Fourth Movement as a Historical Turning Point : Ecological Exhaustion , Militarization , and Other Causes of China 's Modern Crisis ' in Perspectives on Modern China : Four Anniversaries , ed . Thomas

Bernstein et al (Armonk , NY : An East Gate Book , 1991 , 129-130

T 'Ang Leang-Li , China in Revolt : How a Civilization Became a Nation (London : N . Douglas , 1927 , 84

Croly , 442

Croly , 84

Hyndman , 95

T 'Ang Leang-Li , 83

Hyndman , 85

S . Tretiiakov , The Autobiography of Tan Shih-Hua (New York : Simon Schuster , 1934 , 80

Croly , 441

Schoppa , 58

Schoppa , 59

Schoppa , 59

PAGE

PAGE 8 ...