Yuan Shikai (袁世凯 or Weiting 慰亭; pseudonym: Rong' year 容庵; pinyin: Yuán Shìkǎi) (September 16th 1859 - June 6th 1916) was a soldier and official of the dynasty Qing and beginning of the République of China. It served at the same time the imperial court of Qing and the republic and car-proclaimed emperor in 1916.

Origins

Yuan Shikai was born in the village from Zhangying (张营村), located in the county of Xiangcheng (项城县), pertaining to the prefecture of Chenzhou (陈州府), in the province of the Hunan.

The family of Yuan Shikai moved in an undulating zone, to 16 km in the south east of Xiangcheng, where they built a strengthened village which they named Yuanzhai (袁寨村 - literally “the strengthened village of Yuan”).

Young person it liked to ride a horse, to make boxing and to have fun with friends. He wanted to continue an administrative career, but twice failed the imperial examinations. He decided to enter the Army and using the relations of his/her father a station in the brigade Qing obtained. Yuan Maria in 1876, with a woman of the Yu family of which it have a son named Keding in 1878.

Korea

The Korea at the end of the Années 1870 was in the middle of fights between the clans “isolationist” led by the father of the king and “progressist” led by the queen who wished a free trade with a suzerainty maintained of China on Korea. The Japan, emergent power, wished that Korea become its protectorate. Under the terms of the treaty of Kanghwa (강화도) signed in 1876 - on the island of the same name or island of Ganghwa -, Japan could send diplomatic missions to Seoul and open counters with Incheon and Wonsan.

In the middle of power struggles internal, which resulted in the exile from the Queen, Li Hongzhang, the Vice-roi of Zhili, sent in Korea Qing a strong Brigade of 3000 men. The person in charge of the disorders, a Regent, was made prisoner and imprisoned in Tianjin. The weakness of Korea was obvious and the treaty of Cemulpo gave to the Japanese the right to station of the troops in Seoul to protect their legation. Single Chinese protection could not be the shield of Korea in a modern world with strong growth, and it was obvious that the Korean army could not even treat an internal crisis. The King emitted the idea to train 500 soldiers with the art of the modern war and Yuan Shikai was named to lead this task in Korea on the spot. Li Hongzhang suggested with the Emperor promoting Yuan which was quickly named Under Préfet.

In 1885, Yuan was named Résident Imperial in Seoul by order of the emperor. This position seems with the first access equivalent to that of minister or ambassador. In practice, however, Yuan, being the representative as a chief of the suzerain, had become the supreme adviser of all the policies of the Korean government. Dissatisfied of its position in Korea, Japan wished to have more influence through a Co-suzerainty with China. A series of false documents of which the goal was to irritate the Chinese was sent to Yuan Shikai, trying to show that the Korean government had changed opinion on Chinese protection and turned more and more to the Russia. Yuan was skeptic, although shocked, and was addressed to Li Hongzhan to obtain its councils.

In a treaty signed between Japan and China, the two parts are reflected agreement to send troops in Korea only after the notification of the other part. Although the Korean government was stable, it was always a Chinese protectorate and forces emerged to require the modernization of the state. A radical group, the company Tong Hak, follower of the principles confucéens and taoists, entered in rebellion against the government. Li Hongzhang sent troops in Korea to protect Seoul, and Japan made in the same way under the pretext of protect the Japanese counters.

The tensions between China and Japan increased when Japan refused to withdraw its forces and created a kind of blockade around the parallel 38ème. Li Hongzhan wanted to avoid a war with Japan at all costs and sought an international assistance to obtain the withdrawal of the Japanese forces. Japan refused and the war started. Yuan, useless to Seoul, was recalled to Tianjin in July 1894, the beginning of the first war Sino Japonaise (甲午战争).

Under the Qing dynasty

Yuan Shikai was made famous while taking part in the Sino-Japanese war as commander of the Chinese forces stationed in Korea. It avoided the humiliation of the Chinese armies in war when it was recalled to Beijing several days before the Chinese forces are not attacked.

As combined Li Hongzhang, Yuan was named ordering first Nouvelle army in 1895. The Qing court counted enormously on its army because of the proximity of its garrison and the capital and its effectiveness. Of all the new armies which belonged to the Movement of car consolidation, that of Yuan was best involved and the most effective.

At the time the Qing court was divided between the progressists under the crook of the emperor Guangxu, and the conservatives under the aegis of the empress dowager Cixi, which had been temporarily withdrawn with the Palais of summer. After the Hundred Days reforms of Guangxu in 1898, Cixi decided that the reforms were too energetic, and wanted to restore its own regency through a coup d'etat. The plans of the blow were ventilated, and the emperor was informed. He asked the partisans of the reform Kang Youwei, Tan Sitong and others to envisage a rescue plan for him. The implication of Yuan in the blow continues to be a good subject of historical debates. It is reported that Tan Sitong had a conversation with Yuan a few days before the blow, asking Yuan to support the emperor and to get rid of Cixi. Yuan refused to answer directly, but insisted on its honesty towards the emperor. During this time the general Mandchou Ronglu began the operations of his army to make the coup d'etat.

According to many sources, including the newspaper of Liang Qichao and an article of Wen Bao (文报), Yuan Shikai arrived at Tianjin on September 20th, 1898 in the train. It is certain that the Yuan evening had a discussion with Ronglu, but what it is known as ambiguous remainder. The majority of the historians suggest that Yuan revealed in Ronglu the details of the plans of the reformists and asked him to pass immediately to the action. The troops of Ronglu entered the prohibited Cité at the dawn of September 21st, and placed the emperor in insulation at the Palais of summer.

Having made an political alliance with the empress dowager, and having become an sworn enemy of the Guangxu emperor, Yuan left the capital in 1899 for its new post of Governor of the Shandong. During its three years at this station, it repressed and éradiqua the Boxers in the province. It left also the foundations of a provincial college with Jinan, consequently adopting Western methods of education.

It was high at the post of Vice king of Zhili (直鎚总督) and minister of Beiyang (北洋大臣) (currently provinces of Liaoning, Hebei and Shandong) on June 25th, 1902. Having collected the attention from abroad when it repressed the rebellion of the Boxers, it easily secured many loans to increase its army of Beiyang and to return it the most powerful army of China. It created a police force 1000 men to keep the order with Tianjin, the first of this kind in the Chinese history, after the Protocol Boxer had prohibited troops from stationing around Tianjin. Yuan was also implied in the transfer of the control of the railroads of Shen Xuanhuai. The railroads became a large share of its incomes. Yuan played an active role in the political reforms of the end of Qing, including the creation of the Minister of education and the Ministry for the Police force. It defended in addition the racial equality between the Mandchous and the Chinese Han.

Reprocess and Republic

The empress dowager and the Guangxu emperor died in one day of interval in November 1908. Certain sources indicate that the will of the emperor specified precisely that Yuan was carried out. Avoiding the execution, in January 1909, Yuan Shikai was raised of all its stations by the regent, the second Prince Chun (醇親王). The official reason was that it turned over to its native village of Huanshang (洹上村), located in the suburbs of the prefecture of Zhangde (彰德府), (currently Anyang (安阳市)) in the province of the Henan to deal with problem of foot.

During its three years of retirement, Yuan kept the contact with its close allies, including Duan Qirui, which submitted regular reports/ratios to him on what occurred in the armies. The honesty of the army of Beiyang was acquired to him without any doubt. Having this strategic military position, Yuan could maintain a certain balance between the Qing court and the revolutionists, each one wanting it on its side. Initially deciding not to become President of a lately proclaimed republic, Yuan rejected also the offers of the Qing court for positions of Vice king of Huguang or Prime Minister for the Imperial Cabinet. Time worked for Yuan and Yuan waited, using its disease of foot like perpetual pretext of its refusal.

The rising of Wuchang intervened on October 10th, 1911 in the province of Hubei, before the official nomination of Yuan at the post of Prime Minister. Whereas the provinces of the south declared their independence of the Qing court, neither the provinces of north, nor the army of Beiyang had clear opinion for or against the rebellion. The Qing court as Yuan knew that the army of Beiyang was the only sufficiently powerful modern force to repress the revolutionists. The court renewed its offers on October 27th and Yuan agreed to leave its village on October 30th.

After many requests of the Qing court, Yuan agreed to become Prime Minister on November 1st, 1911. He asked immediately that the regent, Zaifeng, abstain from any policy. Zaifeng resigned of its regency, and made it possible Yuan to create a cabinet mainly made up of his Han confidants, with only one Manchu at the post of minister of Suzerainty. So as to stick the honesty of Yuan, the empress dowager, Longyu, the title of Marquis of first rank (一等侯) offered to him, an honor which had been given previously only to the general Zeng Guofan. While ensuring a certain political stability Beijing, its forces seized Hankou and Hanyang in November 1911, by preparing an attack on Wuchang, which forced the revolutionary forces to negotiate.

The revolutionists had elected Sun Yat-SEN like first provisional president of the Republic of China, but in a military position were weakened, which led them to negotiate with against heart with Yuan. Yuan fulfills its promises with respect to the revolutionists and obtained the abdication of the emperor Puyi child in exchange of his nomination as President of the Republic, to replace Sun. Sun accepted but required that the capital remain with Nanjing. However, Yuan wanted to keep its geographical advantage. CAD Kun, one of its right-hand men in ordering of the army of Beiyang, manufactured a coup d'etat in Beijing and Tianjin, apparently under instruction of Yuan, to give an excuse to Yuan not to leave its sphere of influence of Zhili (currently the province of the Hebei). The revolutionists inclined themselves again and the capital of the new republic was established in Beijing. Yuan Shikai was elected provisional President on February 15th, 1912, by the provisional Senate of Nanjing and lent oath on March 10th.

In February 1913, of the democratic elections élirent the National Assembly and the Chinese Nationalist Party (Guomindang - GMD) was definitely victorious. Sung Chiao-jien, appointed GMD and associated of Sun Yat-SEN, proposed an alliance and was regarded as potential Prime Minister. Yuan considered that Sung was a threat against its authority and after the assassination of Sung on March 20th, 1913, there were many speculations in the newspapers making Yuan responsible.

Becoming Emperor

detailed Article: Chinese republican Hesitation

Tensions between Guomindang and Yuan continued to intensify. Yuan started to repress Guomindang in 1913, attacking the corruption of the members of the GMD in the two assemblies, then relieving of the members of the GMD in the local organizations. Seeing the situation worsening, Sun Yat-SEN flees in Japan and called with one second revolution against Yuan. Yuan took then the control of all the wheels of the government with the assistance of the army. It revoked the National Assemblies and provincial, replacing the House of Commons and the Senate by a “Council of State” lately created with Duan Qirui, its faithful lieutenant de Beiyang like Prime Minister. The “second resolution” of Guomindang against Yuan finished in catastrophe, because the military power of Yuan made it possible to eliminate all that remained forces of the GMD. The still honest provincial governors towards the GMD were voluntarily bought or subjected themselves to Yuan. After its victory, Yuan reorganized the provincial governments placing at their head a Military Governor controlling his own army. That led to the system of the lords of the war which paralyzed China for the three following decades. In 1915, Japan sent to Beijing a known secret ultimatum under the name of the 21 requests. When information was known that Yuan had reached a certain number of requests, protests of mass burst followed by a boycott of the Japanese products. The pressure of the Western nations forced Japan to limit its requests.

With a reinforced capacity, many partisans of Yuan whose Yan monarchist Of, asked for the restoration of the Monarchie, and wished that Yuan take the title of Empereur. Yuan explained why the Chinese masses had been accustomed for a long time to an autocratic mode and that the republic had been only one transitional stage to finish the reign of the Manchus. The situation in China awaited stability that only monarchy could restore. Yuan then made a large error in D instituting monarchy and proclaiming emperor of the Chinese Empire (中华帝国大皇帝) in the era Hongxian (洪宪; i.e.: Constitutional abundance) for a short period of the December 12th 1915 with the March 22nd 1916. It accepted a very strong opposition, not only of the revolutionists, but also of the military subordinates who supposed that monarchy would deprive them of their capacities. Opposite this opposition, Yuan was withdrawn and died a few months later of a liver disease.

Random links:

Algorithm of sorting | Râmâyana | AIDS in Europe | Richard Loncraine | Ankou (Spirou and Fantasio)