Yuan Shikai 袁世凯
(1859-1916)
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The most powerful Qing official at the end of the dynasty
An active reformer in the final decade of Qing rule
Asked by Sun Yat-sen to serve as provisional president
Has Song Jiaoren, the elected president of the
Nationalist government assassinated in March 1913
Abolishes parliament and sets up a dictatorship in 1914
Proclaims himself emperor: Jan. 1- March 22, 1916
Japan and the Twenty-one
Demands
Japan steps up their efforts to control
China while European powers fight WWI
 List of 21 demands that call for increasing
Japanese economic control of Manchuria,
Mongolia, the Yangtze River, Fujian and
coastal areas
 Essentially Japan wants China to become
a Japanese protectorate
 Yuan Shikai forced to sign on May 7, 1915
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China’s Warlord Era: 1916-1927
Constant War
 Political disunity
 Impact of warlords on the revolutionary
process
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Warlord Impact on the
Revolutionary Process
“Nationalism”: not just about shaking free
of imperialist powers--the warlords are a
domestic threat--destroying China
internally
 Anti-warlordism becomes an overriding
political issue
 Military force becomes a political necessity
in 20th Century China
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Zhang Zuolin(1875-1928) 张作霖
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Rules Northeast China
Connections with Japan
Develops industry,
schools, prisons, military
Governs those civilian
populations under him
through a ruling clique of
military and civilian elites
centered in Shenyang
Yan Xishan (1883-1960) 阎锡山
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Ruled Shanxi山西
Province from 1912 to
the 1949
Fervent anticommunist
Carried out significant
social and economic
reforms in his
Province
Feng Yuxiang (1882-1948) 冯玉祥
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A “roving” warlord,
controlled much of
Northwest China
Nicknamed the Christian
General: Tried to instill
Christian values in his
men—mass baptisms
with a fire hose
Heavily Influenced by the
Soviet Union